Wachtel was born in Baltimore and raised in Lanark, Illinois where he worked on a farm. In 1882, he moved to San Gabriel, California to join his brother who, married to the sister of artist Guy Rose, managed the extensive Rose ranch. Wachtel taught himself to play the violin and then, while working as a furniture store clerk, became first violinist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Wachtel began sketching still lifes and saved enough money to study briefly at the Art Students League in New York with William Merritt Chase. However, he did not like the teaching methods, so he showed his work privately to Chase. He then went to London and enrolled at the Lambeth School.
Returning to California, he combined his music with giving art lessons by setting up a studio in the back of his parent's home on Griffin Avenue in Los Angeles. In 1904, he married a student, Marion Kavanaugh, referred to Elmer by William Keith, and they first had a studio on Sichel Street and later in the Arroyo Seco of Pasadena. They spent their twenty-five year marriage traveling throughout Southern California and the Southwest painting. Elmer died suddenly in Guadalajara, Mexico on a sketching trip. He was a co-founder of the Los Angeles Art Association, and his works are held at the Laguna Museum of Art.
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