I picked up a poorly displayed 18 size Elgin grade 240 19j on ebay for 125 in a nice gold Referee case but it does need a COA because it is very sluggish.

I was checking the repair marks and the watchmaker used the dates with his initial for the markings. It has the following markings

8-30-19M, 8-21-20M, 8-13-21M, 8-22-22M, 10-22-23M, 10-5-35M There is another one that looks to be 8-2-16 with no M after it. Clearly this person took his watch in about every year and from 1919 to 1935 Mr M was his watch repair guy. the watch looks good but it appears that the yearly service stopped many moons ago.

240's are awesome. Mine was full of crud when I got it, but after a bath it ran like a champ and still does. Its one of the watches in my carry rotation.
I also got it for a good price because it was poorly described and the pic was bad, but mine was in a base metal case.

Elgin grade 240's are among my favorites. I like the big 18s dial combined with the thinner profile of the 3/4 plate movement.

I carry one in my brief case. The dial is chipped but somebody "fixed" it years ago. The gold filled case has been dented and repaired several times. The head is broken off one of the plate screws but the darned thing keeps near railroad grade time. I did give it a new William White crystal so it looks pretty good in hand.

I think this is what a working watch is all about. After many years of hard service and minimal upkeep, it still keeps accurate time.

The seller only showed the front of the watch and it had the <<Elgin>> filigree type dial and it was hard to tell if it was 16 or 18s and they said it was made in 1896 so I took a chance that it was a grade 161 and got it for the opening bid of $125. I will post some pictures but this is my 3rd 240 some have the diamond end stone, some don't and this one doesn't. The plates are clean, no scratches, dial is near mint, and sometime in the past the hands were replaced by bold spade hands that are still in great shape. I have more than a few of the variations of the Elgin 18s 3/4 plate and I tend to think they were the best 18s watch out there no matter which version 17j or higher that you picked up. For RR service I think it would have been hard to beat the 19j and higher models.

Check out the dial on my 240. How about the upside down 18.

Movement

Here are the pics of mine (chain came with it). That is an unusual dial and a dual zone at that, along with being an early run movement. Nice looking watch, mine is a mid-run version but still has the <<Elgin>>.

Claude, I've been staring at the photo of the dial, and for the life of me I can't see what makes it a 'dual timezone' dial as you state.

Did it come with a second hour hand, but it was removed or what? Looks like every other Elgin dial I've ever seen/owned of that vintage.

Regards! Mark

Mark I was referring to Keith's watch that he posted above my last post. No mine doesn't have a dual zone set of hands but Keith's does.

AH, ok. THAT makes sense now.

Regards! Mark