I am finally back home after being in upper Ohio last week and I have a question about early Elgin 18 size movements. I purchased the boxed hinge hunter from Larry (to go with my Hampden OF boxed hinge) but I noticed the movement has a winding stem that you sometimes see on 6s movements. I have a few OF and HC Elgins like the 149,150 and one OF in the 5,xxx,xxx serial number range but none have the stem as part of the movement. Is this something Elgin did on early movements?

Hey Claude, Don't know how common it is,but I have seen both Elgins and Walthams with the stem like you describe. Takes a female stem in the case. I have taken a couple of Walthams apart and changed the arbor to convert them to a regular stem,but don't know if it will work on Elgins.