In the late 300 and early 400 grade numbers Elgin made some single runs of some watch grades. Some of these include the 397/398 16s 17j ps hunter/of twins and then the 400 (18s/17j/ls/of) then the 401 (16s/19j/ls/hc)and then the 402 (16s/21j/ls/hc). There isn't much information out there on these single run grades that are in the 397/398/400/401/402 ranges. Does anyone have a 397 or 398 since the one I picked up (Grade 397) has Elgin under Elgin USA so I think it might have been an export model. Any pictures or comments are welcome.

Claude, I scanned Roy Ehrhardt's Elgin Production serial number detail section about these and it shows there are some 17, 19 and 21 Jewel movements among this rare series. Hope that helps.

David maybe you might have some insight on this, the seller is in the UK and the dial has "Elgin" in the typical block letter but below that U.S.A. I have a lot of Elgins but none with USA below the name script, is this typical of export models?

This one is marked "Adjusted" but I could not read to how many positions, it is a new Elgin grade to me (one that I don't have) so I will post some better pictures when it arrives.

Two things that would make sense to me;
1. If it says USA under the Elgin sig. it is export. Maybe the whole 1000 were.

2. If it was export and not Canada it would be unusual for Elgin to have invested more adjustment than Temperature and maybe Isochronism.

I think you are correct on the adjustment, you start to see position markings on Elgin movements in the 14-15M range. I blew up the photo and no position markings so probably heat/cold/iso is all it was adjusted to.

In case someone wants to see that the movement looks like.

Dial

Couple shots of the Movement