Dating Elgin Wrist Watches

LRF Antique Watches - Rare Elgin

IWCCo advertising States that the size 12s trench watch cases were in round and square sizes as well. A pilot had to be able to read the time, with only a brief look, so a small watch would be just fine for you. The 1917 15 jewel movement has just been taken completely apart and serviced 8-13-2015 and a new mainspring has also been installed. This absolutely remarkable piece of American craftsmanship is in superb condition and has been beautifully restored. The case is 14k solid gold and the all of solid gold on the movement, I just couldn't resist a matching 14k SOLID GOLD BUCKLE on the watch. I have to re-dig hundreds of Elgin watches, over the years, but watches with these dials on the cake. This watch features one Elgin's best ENAMEL MILITARY DIALS of all time, the BOLD Roman numeral RED XII dial. The case has been polished by a professional machine, it now seems beautiful and bright as you can see on the pictures. So, it makes sense that the Illinois Watch Case Company would cases, the honor, and the name of one of their top of the line military watch after him. This watch would have been, in all probability,, of a WWI US Army Air Corps Pilot, due to its behemoth size. It is a bit like Ferris Bueller and the Ferrari, if you had access, you would only leave it in a garage. It is in excellent condition and keep in the vicinity of flawless timing, within only a few seconds per day. There is a little wear and tear, because I could not resist, one to wear these for the day! (can you blame me?). In General, if you see a Arabic RED 12 Elgin dial, it is the small font variety, the Large font is extremely rare, as I have only seen three of them over the years. This absolutely remarkable piece of American craftsmanship is in superb condition and has been carefully restored.

The ENAMEL dial features a bright white face, BOLD Roman numerals, sunken seconds dial at 6 o'clock, an outer Chapter of minute markers, the 100% CORRECT blue steel hands for the dial, signed ELGIN near the top center with the RED XII at the top. Another high-end feature that makes this class 423 movements, which is apart from the rest of the material, these movements are made up of solid nickel plate. Take another look at image number three, this movement is clean as a whistle and stunning in its beauty. There are 5 ads of the Illinois Watch Case Company of Elgin, Illinois, States that this behemoth size 12s trench watches were only available in 1917, but until now none has been documented. This watch features one Elgin's best and most rare enamel military dials of all time, the COURAGEOUS Arab Big font RED 12 dial. Take another look at the demaskeen design on the movement, it just is not so. The threaded semi-hermetic design feature is pretty much never the bezel and the case back on seen a case like this, 99% of the time just pop up and down. There are NO tool marks and the slider were installed, in the EXACT way and style that was used by the Illinois Watch case Company, that they are real.

You just don't see many of these cases, in 14k SOLID GOLD, as most of them were melted down for the gold value. The hinged case back has had a repair of a laser-welding, so that it only opens up to about 70 degrees, nothing major. The online serial number database says that Elgin made 1000 of these high-end movements, the data base is WRONG. The case has been polished by a professional machine, it now seems beautiful and bright as you can see on the pictures, it really captures the light and shines. I've observed that contact with some of the greatest thinkers in the ancient world, and no one has ever seen one of these before. The original center reservoir hands were re-lumed using Bergeon luminous material, they glow in the dark once properly charged by sunlight. I've been doing this for a long time now, I even wrote two books on trench watches, and I can honestly say that this is the rarest trench watch that I have ever seen, it seriously has NO EQUAL. The heavy demaskeening pattern is edited, the movement is stunningly simple in its beauty. This is an exceptionally beautiful and highly polished 10k yellow gold Filled WWI Elgin Trench Watch with a high grade 17 jewel movement with a SOLID GOLD TRAIN. It has a high amplitude and keeping good time, it has been tested insured on a professional time graph 5000 machine for accuracy so you are.