Description:
Elgin 17J adj. grade 683 wrist watch, vintage mechanical manual-wind movement, attractive champagne-toned metal dial with raised fancy Arabic numbers has some light scratches near the seconds bit (not distracting), black Continental advertising script above center post, fancy gold steel wedge-style hands, beautiful yellow gold filled (YGF) & stainless steel (SS) rectangular case with sculpted bezel and heavy extended lugs showing only light, even wear, domed thick glass crystal, measures approx. 25mm wide x 35mm lug to lug, textured black leather band. This watch also comes with a red leatherette Elgin presentation box with red satin and red velvet interior with wrist watch display. An attractive vintage Continental advertising piece in excellent+ condition!
Item Specifics:
Logo Info:
On all but a few of the advertising logos, mainly Packard from the Hamilton company and Studebaker from South Bend, the logos would have been commissioned through a professional dial company after they left the factory to have the logo applied. For instance, a car dealership might have them added as a promotion, a motorcycle club would have ones done for each of their members, etc.
On the watch/logo combinations that may not match up on a timeline (the watch was made prior to the automobile company being formed, for instance), what we understand could have happened is, say for a car club, the members would need to provide their own watch to which the emblems would be added. Someone might have wanted a Harley logo on "Grandpa Bob's" old pocket watch, and would have had the dial pulled from that. Other than the Packard/Hamilton & Studebaker/South Bend arrangements, it was a free-for-all on the pairings and you could find just about any combination of manufacturer with the different logos.
We do also have a pretty good selection of the vintage dials that have emblems on them, but that are not attached to a watch yet. Often in the past, a customer would want a watch without the advertising, so we would just pull the printed dial and replace it with a similar-style plain dial, then set the printed one aside. If you have something specific you are looking for, please drop us a note to see if we have anything in our stock that might work for you.
For guides on how to wear and care for your vintage watches and watch accessories, check out the PM Time Service reference pages at:
www.pmtime.com/POP_REF_PAGES.html
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