LINKS & SUPPORT
Helpful information on American Pocket Watches
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR POCKET WATCH DIAL
Many people told us, your watches look so new, even those that are over 100 years old. They asked, are they replica movements.? The answer is NO.! The trick is to have a very clean and nice looking dial. Anyone who asks if these movements are replicas, they are new collectors so, I don't get offended. Instead, I educate them. To create a mold to replicate these vintage pocket watch with superior craftsmanship never to be seen again would cost several hundred thousands if not millions. It would be big money losing project trying to replicate any of the American Vintage Pocket Watches. So, here is a helpful link to clean your dial. Before you clean your dial, it is good to learn to properly remove the movement, hands, and dial to clean it. WARNING: Only Porcelain Enamel dials can be cleaned. Do not try to clean any dial that is not Porcelain Enamel.
VIDEO LINK TO LEARN HOW TO REMOVE POCKET WATCH MOVEMENT, DIAL, HANDS
If you want to really learn and begin to collect American pocket watches, you want to learn some basics of how to change movement cases, replace dials, and hands. These simple basics will allow you to purchase movements for parts and able to put together a better looking watch from a bargain running movements. Tools you will need are small flat screw drivers & hands remover tool.
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How to identify detail information regarding your pocket watch movements
When you are searching to buy a watch, you will want to know a few information regarding the movement of your watch. All you need to know if the maker and the serial number of your movement. Each watch produced by American watchmaker will have serial numbers. If there is no serial numbers, it is most likely watch produced later, but there are very few of them and I do not collect any watches without serial numbers. Here are some of the big names for American Vintage Pocket Watches: Elgin, Waltham, Illinois, Hamilton, E Howard, Ball (they market their brand but do not make their own), Hampen, Rockford, South Bend, and Seth Thomas to name a few, but there are more and some are less know. Use the link below, select your maker and enter the movement serial number, and it will give you relevant information for your movement. Main information you want to know is the year, grade, quantity produced (if available), size, number jewels, railroad grade (approved or not). We exclusively used this database for our information and by far the most popular site.
American Railroad Grade Pocket Watches
A tragic railroad accident in Kipton, Ohio in 1891 triggered a boom in the US timepiece industry. Mass production with improved precision and standardized parts commenced at full speed.
The Need for Accurate Railway Time-Keeping
The American Railroad Pocket Watch stands as the crowning achievement of American watchmaking. It harks back to a slower and simpler time in our history, yet one that was filled with remarkable innovation and great promise as America moved into the 20th century. The watch industry and the railroad industry were born at roughly the same time, with the first American watches being produced in the 1820's, and the first railroad (the B&O) started in 1827. The railroad was at the very heart of North America, serving as the transportation and communication lifeline for the United States and Canada.
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n the era of single-track railroading, trains were operated in both directions on a single track. This required that trains passing in opposite directions adhere to carefully scheduled meeting times, where one train would pull onto a siding track and wait for the other train to pass. This made accurate and reliable timepieces an essential tool for the railroaders. By the mid-1870's, railroads had begun to discuss the need for timekeeping standards.
In the year 1880 every town in the U. S. had a different time standard, determined by the "sun time" at its particular location, and often monitored by a local jeweler who would would set the town clock. There were 50 different "times" in use by the various railroads. Amidst all this confusion, faulty timing caused a series of disastrous railroad accidents. The railroads adopted a system of "standard time" in about 1883, 35 years before Congress passed the Standard Time Act (1918) which officially divided the country into four time zones!
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The Kipton Disaster
Standard time was a positive step, but it did nothing to address the accuracy of watches. On April 19, 1891, a mail train known as the No. 4 was traveling east on the same track as an accommodation train that was heading west. The Engineer of the accommodation train was given written instructions to let the fast mail train pass at Kipton, Ohio, a small station west of Oberlin. The accommodation train pulled out of the station "on time" according to the Engineer's watch. Unfortunately the Engineer's watch on the accommodation train had stopped for four minutes, and then started up again (or so the story is told). The two trains collided at Kipton, killing both Engineers and six postal clerks. The rail lines and postal service suffered significant property losses.
Following the Kipton disaster, a commission was appointed to establish standards for timekeeping that were to be adopted by all railroads. Reliable and accurate timekeeping was seen as the key to railroad safety, and in 1893 the General Railroad Timepiece Standards were adopted. This, together with a more formalized system of timepiece inspection and maintenance, was a significant step toward safer railroading!
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Thus, the American Railroad Pocket Watch was born, and each watch was a masterpiece of precision engineering, durability, and accuracy. American watch manufacturers would offer only their highest grade watches for railroad service, But it is more than just accuracy that has made the American Railroad Watch so desirable today. The simple beauty of the black-on-white enamel dial, the amazing ingenuity with which they were designed, the jewels and precious metals used in the production of high-quality movements, and a level of labor-intensive craftsmanship that could never be duplicated today at any price have all contributed to the making of a truly great American collectible.
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(Contribution From http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/railroad.html)
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General Railroad Timepiece Standard
The 1893 General Railroad Timepiece Standards
While there had been discussions of timekeeping standards as early as 1853, when the Superintendent of the Boston and Providence Railroad instituted the first watch inspection program to determine whether the watches used were "fit to be trusted or not," It is the 1893 General Railroad Timepiece Standards that first defined and identified a true Railroad pocket watch. Watches used for railroad timekeeping were required to meet the following specifications:
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“Be open faced, size 18 or 16, have a minimum of 17 jewels, adjusted to at least 5 positions, keep time accurately to within a gain or loss of only 30 seconds a week, adjusted to temperatures of 34 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, have a double roller, steel escape wheel, lever set, micrometric regulator, winding stem at 12 o’clock, grade on back plate, use plain Arabic numbers printed bold and black on a white dial, and have bold black hands.”
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Webb C. Ball was instrumental is establishing the "Time Service," the system of watch inspections, and any watch that gained or lost 30 seconds or more in 7-14 days had to be repaired by an experienced and approved watch inspector. Because this system was widely adopted and strictly adhered to, American watch manufacturers were forced to develop and produce a superior railroad watch, thus assuring increased safety for the traveling public.
The railroads never reached complete agreement on a single standard, but the key point is that as technology evolved, so did performance requirements for railroad watches. Some of the larger railroads had their own requirements and established their own system to administer the rules. For example, some required a Breguet hairspring and adjustment for isochronism and temperature. Dark blue hands were also acceptable in most cases.
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​(Contribution from http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/standards.html)