When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Rare Ladies 1930\'s Elgin *Star Diamond White Gold Cocktail Wristwatch - Silk Band. Condition is Pre-owned. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.
This is a vintage ladies\' wristwatch from the 1930s made by Elgin. The watch features a 14K white gold case with a diamond bezel and a white gold dial patterned with an Elgin star. The indices are stick indexes and 12 & 6. The watch has a two-piece black silk strap with a double-locking fold-over clasp and can fit a wrist size of 6.26-6.75 inches. It has a mechanical (manual) movement with 20 diamonds and is not water-resistant.
LADY\'S 14K WHITE GOLD AND DIAMOND ELGIN* WRISTWATCH, with round brilliant cut diamonds, Elgin movement. 1930s. Missing glass dial cover and dial hands.
The Elgin National Watch Company Observatory was placed into service in 1910 under the direction of William W. Payne. Before his position with the company Payne was a professor at Goodsell Observatory, and founder of Popular Astronomy magazine. The observatory’s purpose was to record precise time using astronomical measurement and to transmit the timing standard throughout the factory. The Elgin Time Observatory was located on a hill a few blocks east of the main factory. The Observatory was opened in February, 1910, and provided a baseline timing standard for Elgin; all factory facilities had clocks synchronized to the Observatory. It was the only time observatory that was owned and maintained by a watch manufacturer in the nation. For many years Elgin ads trumpeted that their timepieces were “Timed to the Stars.”
In a 1924 print ad, Elgin explained:
The stars* are the final arbiters of time – and by time almost all human destinies are governed. Every time you look at your Elgin Watch you come in contact with the stars*. For Elgin maintains its own Time Observatory – in charge of astronomers of national prominence. It is in daily use, every working day of the year – practical use. Here the Elgin astronomers take the time direct from the stars*. With star* observations almost unbelievably exact they check the master clocks. And second after second, hour by hour, the master clocks send out the precise time to the Elgin work-rooms and timing laboratories to control every operation in making and timing your Elgin Watch. Starting in 1933 to 1940, a number of Elgin watch models displayed a star* on the dial, to further symbolize the company’s astronomical roots.
The Elgin Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, USA, was founded in 1864, right as the civil war was coming to an end. The first watch Elgin made, an 18 sized B W Raymond railway grade watch, was finished in 1867 and over the next 100 years, they went on to produce about 60 million watches. Elgin produced their first wristwatch around 1910, leading most other American watch companies by many years.
