New Arrival, Job Number 200080

Elgin grade 315, 12 size, 15 jewels, made about 1923…

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New Arrival, Job Number 200078

Elgin grade 92, 16 size, 11 jewels, made about 1882…

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New Arrival, Job Number 200076

Elgin grade 305, 16 size, 15 jewels, made about 1905…

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Job Number 190189

Here's an Elgin is a grade 10 pocketwatch, 18 size, 11 jewels, made about 1890.


Note the pallet fork configuration... I has frequently pointed out a distinction about these that may be hard to explain. 

Here the fork end, that faces the balance wheel, is on a line perpendicular to the tangent line of the escape wheel. The pallet stones engage with the escape wheel along the tangent line. 

This is the classic Swiss style escapement that is still used on almost all mechanical watches today.

The American watch industry transitioned to this design from the older, English style pallet configuration that placed the fork at the end of the tangential line, not perpendicular to it. Older Elgins (and Walthams and others) have this older style.

The different is that the leverage between the pallet end and the fork end on the Swiss style creates a higher velocity at the fork end thus tending to more easily move right through slight errors in the escapement due to motion of the watch, or imperfections in the arms of the escape. The "amplified" motion of the fork end also assures good escapement functionality with minimal locking face contact, thus reducing wasted lift and friction. The Swiss design is more stable and less error prone.

New Arrival, Job Numbers 200061

I don't usually do these Elgins, for a number of reasons, but we'll see how it goes. The Elgin grade 760 (and 761 variation) is the only automatic watch ever made in the United States.

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