I doubt that this question will provoke much response, but here goes…
I am not one to change watches often. I must get that from my Grandfather. In the thirites he purchased a Hamilton pocket watch which he used on his UP engineer job until the 1960’s. The Bulova Accutron came out and when his Hamilton could no longer keep pace, the railroad encouraged him to get the Bulova.
When my Grandfather passed away in 1968, the Accutron went to my Father who wore it for about ten years and then gave it to me. I have been wearing it ever since. Of course, it has been overhauled a few times by Bulova.
My question to you now is what “railroad approved watch” do you like and/or wear today?
SEIKO?
CITIZEN?
Other brand?
I think it is time to get a new watch and your input will
be greatly appreciated.
I now use a TIMEX “Indiglo” with the RR Approved style face. THE ABSOLUTE BEST WATCH that I have ever used. With the Indiglo feature there is no need to turn on the overhead light to check the TEST MILE. I have mine set with by the "Offical U. S. Time clock;
I assume you are looking for a wristwatch for daily wear. As far as I know, railroad requirements are arabic numerals with a second hand. Canadian roads may still require 24 hour markings.
Any modern quartz watch is far more accurate than mechanical watches of the past. Only a few have plain bold arabic numerals and fewer still have 24 hour markings.
One that does is the Seiko SGG531. They have made this model for many years. Mine has had one battery change in about 8 years. It still looks good and the crystal seems almost impossible to scratch. Both the case and bracelet are stainless steel. This may or may not appeal to you more than the newer resin cased watches.
They are available on the internet from many places for about $90. I think you will find eBay more expensive.
Not very stylish, and certainly not the appeal of a vintage railroad pocket watch, but functional and reliable.
(I tried to post a picture of this watch by using insert image button, with the only result being having to retype this post twice. Could use some help here.)
Well…Hamilton 992B, 1940, model 11 case, porcelain dial with heavy boxcar numbers, blue hands. Mine keeps time just fine.
So since that type of thing is going for $500 + on eBay, I think any of the quartz variety are fine. But they’re plain and don’t have the weight of a real American railroad pocket watch.
Mitch
It would be the SEIKO watch from Wisconsin Central. It was in thier employee catalog and had a good price on it. Asked an employee to get it and walla! Never worn as it is too expensive and a rare piece.
It looks like the Seiko has the advantage. I do like the Hamilton wristwatches that I have seen. As much as I enjoy pocket watches, I have a tendency of destroying them. I either break the crystal or ding up the case.
If I end up working the train service job for the UP I might be safe with a pocket watch.
For railroad work, which do you prefer: wristwatch or pocketwatch? Why?
Pocket ONLY if you wear bibs to work. The pocket works best in the bib part of the bibs where it is easy to remove for a look.
I have always used Seiko-mickeys on my wrist since upgrading from a Hamilton 992B. Battery power is certainly more reliable than wind ups. First Seiko quit, second had the dial come loose but still ran, third Seiko is going fine but I will likely replace it with something with a chronomoter built in. GPS might be nice as well…
I have a Bulova Accutron that has served me very well for at least twenty years. It loses maybe a second a week; I keep it within five seconds of the correct time. I doubt that I could do much better than that.
My backup railroad watch is a coil-sprung B.W.Raymond that I bought at a pawnshop in 1971, when I first hired out. It sits unused most of the time, but keeps reasonable time when I need it to.
What, if any, are official railroad rules on watch synchronization with external time services or servers? (For example, via the Internet to a stratum 2 or 1 server, or to WWV via radio)?
What are official railroad rules regarding digital displays (as opposed to analog hands/Arabic numbers) on pure battery watches? [Note that this point is intended to rule out objections to the watch ‘going blank’ vs. just stopping when battery power runs low]
What, if any, is the procedure used for transit through time zones? I haven’t yet seen a ‘railroad-approved’ quartz watch model with multiple hour hands (e.g., the “Fort Wayne” hour hand (thanks, Art, for the name) on some 16s railroad watches), nor have I seen a railroad model with a ‘jumper’ for the hour hand, which would permit easy time changes without stopping the timing function of the watch.
I bring this up because, with the impending ‘completeness’ of NDGPS, it becomes practical to conduct automatic time-zone changes on watches – as well as chronometric functions built into locomotives, etc.
Active railroaders: would an automatic time-zone change be valuable, or not? How would you want to be informed (by the watch) when it is changing or has changed a zone? Likewise, how would you want the watch to handle daylight-saving changes (or the lack thereof in Arizona!) automagically?
With respect to you older pocket-watch owners: Be aware that one of the reasons for the ‘switch’ to Elinvar hairsprings (circa the early '40s) on railroad watches was the perceived effect of main-generator (and other) fields in diesel-electric locomotives on the balance. (The effect, of course, is small, and might easily constitute a marketing ploy – a follow-on to the golden age of ‘smokestack jewels’, perhaps – rather than an objective measure. Some evidence out there that at least on certain railroads the use of magnetic hairsprings was out of favo
Your railroad watch has to be within 30 seconds of the correct time or you have to change it. The calibration source is supposed to be the WWV time signal over the telephone. The only display requirement in the rule book is that the watch display arabic numbers. Nothing as to dial face or digital face. Auto time zone change would be improbable account the railroads make their own time zones to keep the crew on the same time during the trip. There are exceptions to this but where I work the official time zone changes in the middle of my run and so Form B track restrictions which have time limits would get confusing if the railroad changed time in the middle of the run. Railroaders get the chance to recalibrate their timepieces every 12 hours or so, even more often if you have a cell phone along so deviation would not sem to be an issue.
1)The National Research Council Standard Time Signal •Transmitted daily by a network of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio stations or •When available, phone number listed in the time table
2)The USA National Bureau of Standards time signal
3)CPR approved time signals, synchronized with the national bureau of Standards time signal, where such is available, will be indicated in special instructions
As far as the railway approved watches – In the application of Rule 2, a railway approved watch is a reliable watch that simultaneously displays hours, minutes and seconds in the twenty-four hour system.
Every employee in possession of a valid certificate of rules qualification shall, when in service connected with the movement of trains or engines, use a reliable railway approved watch or clock.
I stand by my first post about accuracy and where to find the correct time. I used to own an Accutron watch. It was very unreliable when working as a brakeman because it would stop from the shock if a switch was very hard to throw.
I possess a Hamilton B. W. Raymond, which I got from my father, which he got from an estate sale of a B&O trainman in Newark, Ohio. However, it quit running this past year and I haven’t taken the time to see who could fix it in my area.