How much is a 80 year old elgin pocket watch worth?
How much it’s worth depends mostly on the quality of the movement, and to lesser extent the material that the case is made out of. Also, the size of the watch is somewhat important, and condition is very important. Elgin started making watches in 1864, and their United States factory closed in 1964. In that time, they produced in the neighborhood of 55 million watches. Most of these were fairly low grade, but Elgin excellent top-grade movements. The basic run-of-the mill 7-15 jewel, 18, 16, or 12 size unadjusted movement in a plain silveroid(nickel silver) or base metal case is worth $50 or maybe $75(on a good day) if it’s running. Broken, it’s a stretch to get $30 for one. On the other side of the coin, though, a 16-size BW Raymond with an up-down wind indicator is worth a couple thousand. A 15-17 jewel adjusted movement in 16 or 18 size-a solid mid-grade movement-which is also fairly common, will sell for maybe $100-150 in a nice gold filled case. Most BW Raymonds, which are all rail
