My very first vintage: Elgin Sportsman 17 jewels

[classic1968]

Hi!

This is my first vintage! An Elgin Sportsman! Bought it at the 'bay for $20. Even though the crystal is cracked a bit, the watch keeps good time. I just love it! After adjuting the time, and winding it up tenderly 15 times, it just woke up alive and happy. This is also my first manual movement! I don't want to take it off my wrist! Am I crazy?

The Elgin is a 823 model (You can barely see it in the very bad picture), and as I can see, the caliber is an AS 1686. Also, thanks to an early post, I know the manufacturing year is between 1962 - 1965 (If someone have more info, please let me know). BTW, I don't know: If I change the broken crystal, am I making my watch a frankenwatch? Even if I look for another Elgin crystal? Any suggestions? I think these are not very expensive/collectible watches, but I simply don't want to start with the wrong foot...

Some picts:






Thanks to all in the forum!

Saludos!

[vbomega]

If you replace the crystal it will not become a frankenwatch. :)

[WYATTSRIDE]

Very nice looking Elgin. Wear it in good health.

I don't have any information on your watch and I don't want to hijack your thread, but here's my Elgin Sportsman that I inherited from my Father. I would guess mine is from the seventies. I haven't taken off the case back yet. It's a manual also. I just bought a new band for it. See my other thread for the vintage Benrus that I have.

[classic1968]

Hey Wyattsride! Nice watch too! Check this thread (Check out this Elgin I found! any ideas?), where you can see more info about you watch. Your caliber and mine are exactly the same, as well as the "ELGIN SPORTSMAN" labels, so probably are from the same period (´62-´65), as you can see on the thread. Anyway, probably one of the veterans/experts of the forum, would give us more info...

vbomega: Thank you for the advice! Then, next week I'll look for my watchmaker, to start the search for a new crystal!

Saludos!

[AbslomRob]

It was fairly common for watchmakers to replace the crystals in these at every service in this era, so no worries about you replacing it. Even in older watches, there usually isn't a big concern about the originality of the crystal as long as it matches the design of the watch. In later years, some companies started using "signed" crystals (usually with their logo embedded in it), but I think that's just a money grab.