The code is a series of letters, and numbers packed together. You
need to look at the letters one at a time.
| First letter: the movement "type" |
| h | hunter case (or keywind) | The second hand is 90 degrees to the pendant |
| o | open face | The second hand is opposite (180 deg) from the pendant |
| c | convertible | This movement can be either open face to hunter case |
| s | sweep second | The second hand is in the center with the other hands |
| - | no second | There is no second hand |
| ? | unknown | Accurate information about this watch is unknown |
Notes:
- Keywind watches are classified as "Hunter Case" because that is
how Elgin classified them.
- Keywind, convertible, sweep second and watches without second
hands can all be correctly placed in either a hunter case or an open
faced case.
- Elgin classified the "bridge layout" as part of the style instead
of the plate layout.
|
|
| Second letter: The plate style |
| f | full plate | Only the balance wheel is visible and is above a plate |
| 3 | 3/4 plate | The top plate is cut so the balance wheel can be sunk down to the same level as all the other gears. |
| b | bridge | The gears are held in place by small bars instead of plate that covers much of the watch. |
| ? | unknown | Accurate information about this watch is unknown |
|
| Third letter: The plate finish |
| g | gold gilded | The plates will have a gold color to them |
| n | nickel damaskeening | The plates will have a shiny silver color with patterns and designs that change as you move the watch around. The patterns are known as "damaskeening". |
| t | two-tone | The plates will have damaskeening in both nickel and gold. |
| f | flat (matte) | the plates will have a dull, flat silvery finish. |
| ? | unknown | Accurate information about this watch is unknown |
|
| Fourth digit: The model number (This can sometimes be two digits) |
|
| Fifth letter: How the time is set and the watch is wound. |
| k | key set | To set the time, you need to use a small "key" and to wind it. |
| l | lever set | To set the time, you need to open the front of the watch and pull out a small "lever" and then turn the pendant to set. To wind it, you turn the pendant. |
| p | pendant set | To set the time, you need to pull the pendant out and to wind it, you turn the pendant. |
| a | auto-wind | The watch will automatically wind itself by moving the watch around. To set it, you use the pendant. |
| h | hack set | Like pendant set, but by pulling the pendant out, you stop the watch. This lets you set the time exactly. |
| ? | unknown | Accurate information about this watch is unknown |
| Note: Some grades were "transitional", and had both keywind parts, and could be wound by the pendant.
|
|
| Sixth letter: How quickly the watch ticks |
| | quick train | If there is no seventh letter, then the watch beats at 5 beats per second. |
| s | slow train | This watch ticks at only 4.5 beats per second |
| b | both | Some versions of this watch beat at the slow 4.5 bps and some beat at the quick 5 bps |
| j | Jitter Bug | During WWII, Elgin produced a
very accurate stop watch that beat 40 times per second. It ticked so
quickly that people nicknamed it the "jitter bug". |
| ? | unknown | Accurate information about this watch is unknown |
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