Elgin Pocket watches have a long and rich history. These watches are considered aristocratic for their intricate design and value. You may have an Elgin pocket watch in your possession. This may lead you to wonder, “how do I identify my Elgin pocket watch and its value?”
To identify your Elgin pocket watch, you will need to know whether it is real or fake. Also, to know its true value, you will need to determine the age of your Elgin watch.
We have a related article for you, you can read the Best 11 Smartwatches For Firefighters – Tough & Reliable Ones.
You may not know how to do such things. That’s why we are here to help you! Let us explain this for your better understanding.
Table of Contents
How Do I Identify My Elgin Pocket Watch & Its Value?
To identify your Elgin pocket watch, you will first need to determine its authenticity. There are many ways for that. The value of Elgin pocket watches is dependent on their age.
So, the question remains, How can you do that? Let’s jump right into it without any further delay.
How Do You Know a Fake Elgin Watch?
There should be an inscription on your watch back. If you don’t see any inscription there, you should search for it on the watch cover. The inscription should say “Elgin” or some other abbreviation. In case there aren’t any, the watch may be fake.
Experts can tell whether the watch is real or fake just by investigating it. You should take your time inspecting the watch. See whether the timepiece sizes are between 18-size to 10-size. The real Elgin watches are also key-wound. Check whether your watch is a key-wound or not.
If you are planning to buy an Elgin watch, ask the seller for the details of the watch. In case, he says the watch is early Elgin, you are better off not buying that watch. The reason is that early Elgin watches are mostly fakes of the real ones.
The best possible way of knowing whether the watch is fake or not is by checking the serial number. To do that, you will need to do the following things:
- Start by opening the back of your Elgin pocket watch.
- Then, you should see a serial number inscribed on your watch. The number should be right around your gear movement.
- After that, note down the number.
- Following that, search for the serial number online.
- If you see the serial number matching with a serial number category from Elgin, you have a real Elgin watch. Otherwise, the watch is fake.
How To Determine The Age Of An Elgin Pocket Watch?
You can easily find the manufacturing date of your Elgin pocket watch. However, the watch should be an authentic Elgin pocket watch. You cannot find out the age of a fake Elgin watch properly.
Firstly, you should know that there is a serial number on the box that your watch came in. That number is not the serial number of your watch. This number is used for identification.
You should see two serial numbers on your watch. One of them is on the dials. This serial number helps figure out whether the watch is real or not. However, you cannot know the age of your Elgin pocket watch with just that.
On the back of your watch, right near gear movement, you should find a serial number. You need to note down that serial number. There are some websites online, which contain information regarding which year the watch was manufactured.
Calculating The Age Of Your Elgin Pocket Watch
You need to match the serial number of your Elgin pocket watch with that table. Once you have found a match, you can find the year it was manufactured. Then, subtract the manufacturing date from the year you are in. You will know the age of your watch.
For example, suppose your watch has a serial number of 52,000,000. This means that the watch was manufactured in 1952. Then, subtract it from this year, which is 2022.
You will get, (2022-1952)=70.
That means the watch you have is 70 years old.
That’s essentially how you can determine the age of your Elgin pocket watch. Additionally, you can look up your serial number on this website to know the manufacturing date: http://waterstonewatches.com/elgin-watch-identification-guide/
How Do You Tell The Year Of An Elgin Pocket Watch?
Knowing the year of an Elgin pocket watch is relatively easy, provided you have an authentic pocket watch by Elgin.
To get started, locate the serial number by opening the watch back. Be careful not to scratch the watch in any way. Following this, take note of the serial number.
After you have done so, you can search online with this serial number. The serial number is a type of identification for which year it was manufactured.
Once you have searched by the serial number, you should get all the necessary information regarding your watch. The year of the Elgin watch should also be mentioned there.
You can look up the serial number on this website: http://home.elgintime.com/elgintime/SnumLookup
How To Know The Value Of My Elgin Pocket Watch?
The value of a watch depends on some factors. These are:
- The date of production
- The significance of the model
- And the materials used
The Elgin pocket watches are considered vintage watches due to their design and popularity.
The value of your Elgin pocket watch can be determined by the factors mentioned above. However, the rarity of your watch is also a big factor. The rarer the watch, the more valuable it is.
Also, the condition of your watch is very important. A watch in pristine condition will always be more valuable than a defective watch.
Verdict
Elgin watches have a very profound history. Hence, many collectors want to have these in their collections. We hope that we were able to meet your curiosity regarding “how do I identify my Elgin pocket watch and its value?”
Being on the lookout for a few things will be enough for you to understand the answers to your questions. However, there may be some cases where you fail to distinguish if your watch is a real Elgin pocket watch or not. Then, you can get your watch appraised by a professional. That’s how you can be sure.
We sincerely hope that we were able to satisfy your query.
For more details on this subject, please check out this post that I published recently – How To Tell If An Elgin Pocket Watch Is Gold?
As a professional trainer and a gadget lover, I’ve spent a lot of money and time buying wearable activity trackers, smartwatches, and gadgets, and checking them out. My site is focused on helping you with your activity tracking and smart technology journey. I try to provide the most helpful updated content on this subject. Hopefully, you will love my blogs and be a regular around here.
