Here is my Elgin grade 343 after being cleaned and serviced.

Nice watch, Claude.I really like the dial! I regret that I never bought an Elgin book, so is that RR grade?

According to the Townsend RR guide book it is RR approved, the yellow Elgin guide book shows it as RR? Based on the time it was produced, that it is adjusted, and lever set I would think that it was approved by some of the major railroads of the time. It is sometimes marked as "Overland" and "GM Wheeler" or unmarked as mine is.

I remember seeing an ad reprint in one of Roy Ehrhardt's books for the Overland grade, I'm pretty sure it was listed as RRG.Must have been a popular watch at the time.I think the GM Wheelers were pendant set.You sure have a nice watch there.That's a keeper!

Claude, I agree with Theodore, you have a very nice looking watch and it certainly is a keeper....

The Elgin database has yours, s/n12285297, if I read it correctly, as #297 of 1000 in grade...there were only 1000 of the 343, model 7 made and yours was made in 1905....They were only made that year....

They also have your s/n listed as a GMW, (of course, GM Wheeler) and make no mention of a 'Overland' name....There were some OVR (Overland) grade 353's made but no 343's....

This is also another item that we need to get added to the price guide because I could not find any reference to this watch at all and since there were only 1000 made, it should be shown as a one star watch....

Thanks for showing this watch to us, Claude, we really appreciate it....Hopefully there will be others along to give us their opinion also....

Regards,

Jerry

Jerry I did some checking and they were also sold under the name "Overland" and the one I saw was a grade 343 (checked serial number) and all three version seem to carry the same DMK effect with the exception of no name, Overland, or GMW being marked on the barrel plate.

This is all interesting because I have an "Overland" on eBay right now which is a Pendant wind and set and was supposed to be 1 of 7,000 total made, so I declared it as a "1 star".
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...ageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Elgin put the name on "Overland" on more than one grade, here are the serial numbers, 12285595(Overland), 12285630(GM Wheeler), 12285297 (mine with ENWC and no name marking). If anyone wants a link to the picture I will be more than happy to PM them the link. If you put the Overland sn in the Elgin site you end up with the result at the bottom. The fact that this grade is not that well documented is not surprising, only 1000 made, 18 size 17 jewel it certainly is not on the high jewel RR watch radar. For most grades if you search Ebay logs from the Elgin site you will end up with some results, on the grade 343, nada. For my Elgin grade 361 (1000made) there are 5 results. For the grade 360 (1000made) there are 5 results and the same number for the grade 350. If you do the same for the grade 351 there are about 29 results. If I take the Elgin site verbatim then my watch should show GMW which it doesn't. It's a rare watch, not well documented and not highly sought after or chased after by big dog collectors. Dave, the one you have up on Ebay is a grade 279 (I have one of this grade also) and for the ebay search logs about 7 watches were listed, one item appears to be a catalog.

Serial Number SN Range RunQty Name Year grade size code jewels Adj/reg/etc.
-------------- -------- ------ ---- ---- ----- ---- ------ ------ ------------
12285595 12285001 1000 GMW 1905 343 18s ofn7l 17j ? e
only run of grade 343; 595 of 1000 in grade


grade total runs first yr last yr class size code jewels Adj/name
----- ----- ----- -------- ------- ----- ---- ------ ------ ----------
343 1000 1 1905 1905 122 18s ofn7l 17j ? / GMW


Class 122: 18s OF fp lever model 7
343 1000 made 17j ? Marked GMW.