Sometime between 1951 and 1953 (sources vary), the Elgin National Watch Co., of Elgin, Illinois, reached the historic milestone of making 50 million watch movements. I can't even imagine how much room they would take up, how much they would weigh, how long they would stretch end to end, and all those other ridiculous statistics that some people manage to dream up. But that's a sh**load of watches any way you look at it!
Elgin was, by far, the most prolific of all the purely American watch companies (i.e., the companies where the entire watch was made in America). They made more watches than any of the "Big Three" American wristwatch manufacturers (Elgin, Waltham, Hamilton) and certainly made more than the other two minor companies of Illinois and Dueber Hampden. An Elgin company advertisement in 1928 claimed there were more than 14,418 retail jewelers in the United States, and all but 12 of them carried Elgin watches. (How in the hell they could have figured that out is beyond me, but even if those numbers were guesstimates, I'll bet it wasn't far off from the truth!)
What this means is that any discussion about collecting wristwatches on a budget darned near must begin with Elgin. Their abundance makes them imminently affordable, and their seemingly endless variety of models can satisfy the collector with even the most severe case of Attention Deficit Disorder. (The number of models has yet to be completely cataloged, but one serious Elgin wristwatch collector claims he has so far documented 450 unique models, and I'll bet that's only a fraction of them.) You can go literally decades (as I have) and still see models that you have never seen before! (I am currently having a bezel made for an Elgin model that I have never seen before, and I will share this in an upcoming blog entry.)
For a long time, Elgin watches were considered the "weeds" of the vintage wristwatch garden. They gathered dust in dealers' bargain boxes, while collectors sought more "glamorous" brands. They were about on a par with Bulova, probably the most prolific brand on the Swiss side (see footnote 1). But look at what has happened to Bulova in the last few years: The Internet has not one, but two discussion forums devoted to Bulova. Can Elgin be far behind? (see Footnote 2)
The fact is, Elgin watches have crawled out of the basement in the last few years, due in great measure to the efforts of people like Bryan Girouard and his awesome website, Art Deco Wristwatches, that features some amazing Elgin watches from that period. Thanks to venues like eBay, people are aware of some of the other iconic watches that Elgin made through the decades, including the "Pershing," the "Memaid," the "Skyscraper," the "Chairman," the Elvis Presley direct read model, the 50 millionth anniversary wristwatch (of which only 1,000 were made), and some of the awesome models that Elgin case designers produced during the 1950s "Retro Modern" period, such as the Holcomb, Townsman, and Celestial.
Those and a few other models aside, there is a vast ocean of Elgin watch models available for a mere pittance. With a $100 bill and a little judicious shopping, you can go to your average NAWCC Regional Mart and come home with a couple of nice gold filled models, running, complete with straps. If you have the time to scour the flea markets and consignment shops, that $100 bill might buy you anywhere from four to 10 Elgins. (That's right; I've seen vintage Elgin watches priced at ten bucks apiece at flea markets, garage and estate sales, and thrift/consignment shops.)
The other nice thing about Elgin watches is that they are easy to find parts for. Go to most any watch show, and there will be cabinets stacked like cordwood full of new-old-stock parts for Elgin movements. Can't find a new replacement part? No worries. There are literally millions of Elgin movements laying around at watch shows and being offered on eBay that can be cannibalized for parts. In a really bad situation where a movement is broken or rusted beyond repair, a complete swap-out of one movement for another is often the cheaper and better alternative. (I see absolutely nothing wrong with this practice, by the way, as long as the same caliber movement is used.)
The downside to collecting Elgin (there's always a down side, isn't there?) is that they are difficult to sell come liquidation time. You may find it difficult to even get your money back on them, particularly if you have put any kind of money into restoration. But if your goal is to have fun, and you're not too concerned about investment potential. Elgin watches are your ticket!
Footnote 1: Bulova, while headquartered in the United States, imported nearly all of their movements from manufacturers in Switzerland. They are generally regarded in the vintage watch collecting community as a Swiss brand, not American.
Footnote 2: There is a subforum devoted to Elgin wristwatches here. And for a long time, Elgin enthusiast Wayne Schlitt has maintained this website which provides collectors and historians basic information about Elgin company history and a smattering of Elgin ads and one company catalog from 1939. And certainly Elgin wristwatches are discussed in other forums devoted to wristwatches in general. But there is no forum yet that I know of that is devoted exclusively to Elgin wristwatches.
This blog posting on Elgin has been just a sample of the reams and reams of material I've gathered on Elgin watches over the last 28 years. If you would like more information on Elgin watches, order my complete report. I'll tell you the history of the company, the best models to collect, what to pay, and the pitfalls to avoid. Most of all, the report identifies hundreds and hundreds of Elgin models by name, more than any identification guide on the market. It's just $9.95, and the report is delivered immediately to your email upon payment for you to download to your computer. Satisfaction is guaranteed, or your money back.
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