Your will receive a FREE signed copy of my latest book, "Waltham Trench Watches of the Great War" with this purchase!

Be sure to pick up a copy of my first book "Elgin Trench Watches of the Great War".

Up for sale today is the rarest of the rare! This is an exceptionally beautiful and extremely desirable gold filled WWI Elgin RED XII Trench Watch that features a high grade 17 jewel movement that dates back to 1915! This is by far the rarest Elgin Trench Watch movement you'll ever see. From 1914 thru 1933 Elgin produced about 2,000,000 size 3/0s movements. But, only 500 of the 2,000,000 were made with 17 jewels. That means that only 1/4 of 1% of ALL size 3/0s Elgin movements were made like this one. This is number 284 of the 500 grade 423 movements that were produced. The movement features a solid gold center wheel, solid gold raised jewel chatons and solid gold balance wheel screws! The movement pillar plate and bridges are made of solid nickel rather than nickel plated brass, a far superior design. This absolutely remarkable piece of American craftsmanship is in SUPERB condition! Our Grandfather's knew how to make things that would last for generations! The movement was just completely taken apart and serviced on 7-20-2017, a new mainspring has also been installed. It's in superb running condition and keeping excellent time. This watch has been tested on a professional timegraph 5000 Machine for accuracy so rest assured! Take another look at picture number three again, this movement is clean as a whistle and stunning in it's detailed beauty! I'm sure that you have noticed by now that this is not your ordinary trench watch case by a long shot! This is a 14k gold filled "Ramona" grade DOUBLE STOCK trench watch case that was manufactured by the Illinois Watch Case Company. Double stock means that the case was gold plated not once but twice! This case is highly prized by collectors for its beauty and design features. Plus, this case still has the original factory crown! The case has been lightly hand polished, it now has a beautiful finish once again. This watch is simply incredible! The enamel military dial on this trench watch is among the most desirable they ever produced, the BOLD Roman Numeral RED XII. The dial features a white face, BOLD Roman numerals, an outer chapter of minute markers, the correct hands for this dial, signed "ELGIN" near the center with the RED XII at the top. This dial features a little something extra, a "MADE IN USA" stamp just above the second hand. All RED XII dials do not have this extra stamp but this one does. This historic and iconic American trench watch has been fitted with a dark brown distressed leather Kitchener Strap that absolutely makes the watch! The strap was hand made by the Prairie Flower Leather Company in Nebraska. Very high quality strap that was made using a sewing machine from the Great War era! Take a look at picture number two again, this watch looks stunning on the wrist! The strap will fit a wrist up to about 8.5 inches and has a matching gold tone buckle. It will have a bit of wear on it because I seriously could not resist wearing this one for a few days, can you blame me? It's kind of like Ferris Bueller and that Ferrari, if you had access to one would you just leave it in a garage? I think not! Here are the movement details: 1915 Elgin, 17 jewels, size 3/0s, serial number 18628284, grade 423. They just don't make them like this anymore! The case measures 36mm lug to lug, 31mm without the original factory crown with a 10mm lug diameter. A brand new glass crystal was just installed using UV cement and a UV curing machine. I also installed a brand new inner sleeve on the crown tube, it now has a nice firm "pop", just as it should. This watch is ready to be worn and shown off, it will surely get noticed! I put a lot of time and effort into this Elgin, I'm sure that you will appreciate the quality and quantity of work that has been done. Solid old World craftsmanship at it's finest! You would be seriously hard pressed to find a finer example of this 1915 WWI Elgin RED XII Trench Watch featuring one of the 500 grade 423 movements, or even another one for that matter! This one sets the bar!


All watches being shipped Domestically and Internationally will be shipped in a hard shell watch gift box from now on for the MAXIMUM amount of protection during shipment.

All of my stock is not listed here on ebay, looking for something special? Drop me a line. 

 

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I spend hours, days, weeks and sometimes months searching the globe to bring you the most unique and rare Elgins and Walthams. I specialize in the most desirable and collectible timepieces like black dials, RED 12 dials, military dials, trench cases, wire lugs, scrolled cases, solid gold cases, sterling cases and offset crowns most with high jewel counts. All of my watches will be dated pre-1940. If you like what you see please mark me as one of your favorites as I usually list watches on a weekly basis.

The watch will ship within 3 days of cleared payment. If you are using the "buy it now" feature payment must be made at the time of purchase. If this is an auction listing payment is expected within 3 days when the auction ends, if not the item will be re-listed and ebay will be notified of non-payment. I only accept paypal. All of the above listed item(s) will ship "AS IS". I will not accept returns. Please look closely at the pictures because you will get exactly what you see once you pay for it. Any and all import duty, taxes and customs fees are the sole responsibility of the buyer. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability. Thanks for looking and good luck !  

Although vintage watches may be working on a bench test or in the pictures used to describe the item, they probably have not been used for many decades and need be serviced by a professional watchmaker to ensure optimal performance, unless otherwise stated. Overseas buyers and other buyers outside of the United States should be aware that high altitude flights can have an adverse effect on oils inside a vintage watch and should be serviced upon delivery. No guarantees given about future reliability or timekeeping.

Check out my other auctions!

I will have many more watches that will be up for bid over the next weeks ! ! !

Thanks for looking!

LiteRustyFan