Hi Folks

Is the above a legitimate combination? Would it have been factory made or have been done by some watchmaker / repairman or whoever to overcome some problem?

I have seen it on a 21J Elgin of 1911 vintage.

Your comments please.

Gordon

Gordon

'hunter' or 'open face' and the setting mechanism of a watch are independent.
open face movement - winding stem at 12 o' clock
hunter movement - winding stem at 3
( winding stem can be replaced by pendent on the older kw/ks)
In the time when the winding stem came out all watches were lever set or pin(needle) set (the european ones).
Setting by stem (push- pull crown) was the latest improvement of the setting mechanism.
In the early times of american watchmaking a lot of movements and cases were sold separate and put together by the jeweler/watchmaker.
If your combination is right can be decided when we check the files with the serial number of the movement.
Only 'wrong' combination is the so called 'sidewinder' which is a hunter movement in an open face case.
Please give us the serial number of the movement

Regards,
Gerald

Gerald

The s/n is: 16677770.

Gordon

Gordon

According to the database that serial number would be a hunter movement lever set, also not a lot of those made.

http://elginwatches.org/cgi-bi...677770&action=search

Tom

Hi Tom

Thanks for the info.

Gordon

Elgin made more than it's fair share of Hunter cased lever set movements, grades 149 and 348 and the 373 are just a few. I also have a FT grade 373 and the oddity about it is that most hunter cased lever sets don't have the lever at the 2 position like most open face watches but at the lower position. I think for whatever reason Elgin wanted to maintain the lever position of the open face types but setting the grade 373 is a bit akward because when you pull the lever rather than pulling up and out you are pulling the lever out and down. I will post some pictures of mine and yes they did not make many another low production Elgin but a beautiful watch. Below are some pictures of the Father Time grade 373, the setting lever is at the 9 min position rather than the typical 6 min position of the open face and not like other hunters where the set lever is closer to 5 hour area. It also has the Bunn Special type ray pattern which you also see on the 18 size Elgin grade 367 and a truncated ray pattern found on my Elgin 23j Veritas grade 453 shown also.