WorthPoint » Early 20th century American watches http://www.worthpoint.com Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:21:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Early 20th Century Prestige Watches http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/early-20th-century-prestige-watches http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/early-20th-century-prestige-watches#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:19:32 +0000 David Mycko http://www.worthpoint.com/?p=2456554 The early 20th century saw fierce competition among American watch companies. Every watch company in the country produced a “top of the line” watch, of the best production and high grade. These were, of course, lesser production because they required more time and effort.

These companies took the competition one step further and started producing what they called “Prestige Watches.” This was such a specialized watch with very limited market demand, and relatively few were produced. They became the priceless possessions of a few.

These watches are highly sought after today, are hard to find, and bring a pretty penny when they do surface. I have listed in my Items column the watches separately, as each watch should be looked at individually and closely inspected to be appreciated.

In my opinion, the top watch is the Waltham Premier Maximus, with the Edward Howard a close second. But each one of these watches is a marvel of the “Machine Age,” and it’s hard to say which one is better than the other. They were, and still are, the “priceless possessions of a few.”

The Elgin C.H. Hulburd: Elgin's "Official" entry into the "Prestige Watch" competition. It was sold as a presentation watch and the combination of dial styles and hand styles made every watch a "unique" example. The Dietrich Gruen Prestige Watch: There is very little material recorded on this model watch. It was reportedly the dream of Dietrich Gruen to produce a watch that was superior to any other produced. On his death his sons brought out the Dietrich Gruen in attempt to fulfill that dream. The Edward Howard Pocket Watch: This is a unique product of the E. Howard Watch Co., which had been purchased and was then being operated by the Keystone Watch Case Company, was designed to compete with Waltham's Premier Maximus. The Gruen 50th Anniversary Prestige Watch: Incredibly, Gruen not only used gold for the component parts of the movement, as did the other companies, Gruen went one step further and produced the entire movement in gold! The Hamilton Masterpiece Prestige Watch: The Hamilton "official" entry into the prestige race consisted of the Hamilton Masterpiece that is usually considered the prestige watch. The Waltham Premier Maximus: Waltham's entry into the "Prestige Watch" category and was also the highest-grade produced from a technical standpoint. The damascening is very plain in the Swiss tradition as was the fashion in the early 20th century.

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