Just What Is A Railroad Watch?
Kent Singer
November 2000
Collecting Railroad Watches
A large number of pocket watch collectors focus on railroad watches. These were amongst the highest grade watches made, perhaps being superseded in time keeping quality only by presentation watches and navigational chronometers. Their high value and prestige, coupled with, in many instances, lower production quantities and, of course, the vast romance of railroading, are what make these watches attractive to collectors.
There are a number of watches which are so widely recognized, and known to have been accepted for railroad time service, that their grade names practically scream “Railroad Watch!” Examples of such are:
However, sooner or later, just about every collector, from the novice to the expert, comes up against an unusual watch about which the question arises, “Is this a railroad watch?” In attempting to form an answer, the more basic question then becomes evident, “Just what is a railroad watch?”
Chaos
The easy answer to that question is that railroad watches, referred to in the railroad industry as “standard watches” (because they met the railroad’s standard), are those watches that were accepted for railroad time service. The problems in using this definition become evident when the following facts are contemplated. First, different railroads accepted different watches. Then, while some railroads listed specific makes and grades as acceptable, others just listed requirements.
(Click on the illustrations for enlargements)
Fig. 6: In 1906 the Ball Time Service specifically approved this list of watches to enter service on a division of the Pennsylvania Rail Road. The full set of requirements are on pp. 84 & 88 of the January 17, 1906 issue of The Jewelers’ Circular - Weekly and Horological