Antique Elgin Pocket Watches

It was once fashionable for every man to wear a pocket watch. The Elgin Watch Company was founded in 1864. The company came up with the idea of mass producing pocket watches. Up until about 1850, pocket watches were manufactured by hand. The Elgin Watch Company wanted their watches to have interchangeable parts. The pocket watch was kept in a man's pocket and was attached with a chain to either their vest or coat pocket. Many pocket watches are mechanical, meaning they need to be wound manually and are generally made from silver or gold. Antique pocket watches are highly collectible to this day. Antique pocket watches can be found in antique stores or estate jewellery stores.

The historical significance of an Elgin pocket watch is that it was 'the watch company of New America'. The Elgin Watch Company closed in 1964 after having manufactured half of the total pocket watches produced in the USA. Elgin pocket watches are generally easy to find because there were so many made. They are easy to repair because of their interchangeable parts. As a hobbyist who is interested in pocket watches, these are the easiest watches to repair. This makes the Elgin Pocket Watch one of the most versatile pocket watches. If handled with care, it can be used on a daily basis.

Elgin Pocket Watches are obviously mechanical and not as accurate as a quartz watch, but the soothing ticking sound of an Elgin Pocket Watch cannot be replaced by a digital or a quartz watch. As far as the mechanism of the Elgin Pocket Watch, the mainspring in the watch must be controlled so that the watch will keep time. There is an escape mechanism that allows the power to escape in equal bursts in short intervals. The Elgin Pocket Watch Company created a rust proof alloy escape wheel designed to be so durable that it is unaffected by the continuous pounding this escape wheel must take.

The history alone of the Elgin Pocket Watch makes it a highly collectible and desirable pocket watch that anyone would be proud to own.