Elgin B.W. Raymond info.

[Dutto11]

Hi Guys and Gals,
I was wondering if any body can inform me to any information about the above watch.
I have recently purchased a 16s, 21 jewel Elgin B.W. Raymond in a gold filled Elgin case. See pictures below.

[Dutto11]

This is the sellers report on this watch:-
this is a 1941 Model 590 Elgin Railroad pocket watch. This watch is in excellent condition with no brassing an just a couple tiny dents in rear of case. Case is an Elgin 10K gold filled with screw front and back. The movement is a B W Raymond 21-jewel 16-size. It runs great and keeps excellent time. It's stem wind, lever set and adjusted to 5 positions plus temperature. Serial number of the movement is 43149574 and the case is 56369.

I suppose all I would like to know is the said watch a good quality Elgin.

[Fred Hansen]

There is some excellent information here discussing the later B.W. Raymond grades that was posted by Kent Singer in this past thread ...

http://www.nawcc-mb.com/bbv2/bbBoard.cgi?a=viewthread;fid=3;gtid=6812;gpid=6813 #gpid6813

And the key point here is that the 590 was a relatively short lived step in the 21 jewel B.W. Raymond line during the WWII era. The grade 590 was a more modern movement than the 478 in its use of materials for the balance and hairspring, but was not a larger redesign of the B.W. Raymond grade as was the 571.

The only thing I would add to Kent's comments is that the grade 590 is far less common than these other two grades with the total production figures I've seen being ...

Grade 478 - 185,400
Grade 590 - 8,000
Grade 571 - 171,000

So to your question ...

I suppose all I would like to know is the said watch a good quality Elgin.

... I'd say yes, the 590 is a nice quality WWII era 21J railroad grade watch.

Fred

[Dutto11]

Thanks Fred,
This being my first 21 jewel Elgin I am unsure if it is a good quality or sort after watch. Will it rate against my Maltham 23 jewel Vanguard or maybe my 21 jewel 992b.

[Kent]

In terms of timekeeping rate, yes.