Anyone need a NOS Elgin type A11 Military case and dial i will have these 2 on ebay this weekend.

the backs

Samie, What are you asking for these? Matt capnsutton@aol.com

Matthew thanks for your interest i dont have any idea what they are worth i will put them on ebay and a 1.00 starting price and let the high bidder win them.

Fair enough. I will follow the auction with interest. Do you have any information on what movement may have been intended for this case and dial combination?

Samie and Matthew,

While just about any 8/0 size Elgin sub-seconds movement should fit, the 554 movement was used by the military. I imagine there were others as well.

The A-11 specification called for a hacking movement, and these cases are usually seen with the familiar flat black dial with luminous white figures and hands, and central sweep seconds. That movement should be the 539, although I think there are some others there also.

Elgin movements for the military are finished differently than their civilian production, with the polished steel parts being replaced with a blued (or black) finish. One of my 539s has a gilt finish, while the other is plain nickel, one is marked 15 jewels, the other, 16 jewels.

Regards,

Cary

Samie, perfect timing. I have a 539 that is need of a new home. I cant seem to find the auction on ebay. Do you have a link to your auction?

Cary thanks for the info on the movements and your right i have a couple of these and they have the 539 hack set 16 jewel movement i don,t have one of the gilt ones and i like them better than the nickel ..

Thanks lindell for the link ..

bruce i just listed these on ebay although they may not show up on my auctions for a few hours yet.military case

Samie,

Did these type cases come with the inner movement cover?

Tim.

Are you sure the dials are correct for A-11 cases? I don't think I can ever recall having seen white dialed movements for A-11s.

Tim no these don,t have a dust cover.

Jim not sure about the dial these are the way i bought them several years ago..

Jim,

As noted on the hang tags, these cases were intended for the 539 hacking sweep seconds movement. It is the one we usually see with the black dial with white numerals and hands.

The dials were intended for the 554 sub-seconds movement, usually seen in the cases marked simply "ORD. DEPT.".

Someone probably tucked the dials into the cases for safekeeping at some point in the last sixty years.

Regards,

Cary

Thanks cary for clearing things up about the dials ,,You may be right i have more of these military cases i will take a look and see what dials are with them.

Whether the ww-II watch was an Elgin, Hamilton, Bulova, or Waltham, the white dials were used on what the military called "garrison watches". These were issued to combat service support soldiers, ie, supply, transportation, medical, etc. These were not hack set watches.

The ones with the black dials were referred to as "tactical watches". These were issued to combat and combat support troops. These were hack set as synchronization in the field was necessary.

Tom, US Army retired

Thanks Tom for the information on the military dials, i know very little about the military wristwatches I have a couple of the hamilton 987s hack set watches and a few of the Elgin,i find them interresting.

I took a look at the other elgin cases i have and they all have the same white dials as the ones listed on Ebay..


I have some nos military cases from 1960 these have a dust cover and 3 movement rings in the package with the case what movement would these have used,,,, there is no ord#,s on the back.

Samie, In the 60's, to my knowledge, the military watches were Hamilton, some US made and some Buren Swiss. I also believe that Bulova was still providing watches to the military at that time. I have never seen a military Elgin from the 1960's.

It was from around 1965 on that the Army went to the plastic waterproof case with the 7J Benrus movement. These were listed as non repairable in the supply channels and were a drop-accountable item (throwaway).

Tom