railroad watches - Trains Magazine

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Posted by arbfbe on Saturday, July 16, 2005 6:41 PM

QUOTE: Originally posted by artmark Originally posted by smalling_60626 Best of both worlds; go for it Mitch! Nice looking repro dials and hands are still made in Switzerland. I'm sure a casemaker could be found. Just plop in a quartz and ya have it. Whatcha say? Mitch Just as long as you could unscrew the back and watch the wheels and gears move. The inside needs to be jeweled as well. It should come with two hour hands, one in blue to match the minute hand and one in red to signify the second time zone you are working in, just like the Hamilton's used to. Member since April 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 16, 2005 6:53 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by arbfbe QUOTE: Originally posted by artmark Originally posted by smalling_60626 Best of both worlds; go for it Mitch! Nice looking repro dials and hands are still made in Switzerland. I'm sure a casemaker could be found. Just plop in a quartz and ya have it. Whatcha say? Mitch Just as long as you could unscrew the back and watch the wheels and gears move. The inside needs to be jeweled as well. It should come with two hour hands, one in blue to match the minute hand and one in red to signify the second time zone you are working in, just like the Hamilton's used to. A jeweler friend of mine, who is in the antique watch busines, once costed out what the retail price would be of a new Hamilton railroad pocket watch would be in today's dollars. It came out to about $2,500.00. That included the 21 jewels. That's just what I'm trying to avoid in this proposal. It would be neat but too expensive. Especially when you have to ship it off to a specialist for repairs. Not all Hamilton RR pocket watches came with the dual hour hand. In fact it was rare. That was known as a "Fort Wayne Hour Hand." So named because the Pennsy, and NYC, operating from Eastern to Central time zones felt the need to have watches reflect the two zones. As Fort Wayne was a division point where men went west towards Chicago and the Central time zone, this feature was given this unofficial monicur. Mitch Member since April 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 16, 2005 10:22 PM As long as the watch has a second hand, it can be used on the job. I have a $5.oo Wal Mart that I have had for three yrs and when it takes a crap, I'll go buy anothr one. Member since August 2004 From: Louisville, KY 1,345 posts Well I guess I will have to buy a watch after all when I get hired out. Ever since I had a cell phone I've been useing that clock but, that's not going to be acceptable on the railroad I guess. May great grandfather who worked for PRR had a railroad pocket watch that was given to him by PRR. Unfortunitly, he gave it away to his son's my deceased great Uncle Frank's ex wife's dad. Oh boy was that a ever a big mistake. LORD HELP US ALL TO BE ORIGINAL AND NOT CRISPY!!! please? Sarah J.M. Warner conductor CSX Member since February 2002 910 posts Posted by arbfbe on Saturday, July 16, 2005 10:37 PM Mitch, My post was a bit tongue in cheek. I remember my father leting me see the open back of his Hamilton when I was very little. It still fascinates me when I look into the back of my own. I am on my third Sieko-mickey since 1977 and none have had the action stop. I forget why the first one went b/o but the last one had the face come loose inside the crown. You could rotate your wrist and make it any time you wanted it to be. I would cost more to fix than replace. So the basic Sieko mechanism inside a nice machined metal case with a ceramic or glazed face could be a good seller and reasonably priced. I would rather buy one of those than the gaudy pocket watches offerred now. Even a couple of hundred $$ for quality, more of a gold case, I am sure. I will miss those movement actions under the back cover, though. I know the Hamilton's did not come with the extra hand but most jewelers who sold them here in Montana would install them when they sold the watch. I have not been able to find a source for the parts for some time now. I could use a couple for the Hamilton's I own. Member since June 2001 From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois 13,681 posts Posted by CShaveRR on Sunday, July 17, 2005 12:27 AM I have a genuine railroad Accutron which I purchased from a genuine jeweler over 25 years ago. I set it every month or so; it has stayed within five seconds of correct time nearly always (when it doesn't, I know it's time for a new battery!). My backup watch is a spring-wound Elgin wrist watch--not as accurate, so I only use it when the Accutron is out of service. The second-hand is on a small, separate dial. I purchased this watch from a Chicago pawnbroker soon after hiring out. Carl Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!) CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM) Member since April 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, July 17, 2005 8:46 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR I have a genuine railroad Accutron which I purchased from a genuine jeweler over 25 years ago. I set it every month or so; it has stayed within five seconds of correct time nearly always (when it doesn't, I know it's time for a new battery!). My backup watch is a spring-wound Elgin wrist watch--not as accurate, so I only use it when the Accutron is out of service. The second-hand is on a small, separate dial. I purchased this watch from a Chicago pawnbroker soon after hiring out. If that's a B.W.Raymond, railroad approved wrist watch it's worth a fortune. Early railroad wrist watches have come into their own as far as collecting is concerned. I saw a Ball wrist watch go for $415 on eBay recently. Mitch Member since June 2001 From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois 13,681 posts Posted by CShaveRR on Sunday, July 17, 2005 3:28 PM Thanks for letting me know, Mitch! It is, and I'll take good care of it! Carl Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!) CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM) Member since April 2004 142 posts Posted by gacuster on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 4:28 PM Interesting how much ($2,500) it would cost nowadays to produce a Hamilton RR watch. Of course, they weren't inexpensive back in the old days either. Just think, they were even made in the USA! Member since February 2002 From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania 13,456 posts Posted by Modelcar on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 6:10 PM ...A lot of things were made well in the USA many years ago....How did we let it all get away from us...?? So sad. My personal opinion is we went out of our way in so many areas of the world to bring the countries out of the dark ages and much of it has turned around and bit us.....! Member since April 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 6:39 PM In 1941 a 21 Jewel Hamilton railway special cost $75 retail. That was a chunk of dough back then. But just think of it. In order to work on the railroad one had to purchase a tiny precision machine that came from a jeweler that given the correct care would last your entire career. And then the entire career of your heirs. In 1941 the dials were made of porcelain with the numerals engraved within. When the last Hamilton railway Special was issued forth in Lancaster, PA in 1969 everything was the same save the dial. They were made of melamine, a painted piece of steel that tended to crumble after a period of time. The retail price was $175.00. We did make a lot of great things in the USA a long time ago. "What Trenton makes the world takes," reads the sign over the river there. We had the will to make great things, the talent, and the will to spend the money for it. We had generations of people that passed their skills down to the next. We had beautiful trains. Magic streamliners that were a rolling city disguised as a first class hotel. But we went modern after WWII. We had to stay ahead of the Russians. We had to go into outer space. All conventions had to be discarded and we had to be skinny and young. Forever. Heffner told us how to live and his monthly comic book put a lot of false fantastical notions in peoples' minds. An evil Asian war, a major presidential scandel, the bankruptcy of the Penn Central and the Brady Bunch leading us by the nose through the fantasy land known as "Suburbia," with all the new-speak we could invent washed all the quality away. Alas we've only fooled ourselves. And they say railfans live in a fantasy land. Thanks for tuning in, kids! MItch Member since April 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 7:17 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by gacuster Interesting how much ($2,500) it would cost nowadays to produce a Hamilton RR watch. Of course, they weren't inexpensive back in the old days either. Just think, they were even made in the USA! The postings on this thread made me pull out my pocket watch I hired out with in March of '66. It is a Hamilton 992b,and I bought it at Merit Watch Co. in the Old P.E. building in downtown Los Angeles for $55.00. The owner of the store, Irv Noren, told me at the time it was manufactured in 1902, according to the serial number. Sure gld I have kept in good working order all these years. I just had it cleaned 2 months ago. Cost me 3 times what I paid for it. Virlon save your ticket.....the P.E. will rise again. Member since January 2003 From: Frankfort, Kentucky 1,758 posts Posted by ben10ben on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 7:21 PM Quartz movements are much, much more accurate than even the most expensive mechanical movements, but certainly don't have the character. I have yet to encounter a quartz watch that can tick anything like a mechanical watch, which is part of the reason why I prefer mechanical watches. A quartz watch doesn't have a moving balance wheel, shiny bridges, and bright red jewels showing when you take the back off. I also find mechanical watches easier to set, as the minute hand doesn't jump halfway around the dial when you turn the stem a quarter turn, and there is actually some resistance on the stem. By the way, a quartz watch may be more accurate, but, in some ways, a mechanical watch is more precise. The second hand on a quartz watch makes 60 individual movements each second, and the second hand on a mechanical watch moves at least 150 times each minute(2.5 bps). On some newer high-end watches, this has been upped to 270 times each second(4.5 bps). This means that it is possible, in theory, to read partial seconds on a mechanical watch, and only full seconds on a quartz watch. If anyone wants to buy an inexpensive mechanical pocket watch, WalMart does sell a number of 17 jewel watches in open-faced, half-hunter, and hunter cases for around $30. They do have sweep second hands, which I don't like(so I haven't bought one), but otherwise look like pretty nice watches. They also are made in such a way that you can see the balance wheel and a couple of other wheels through the face, which is interesting. Just watch if you go to buy one, as they also sell nearly identical looking quartz watches for nearly the same price. Ben TCA 09-63474 Member since April 2004 142 posts Posted by gacuster on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 7:24 PM Perhaps the title of a recent biography of Vince Lombardi by David Maranis, "When Pride Still Mattered" says it all. The American railroad watch was the best in the world, but now we say "runs like a Swiss watch" and import our timepieces from the far east. Member since February 2002 From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania 13,456 posts Posted by Modelcar on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 9:26 PM ....We first got our most accurate time from the railroads. No one should dispute the fine jeweled precision of quality the railroad watches were....and those remaining still are. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned of modern watches that don't even have a way to manually set them...All done by radio from a station in Colorado [on a daily basis}...and that time being regulated by an atomic clock supervised by our government. These watches {and clocks}, are accurate to a fraction of a second all the time...and one can't get it much better than that if correct time is what a person is seeking. More great sites from Kalmbach Media