A good friend has found out my interest in pocket watches, and has asked for help in finding any information on the watch pictured.

One important question is how to open the case. I haven't been able to unscrew the back, and I don't see any means for opening it. Do you have any suggestions?

On the face are the words Elgin Deluxe in black on a silver face. The hands and numerals are gold, and the indices are black.

The back of the watch has the following inscription: Presented by Ford Motor Co. to Stephen Palka. In recognition of 35 years of service 1913 - 1948
It is signed by Henry Ford II

The watch is nearly brand new, with just a few tiny scuffs. It winds and runs well, and is stem wound and stem set.

Any information about Stephen Palka would also be appreciated.

The watch case is 44mm in diameter; the entire watch including crystal is 18mm.

Here is the watch from the side. Very thin!

Norm picture of the movement or movement S/N will
help.
Nice thin Elgin.

As I've said, I don't know how to open the case, and as it is not my watch, I don't want to try prying the back off. Any suggestions as to how it opens will be appreciated.

Norm

Can't help with the case but Stephen Palka was born Nov. 22, 1892 in Poland. Below is a copy of his WWI draft card & he was living in Detroit Mi., he lists his occupation as a machine setter for the Ford Motor Com, the card is a little hard to read.

In the 1920 census is is still in Detroit and his occupation is listed as machine hand factory auto.

In 1930 he is listed as a Foreman Automobile in Detroit.

Got the case opened. It was a snap case and I used a very thin blade to get the back off. Now you can see all of the interesting stuff inside.

While looking for information on production numbers, I found out that Elgin had some odd details regarding serial numbers. Here is information gleaned from another site. The following paraphrases the info from the site (http://elginpocketwatch.net/elgin-pocket-watch-value/)

(This info is important if you are trying to date watches dated in the 1930s and later)


Elgin introduced letter indexing in 1930. With this information in hand and the information shown in the table below you should now be able to determine the production year of your watch.

Year Serial No Year Serial Number Year Serial Number Year Serial Number Year Serial Number
1867 9000 1868 25001 1869 40001 1870 50001 1871 185001
1872 201,001 1873 325000 1874 400001 1875 430000 1876 480000
1977 520000 1878 570000 1879 625001 1880 750000 1881 900000
1882 1000000 1883 1250000 1884 1500000 1885 1855001 1886 1000000
1887 2500000 1888 3000000 1889 3500000 1890 4000000 1891 4449001
1892 4600000 1893 5000000 1894 5500000 1895 6000000 1896 6500000
1897 7000000 1898 7494000 1899 8000000 1900 9000000 1901 9300000
1902 9600000 1903 10000000 1904 11000000 1905 12000000 1906 12500000
1907 1300000 1908 13500000 1909 14000000 1910 15000000 1911 16000000
1912 17000000 1913 17339001 1914 18000000 1915 18587001 1916 19000000
1917 20031001 1918 21000000 1919 22000000 1920 23000000 1921 24321001
1922 25100000 1923 26050000 1924 27000000 1925 28421001 1926 29100000
1927 30050000 1928 31599001 1929 32000000 1930 32599001 1931 33000000
1932 33700000 1933 34558001 1934 35000000 1935 35650000 1936 36200000
1937 36978001 1938 37900000 1939 38200000 1940 39100000 1941 40200000
1942 41100000 1943 42200000 1944 42600000 1945 43200000 1946 44000000
1947 45000000 1948 46000000 1949 47000000 1950 48000000 1951 50000000
1952 52000000 1953 53500000 1954 54000000 1955 54500000 1956 55000000

Sometime in the 1930s Elgin started to use letters in front of serial numbers to take the place of the millions number at the front of the number. If your watch has a serial number beginning with a latter, then you will have to determine the million’s digits to get to the full Elgin Pocket Watch serial number. The million's digits are not included in the stamping, if there is a letter designation before the numbers.

Letter Millions Digits
C,E,T,Y 42
X 38 or 39
L 43
U 44
J 45
V 46
H 47
N 48
F 49
S 50
R 51
P 52
K 53
I 54

So what was the watches serial #.

Ooophs! I got so tied up in how to determine what the serial number meant that I forgot to tell you all what it was! My watches work better than I do for our ages...

The number is V501718, which means it is 46,501,718. That comes out to a 1948 production run.

Your welcome for the information on Mr. Palka.

Norm, all the Elgin info that you showed us is also on p. 178 of the Complete Price Guide to Watches....

Here is the info on your watch, SN- V501718:

Grade: 542
Movement Serial Number: V501718
Estimated Production Year: 1949
Run Quantity: 12000
Size: 14s
Jewels: 17j
Movement Configuration: Openface
Movement Finish: Flat
Model: 5
Movement Setting: Pendant
Plate: 3/4 Plate
Barrel: Going
Adjusted: No
Adjusted to Positions: 3
Railroad Grade: No

Production Data:

Grade 542

Total Runs-23

Total Produced-125,000

Start Year-1941

End Year-1951

Hope this helps....

Hey Tom, thanks for the info you found on Mr. Palka....very interesting....

Regards,

Jerry

Thanks to you folks who contributed! My friend is quite pleased and thinks you are amazing and very professional.

Have to say that I really enjoy getting as much information about the watch and owner as possible...I will get better - two months ago I knew nothing about pocket watches, but with the help here I'm catching on a bit.

Tom, what a great job, you're amazing.