The Railroad Grade Pocket Watch
The Railway Timepiece Standard Established by Webb Ball
Oct 26, 2009
American Railroad Expansion Required Accurate Timekeeping
The first watch made especially for railroad service seems to have been manufactured by the American Watch Company (Waltham). These were 18-size, Model 1857 Appleton, Tracy & Co., 15-jewel movements that were key-wound and set. They had “Pennsylvania Rail Road” enameled on the dial. However, the definition of what constituted a railroad watch was vague. In fact, all types of watches - from very inexpensive, low-grade pocketwatches to alarm clocks - were used by railway personnel.
This all changed on April 19, 1891 when the Number 14 fast-mail train collided with an accommodation train outside of Kipton, Ohio. Eight lives were lost because an engineer’s watch had, unnoticed, stopped for four minutes and then restarted. By 1890 the nation’s rail system was overloaded, too many trains were running simultaneously on single track lines, and only accurate time keeping was going to enable them to be safely coordinated. As a result of this disaster a commission was formed and the “General Railroad Timepiece Standards” were adopted in 1893.
General Railroad Timepiece Standards
Webb C. Ball is the name generally associated with the railroad watch. He was instrumental in establishing the time standards for watches used by most railway companies in the United States. His first standards were adopted in 1893; later he set forth some additional standards:
A Railrroad-Grade Watch must:
- Be 18- or 16-size.
- Have a minimum of 17 jewels.
- Have a single roller on the lower balance staff (later changed to double roller).
- Be lever set.
- Have a Breguet hairspring (a particular overcoil bend, not a flat hairspring coil).
- Have a patent regulator (a regulator spring adjusted by a screw).
- Be adjusted to isochronism and 5 positions (physical positions: pendant up; pendant right; pendant left; face up; face down)
- Be adjusted to a rate of 30 seconds per week.
- Have a plain Arabic dial.
- Have the winding stem at 12 o’clock.
- Have temperature adjusted from 30° to 95° Fahrenheit (low and high are both “positions.”
- Have 5 positions stamped on the plate (i.e. the back of the movement).
- Be open faced (cased).
- Have heavy standard (spade) hands.
Initially Mr. Ball listed 37 different watches that met these standards, but around 1915 he reduced his list to 19. (Three of these were produced by various watch companies to his design and sold under the Ball Watch Co. name.)
Railroad Grade and Railway Approved Pocket Watches
Railroad Grade should not be confused with the production grades denoted by various watch manufacturing companies. Railroad grade refers to a watch model that meets the criteria set by the General Railroad Timepiece Standards (above). Railway approved refers to those watch brands, models, and grades that various railway companies listed as being suitable for use by their employees. For example: A Hamilton #992 would be listed as being both railroad grade and railway approved, but a Hamilton #974 only as a railroad grade since it was not listed as being specifically approved by any railway company.
It’s a misconception that a railroad grade watch has to have 21 or 23 jewels. The Ball Watch Company produced a Grade 999, 17-jewel, 18-size watch with “Official RR Standard” on the movement and dial. Almost all 17- and 19-jewel railroad grade and railway approved watches are more rare than 21-jewel model grades.
Canadian railways had different standards than those adopted in the United States. Some railway watches were special ordered from various manufacturers. One example of a verified special production run was for 18-size, 17-jewel, Appleton, Tracy, & Co. Model, Waltham watches with the Canadian Pacific Railway logo on the movement plate. These were pendant-set (not lever) with a Canadian RR dial (Roman numerals I to XII for AM hours and Arabic 13 to 24 for PM). This movement was a railroad watch that was railway approved in Canada, but not a railroad grade by U.S. standards.
Caution is advised: The 18-size Hampden New Railway Model is a high-quality movement that doesn’t meet railroad standards because it is hunter-cased (pendant at 3 o’clock). Some Hamilton #960 and #950 models are normally pendant set, but have a small lever on the back bridge plate that, when turned using a screwdriver, locks the pendant setting cam and thereby allows the watch to meet the timepiece standards.
Prestige Grade Pocket Watches
The prestige of owning a railroad watch was so great that it created competition for high-grade watch movements that exceeded timepiece standards. Waltham’s 23-jewel Riverside Maximus and Premier Maximus; and Illinois’s 25-jewel Benjamin Franklin and 60-hour 23-jewel Bunn Specials are examples. Rockford made the 25-jewel Pennsylvania Special and Columbus countered with the 25-jewel Railway King and Time King. The only railway men that could afford these deluxe models were company presidents!
The last great American railroad-grade pocketwatch was made in 1959, but the allure of the magic of those years of steam-powered locomotives and the precision watches that coordinated their movements has not lost their appeal. Railroad-grade watches exemplify the highest degree of American craftsmanship and the pride of ownership of such a watch can only be matched by the pride of those who built them.
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