I was looking over the watch pictured below the other day and noticed only 2000 of this Elgin grade (Gr. 368) were made. That qualifies as 'rare' in my definition, but the average book price is only $100. Maybe this shows what the phrase 'RR grade" does for the value of a specific watch.
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to see if readers have other pocket watches produced in quantities of 2000 or less that are worth only $100 or less.

I'd say that anything under 3k should be considered rare. I was trained as an antiquarian book buyer at Powell's Books back in the 90s and our rule of thumb was that anything with a print run under 3k was worth looking at. I think the same holds true for watches. There's no doubt that rail grade watches command a premium, but the value of other small run watches is bound to continue to climb, particularly as many of the rail grade watches get priced out of the reach of casual collectors. There are, for example, some excellent deals to be had on 12 size watches that are bound to be great investments in the long run. After all, no one is making these things anymore, so the number available is only going to go down.

Shhhhh! Chris, why did you have to go and mention the 12s? Grrrrr!

Yeah, I got fairly roundly hammered for talking about Hampdens as much as I do "elsewhere" because certain people don't want their profile raised. Understandable, but my enthusiasm knows no bounds.

This 3/4 plate model 9 18s watch is rare in the fact that it was one of the very, VERY few Elgin model 9 or 8 movements that is NOT Railroad adjusted! That said, while it is/was a very fine movement, evidently it's "value" was diminished in both the price guide and Ehrhardt by its "commoness" as a non-railroad piece.

I had the OF brother to your 368 (369) but never could find a dial for it since it takes the Veritas style dial (different feet pos than the full plates) so I finally sold it. These two are very lovely looking movements well worth picking up. I pick up movements in the 5K and less when I can as long as I don't step out of bounds on the price vs what they tend to sell for generally on ebay.