Walter Sherwood's Probation (1897)

Horatio Alger Jr.'s juvenile novel follows Walter Sherwood after family financial trouble sends him west to learn self-reliance. (Open Library)

Watches

Elgin watch: A watch seller reassures Walter that the offered watch is an Elgin, leaning on the maker's reputation while promising the case is solid gold. The transaction takes place on a train approaching Chicago. The seller lowers his price to twenty dollars and opens the watch to show its works, but Walter cannot judge the mechanism. Walter pays after accepting the man's reassurance; the Elgin name is part of the seller's persuasion, not an independent assessment of the case's gold content. (Project Gutenberg source text)

Source text: "You will see that it is an Elgin watch. Of course you know the reputation of that make." (Project Gutenberg ebook 5993)