Is an Elgin 571 very rare?

[railman]

The tear-drop case is neat. Is this pocket watch very rare? It's, as you all know, a BW Raymond watch with pressed-in jewels. Railroad approved.

[railman]

The tear-drop case is neat. Is this pocket watch very rare? It's, as you all know, a BW Raymond watch with pressed-in jewels. Railroad approved.

[Ball992B]

Railman,
The teardrop case you describe is more than likely #3055. The later version the 3058 has a liitle different bow design.

I am not sure of the total production of the 571 but judging by the number of them seen at any given event and the fact that I have a couple, they are not rare.

[Kent]

railman:

It depends if you're selling or buying. If you're selling one, its a pretty rare and uncommon watch from the not too oft collected post WWII era.

If you're buying, its very common, being one of the five most popular railroad standard watches ever produced. Although exact production records aren't available, Ed Ueberall and I estimated that the 571's total production was close to 175,000.

The so-called "teardrop" case was either, the model 3055 as Ball992B said, or the model 3056 case. They had the same center ring, pendant and bow. The difference was in the back and bezel. The model 3055 case had a smooth, plain design on the B&B rims, while the model 3056 case had a repetitive diamond and bar design on the rims, see this link to Elgin 3055 and 3056 Cases (http://www.knology.net/~ksinger/3055_3056.jpg). These two were very popular cases and I wouldn't be surprised if there are 70,000 - 100,000 of them. The 3055 seems to show up more often.

The 571 is detailed in a pair of articles in the October 1995 and August 1996 NAWCC Bulletin.

Kent :smile:

[This message has been edited by Kent (edited 07-31-2002).]