Elgin Grade 301 Solid 14K Gold Hunting Case Gentlemen's Dress Pocket Watch (1913)

Here is a handsome example of the American gentleman's dress watch at its most classic: an Elgin Grade 301 solid 14k gold hunting case pocket watch, produced in 1913 at the Elgin National Watch Company's factory in Elgin, Illinois.

The Grade 301 was one of Elgin's most successful size 12 movements, a workhorse of the early twentieth century that stayed in production for roughly a quarter century and saw hundreds of thousands of examples leave the factory. This is a 7 jewel, model 2 movement with a nickel finish, configured as a hunter, and it carries the double-sunk styling and clean bridge layout that made these Elgin twelves such reliable everyday companions for the well-dressed gentleman.  

The size 12 was the dress pocket watch of the era. At roughly 1¾ inches across, it slipped neatly into a vest pocket and became a symbol of prestige and status without the heft of the older size 18 railroad watches. Hunting case examples like this one are getting harder to locate in fine condition, as the softer precious metals of the period, like this luxurious solid 14k gold, were not always kind to a century of daily wear.  

1913 was a remarkable year to leave the factory floor. Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as the twenty-eighth president that March, Henry Ford switched on the first moving automotive assembly line in Highland Park that December, and Harry Brearley cast the first true stainless steel that August. This little Elgin has been quietly keeping time through all of it.  

Another fine example of the late 19th and early 20th Century American ingenuity that made the pocket watch a worldwide standard for beauty and accuracy in timekeeping. This vintage Elgin pocket watch has been cleaned, oiled, and adjusted for accuracy, and is warranted for one full year from the date of purchase.