DESCRIPTION:
APW - Ball Elgin, Official RR Standard, Grade 330, 21J, 18S, gold-filled HC recase, scarce marginal minute style white enamel DS dial, SW-LS, fully capped lever escapement, bull'e-eye pattern nickel damascene, s#11959041. An extremely rare watch that is by a wide margin the most elusive of Ball Elgin grades, the hunting case 21 jewel Ball Elgin is believed to be far rarer than the Elgin production records would suggest. Though Elgin blocked a run of 1000 serial numbers (11959001 to 11960000) for their Grade 330 production, the very small handful of examples of this watch which we have encountered have all had serial numbers within the first 50 digits of this run (11959001 to 11959050) and we believe its very likely the actual production of the Grade 330 was indeed in this approximate range of only about 50 made. In total Elgin made four different grades of Official RR Standard for Ball and identified these as the 329 (17J HC), 330 (21J HC), 333 (17J OF), and 334 (21J OF) in factory records but interestingly, and somewhat confusingly for modern collectors, each of these movements regardless of grade carries a "333" marking as is seen on the present example.
CONDITION:
Mvt: Running, fine cosmetic mvt condition overall, numerous scattered fine to micro-fine scratches, two small spots to main plate surface between s# and jewel count marking, some oxide to steelwork, one mismatched barrel bridge screw and one mismatched case screw; flawless dial; fine hands, hour and seconds-hand are plum colored, minute is blue; case shows medium wear, mild dent to band at 12, shallow compression type dents of center rear, some dings and nicks to band, reduced engraving and engine turning detail; bow pivots semi-freely, crown shows light wear; good glass crystal.
ESTIMATE:
$1200
-
$2400
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