Elgin Lord Elgin Model 760

Listed in the auction where I bought it...
This fine timepiece is a vintage Lord Elgin Mens 10K Gold. This is not a gold plated watch it is a solid 10K gold piece. The facing is gold with gold hands and second sweep. It is a vintage watch, and although I am not knowledgeable in watches I would tend to believe that it was manufactured around 1950's. The facing says Lord Elgin, 30 Jewels, Self Winding and American Made. The movement is marked with the numbers 760 and also 30 jewels. The inside of the the back case is marked 10K Gold and is marked with these words, "Case and timed by Elgin National Watch Co." It is in running condition as long as I move it back and forth for a period of time, then it will run for a period of time and keep good time.
Again I am not knowledgable in this field but I would guess that the winding knob is not original but does function in setting in the time. The watch is in excellent appearance condition and would look fantastic with a new leather strap. It would dress up any suit and could be worn with pride.

Found more information.......... see below.

Sheila, Elgin did make an American Self winding watch. I have one. Mine is the grade 607 with the bumper rotor. I have not seen an American made grade 760 with 30 jewels. Has anyone else seen one? Elgin's selfwinding American made watches were developed in the early 1950's, and appear to have been made for only a short time. I guess they found it cheaper to import Swiss self winding movements to sell here. It could very well be an authentic American made Elgin selfwinding watch.

Tom

Forgotten Masterpieces: The Last Elgins

Around 1958 Elgin introduced a pair of notable advancements for their higher end watches, these were the Durabalance free-sprung balance, and the calibers 760 and 761, the only American made self-winding movements. These last great achievements of what was at one time the worlds largest watch company were unfortunately not enough to save the manufacturer. The Elgin National Watch Company was to last only five years after their introduction. These late Elgins offer an interesting challenge for collectors. With a few exceptions, they are not particularly rare, and the prices are generally low, but parts for watches of the late Elgin years are scarce indeed. So, why should a collector bother? I'll try to answer that.

Along with the 607 and 618, the Elgin 760 and 761 have the sad honor of being the only American made automatic movements. Even as they were being developed, other American companies were giving in to the Swiss dominance of the market. Hamilton adopted Swiss ebauches for its automatics; Waltham had tried that, but had already gone out of business in 1957, as Elgin audaciously pressed on.

The jewel count in these movements is given as 27 for the 761 and 30 for the 760. Pictured at right is a 761, with and without its rotor. A count of the visible jewels, and standard assumptions about those not visible, would account for only 21 - so where are the other 6? The answer is one of the most elegant innovations in the watch.

See all the answers here:

http://elginwatches.org/history/fm.html

Tom,
Looks like you have a winner too! Now, how am I ever going to get it fixed? lolol

Seems not many can work on these babies, and mine obviously needs the "winding mechanism" replaced.

Lindell,

What a wonderful picture! Pretty "Space Age" huh? Thank you.

Thanks,

Another US automatic, currently on ebay ----

The "extra 6 jewels" Elgin used as self-winding Sprague type 1-way roller clutches. The "Micro eccentric roller jewels" are in both the 760 and 761 automatics.

Regarding working on these, I repaired a Gold "Humble Oil" Presentation 760 by using "donor parts" for one clutch that was broken. Working on this guy "Cured" me of wrist-watchmaking. But it keeps excellent time as do the other two 761's (which look a lot thinner becauuse they have the BWR RR Gr. Mvt.) I like to use as carry watches.

Beautiful dials. The "Durabalance" Elgins ALL were uniquely marked with the Upside-down lollipop type Circle with a vertical line coming out the top only. These are US-Made, and among the finest Horological technology ever devised for high accuracy efficiently manufactured wristwatches.

The thinner cased (and waterproofed) 761 type made for a noticeably thinner "look" when wearing.