Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs

Yours has the preferred optional dial. Nice. Your case almost looks like green gold in the picture. Thanks for completing the picture.

I really like that dial. Congrats on this

The decor on those dials was difficult and expensive to do. And there was lot of spoilage. After the dial had been enamelled, the foil was added, then the dial coated with a clear flux to immerse the foil, then the dial was fired again to melt and fuse the flux. If the dial is viewed from the edge with the light glancing off the surface, you’ll see the foil is covered by the flux. This is called “underglaze”. Then the dial was printed, and fired again. This resulted in an overly thick enamel surface which was prone to crazing. It was little wonder that, by about the late 1940s, most U S A watchmakers discontinued use of vitreous enamel dials.

Elgin grade 543 Circa 1945
Lord Elgin 10s 21j adj 5 positions

Neato!

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/L471013

When Elgin serial numbers reached approximately 38,xxx.xxx, they dropped the year prefix, and replaced the two digits with a letter. X replaced 38 in 1938 (and 1939). Each year, the letter prefix changed. The L prefix on @TexOmega ’s sharp little Elgin represents 1940, and the numerals represent the year. The pocket watch was slowly going the way of the dodo bird when this one was made, but the railroad approved pocket watch still had a strong demand.

That Lord Elgin is elegant 😎

My notes from back when I bought it, state this was Elgin’s 1st size 10 with the Ball regulator and therefore able to be adjusted to 5 positions.

I’m sure mostly a marketing angle, not much demand then nor now for a Small, highly accurate pocket watch that a size 12 wouldn’t cover.

but nice esthetics in and out.

In U S sizes, an “O”size was 1 5/30ths of an inch. So a 10-size would be 1 15/30ths of an inch, 1 1/2” in diameter.

I have long felt that earlier U S made watches were dolled up because they were often sold without cases. The first view a new buyer might have of the watch he ended up with, was the “undressed” movement. It was easier for the retailer to sell the “eye candy” than it was to sell esoteric features such as positional error, temperature compensation, and isochronism. Obviously, such features added to the price of the watch. So the “eye candy” seemed (in the customer’s view), to justify the extra costs of the features he didn’t understand. Then, late in the 1920s or early 1930s, the U S makers started to sell their watches cased. No longer the need for showmanship!

The “dressing down” appears to have begun perhaps in the late 1920s when one of the first adornments to disappear was the screws holding the plate jewels in, such as this Waltham 1908 Vanguard, circa late 1920s. Still
pretty, though! From there, feature after feature was dropped until the 1960s as characterized by the Elgin Grade 571 B W Raymond. To Hell with pretence!

Waltham.



Elgin.

I like a little pretense on my watch movements. I do believe that you're right about the high level of damaskeening done on movements. It just makes sense that in a market where a bare movement was being selected that you'd want a bit of eye candy to attract the buyer's attention.

Such a nice thread, this one on the topic of pocket watches. I'm enjoying all the participation.

I've played fast and loose with pocket watch acquisitions since the early summer, on Ebay, in pawn shops, antique malls, and at gun shows. I'm certain there are some trash and treasures gathered in. I've got questions about them, but need photos to accompany inquiries. Can't post new photos right now because we moved in late October and the desk top isn't yet hooked up. I'm too ignorant to be able to post any new photos taken with this wretched tablet or with an android phone.

Gotta give an attaboy to DaveK, a really nice guy who can turn out really attractive lanyards and leather watch stuff. I have lanyards in blue, brown, and now plum and they are all sharp looking with gold or silver watch cases. Also am being a test guinea pig for a "Watch Questing holster" he's produced. Holds a loupe and watch knife just right. Also useful for attending coin shows or gun shows for it also can hold a small magnifier, reading glasses, tiny flashlight or bore light for inspection a firearm's rifling. Keeps needed tools available.

Be careful though. If you're wearing it then your wife could guess that you're going on a collecting quest.

Anyway, it's heartwarming to deal with Dave and the lanyards give perfect satisfaction. The pocket watches have just gotta be worth more with a DaveK lanyard attached.

"Collect all your favorite colors!"

You were expecting sanity on a watch collector forum 😕

stay tuned for a week from now when my prototype of a “watch hunting holster” is ready. What could it be? You shall find out ☕