Staying in the same time frame what would your pick be (same price/condition) between an Elgin Veritas grade 350 or a Hamilton grade 950?

Price and condition being equal - the Hamilton.

Elgin.

Resale value I think the Hamilton. For a quality premium grade watch probably a toss up?

Depends whether you are Elgin or Hamilton collector. I collect what I think is eye candy to me, not someone else, and most collectors are just that I am not convinced these watches are money making investments yet, but hopefully will be.
Bill

Hamilton because it is a bridge movement. Just think they are prettier and expose more of the movement for viewing without any loss of bling from decoration, jewels or settings.

Hamilton for me, started my railway career with a Grade 992, so I am a little biased.

Elgin.

I would have to pick the Hamilton but it would be an honor to own either one.

Hamilton, because that's what I collect.

Interesting question. I've owned Elgins and Hamilton's from the same era, and in my personal experience have had better luck with the Elgin than any turn of the century Hamilton that has crossed my path.

As the 20th century advanced, that experience has flipped, and the Hamilton's I've owned (and DO own) far surpass the Elgin product.

So, in this particular case, I vote Elgin. I have my 1911 Elgin Veritas 376 in my pocket as I type this too.

Regards! Mark

I can't fairly answer this question, given my bias towards Elgins, since that's my middle name (have I mentioned this?). But here is what my railroader grandfather did...he owned and carried both, which I have in my modest collection. When he went to work at the Katy yard in Waco he carried his Elgin Grade 240 BWR made in 1909, and when he went to church on Sunday he carried his Hamilton 992B made in 1956. I still do the same as he did. Right now, my scraggly bunch of Elgins starts at 1874 with a KWKS Grade 69 BWR with a lot of provenance and ends with the 240 Grade 1909 BWR, so I don't have any experience with the 21-plus jewel bling era Elgins. However the three Elgin Grade 240s I have are a pure delight to use, and they keep excellent time, with their meager 19 jewels. The Hamilton 992B is, well, how else can I describe it, just about perfect. I carried it all over Vietnam as an Air Force officer, the year after my grandfather died, put the 992B under my pillow at night to let its ticking put me to sleep, over the sound of rockets and helicopters. So, there's both a Hamilton, and an Elgin I wouldn't trade anything for.

I looked and the 350 was priced at $106, the 950 at $76 both movement only around the same time when new. If you look at the price guides the 950 is over 2x as much depending on the condition. Based on that a 950 in the same condition as the 350 would not be even in the same price range.

For me it would be the 350. Production of 1000 makes it a bit rarer in my book. The Hamilton is better looking sure, but I think collector mania drove the price too high long ago. Oh, and since I have a 350 and track their serial #'s I'm a bit biased

I started out collecting Hamilton and have continued to do so. However, I have never owned a 350 but feel sure they are a quality watch.

Ray what is your list of serial numbers currently and I will see if the one I picked up is on it.

Hi Claude,
Dont have too many as of yet. I try to get them off of Ebay and some of the auction venues when I find them. Of the 1,000 production it's anyones guess how many still exist and of those how many will never be auctioned or come up for discussion on sites like this. So here is my whopping list consisting of 20 watches. Since all of the watches are from a single run starting with 12,717,001 I will list only the last three digits.
017, 064, 123, 222, 230, 289, 436, 451, 482, 546, 562, 610, 659, 716, 783, 792, 805, 863, 971, 989.
Feel free to add any you find here .