736 - Elgin and Waltham, two hunter-case pocket watches with multicolour gold relief, gilt, USA circa 1900

Elgin and Waltham, two hunter-case pocket watches with multicolour gold relief, gilt, USA circa 1900 Two gilt hunter-case pocket watches, spring-lid watches, 1) Elgin, gilt case, front lid and back cover with scroll and volute relief in rose gold and green gold, on the front lid centrally a cartouche with monogram, on the back cover a bird, white enamel dial inscribed "Elgin" with black Roman numerals, minute track, subsidiary seconds at 6 o'clock and blued pear hands, movement inscribed "Elgin Nat'l Watch Co. U.S.A.", "15 Jewels" and "Safety Pinion", movement number "10448487", crown winding, watch starts running, good used condition commensurate with age, D. 36 mm, H. 11 mm, weight 44.3 g, 2) Waltham, gilt case, front lid and back cover with floral Art Nouveau relief in rose gold, green gold and yellow gold, volute and leaf motifs, on the front lid centrally a cartouche with monogram, the dust cover engraved "S. Huebner", white enamel dial inscribed "Waltham" with black Roman numerals, red Arabic minute track, subsidiary seconds at 6 o'clock and blued pear hands, gilt movement inscribed "American Waltham Watch Co." and "Safety Barrel", crown winding, watch starts running, good used condition commensurate with age, D. 36 mm, H. 11 mm, weight 44.1 g The Elgin National Watch Company was founded in 1864 as the National Watch Company in Elgin, Illinois, and was one of the most important American pocket watch manufacturers. The Waltham Watch Company goes back to Aaron Lufkin Dennison, who began the factory series production of pocket watches in Massachusetts in 1850; from 1885 the company traded as the American Waltham Watch Company, and by the end of production in 1957 some 40 million watches and precision instruments had been made. Both firms supplied their movements to case makers, who fitted them in gilt, gold-filled or gold cases. Cases with multicolour gold relief decoration in rose gold, green gold and yellow gold are characteristic of American pocket watches of the period circa 1890 to 1910 and are sought after by collectors as multicolour cases.