Elgin Hulburd

Some further information supplied by the owner on thisoutstanding example.

CH Hulburd

The C.H. Hulburd was Elgin's prestige dress  watch and is probably the most innovative,  artistic  and thinness American dress watch made.   During the early  1920s Hulburds were priced between  $300 and $550. During the same time periods a Ford of Chevy was selling for $500. Although 8 blocks of 1,000 were reserved only a few hundred were probably sold due to their high cost.

 The movement is unlike any other American design and look more similar to European designs. It  had 19jewels  with 8 adjustments and an Invar Steel balance. Ads for the Hulburd stated that each Hulburd was "a distinctly different creation"-no two had the same combination of bows, crowns, case s, dials and hands. The Hulburds are distinguished by unusual bows, crowns, ornate dials and  carved cases. Some in the first and second production runs also were enameled . The watches in the first production were the most elaborate. As time went on the cases,  bows ,crowns and dials became significantly plainer. 

The watch shown is a in the first production run and personifies what a Hulburd is. That is it has an elongated stylized bow, an acorn crown, a fancy dial  and intricate carving on the back of the case.  

The reason I had the seller send this watch directly to Chris was because it "was not running". My prior experiences with Chris is that he did a superb  job repair/restoring my watches. As parts are rarely available for Hulburds I needed someone who could make parts etc if necessary. Also I was not willing to entrust this  watch to someone who was not the best.