Patent Self-Locking Setting Device on Elgin’s “Veritas Model”
By Like the new generation of 12-Size and 0-Size movements recently introduced by the Elgin National Watch Company, the “Veritas Model” was also fitted with what the company described as the “patent self-locking setting device.”
This innovation is derived from the 1897 patent by Charles P. Corliss, originally applied to the 16-Size “Model 1895.” While the patent documentation describes the mechanism with a pendant-set configuration, the essence of the locking device – consisting of the clutch and spring around the stem – was adapted to operate with a lever for the “Veritas Model.”
This new setting mechanism represents the first departure from the traditional “rocking bar” design that had been used in the 18-Size models since the company first introduced stem-winding movements in the 1870s.
