How to open a square Elgin pocket watch

Hi folks. I am looking for guidance on how to open this pocket watch. It is happily ticking away, but I would like to see the movement etc. Given the square shape and the seam all around (no hinges to be found) I believe it is a snap-off back watch. However, there is no notch for a case knife. Any ideas?

Here is a tour around the watch:



If you are interested in such things, there is a good resource on opening watches at http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/how-to/open-pocketwatch-cases.php

Summary of Pocket Watch Case Opening Styles:

1. Screw-off back: no hinge on the back, visible seam around rim of case back with no visible "notch" in seam for case-knife.
2. Snap-off back: no hinge on the back, visible seam with notch for case-knife.
3. Hinged-back: hinge visible on back. Look for the notch for thumbnail or case-knife.
4. Swing-out: no seam around the back cover i.e. back cover and body all one piece. Remove front bezel and look for swing-out movement. ALWAYS pull out winding stem before lifting the movement out of the case

Thank you in advance!

Use one of these

Thank you @journeyforce and @redpcar The scary razor blade worked! Happy to get inside this. It is an Elgin 15 jewel 315 grade, one of 3000 made in the run, and over 1M of these movements made overall. 18k white gold filled, that’s nice It did feel a bit heavy for its size. I wonder what the original owner, Art, did to have been given such a nice treat from “Eff and the boys”? Oh, the stories that are out there...


With 1,000,000 movements made, there will be lots of spare parts out there, but none needed as it works flawlessly - but needs a cleaning.

Next step is to see if the dial can be cleaned, there is staining / loss of silvering between 8, 9 & 10. With 3000 made in the run, I don’t imagine that there would be many donor dials lying around. Still, lots of sparkle, I enjoy looking at it.



Thanks again for your help

Love that inscription! 😀

I think I'd avoid trying to clean this dial. I think the chances of damaging it may be high.

I appreciate that. It turns 100 in two years, I’ll let the dial tell the story.

Looks like green gold. Finish could use a light polish after which the colour might show a bit better.

Interesting, thank you. Green gold is a bit of a mystery to me. Sometimes it does look green, sometimes not. I’m off to the research lab 📖