They can be had for under a couple of hundred bucks if you look for one with around seven jewels and a nickle case. The skyrocketing price of silver and gold have driven th price of the watches using that metal into the thousands for gold, and at least a hundred bucks or more higher for silver. That eagle watch of mine is six ounces of Sterling silver, the gold Elgin is 4 ounces of 18 K gold, at $1800+ an ounce you do the math. I have been priced out of the fancy stuff. Nickle is the metal that was used in everyday watches because it holds up well, sometimes you will find high grade movements in such plain cases. Gold was for church, or if you were a banker, it was not an everyday watch. Silver was stronger, but still wore faster and tarnished, coin silver was also used, it held up a bit better. Do not confuse gold with gold filled however, gold filling is a layering of a thin sheet of gold over a brass backing, these cases can be had cheaper. Railroad grade movements were of the highest grade, these cost as much as a years pay back then for the ordinary ticket puncher, 21 jewels, adjusted eight ways, highly calibrated movements, but the cases were open face, and ofte nickle so they would hold up to being handled hundreds of times a day. I have two such movements in the collection, they are not pictured here, both are works of art as are all of these watches. Even the parts you never see are engine turned, blued, polished.
