Thread: What types of watches do you like?

Originally Posted by howdydave

One of the rules was that the railroad worker was not allowed to adjust the time on his watch.

Watches were periodically inspected to see whether they were running fast or slow.
The regulator was adjusted so that the watch would keep time accurately (to the second,) the watch was set to the correct time (according to the railroad's master clock,) and the watch was marked by the watch inspector on the inside of the back of the watch case.

While on the job, the person using the watch had to keep the inspection certificate for his watch on his person at all times.

Many railroad workers/conductors carried Minute Repeater pocket watches

The old pocket watches and now some of the grand complication wrist watches have the "minute repeater", which would "chime" out the time with a series of different tones. Why? Tough to look at your watch when it was pitch black or with little to no light:

"Developed in England during the 17th and 18th centuries, minute repeaters sound the time in hours, quarters and minutes—hence their name. Repeaters served a practical purpose: telling time in the dark. When streetlights were rare and matches and candles precious, chiming watches were a logical solution but not a simple one."

But a "minute repeater" watch is something I'd love to own one day, whether in wristwatch form or pocket watch. But alas, the price of these marvelous pieces is usually in the stratosphere.

edited to add: Ever wondered why Grandfather Clocks all chimed, and then made the transition to watches....

Here's a interesting video about these marvelous pieces of ingenuity.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Many railroad workers/conductors carried Minute Repeater pocket watches

The old pocket watches and now some of the grand complication wrist watches have the "minute repeater", which would "chime" out the time with a series of different tones. Why? Tough to look at your watch when it was pitch black or with little to no light:

"Developed in England during the 17th and 18th centuries, minute repeaters sound the time in hours, quarters and minutes—hence their name. Repeaters served a practical purpose: telling time in the dark. When streetlights were rare and matches and candles precious, chiming watches were a logical solution but not a simple one."

But a "minute repeater" watch is something I'd love to own one day, whether in wristwatch form or pocket watch. But alas, the price of these marvelous pieces is usually in the stratosphere.

edited to add: Ever wondered why Grandfather Clocks all chimed, and then made the transition to watches....

Here's a interesting video about these marvelous pieces of ingenuity.

Lovely watch, the guy doesn't live too far from me, he also has his own line of watches, given all the do and don't's with that pocket watch you do feel overall the design is flawed though. PS his own line of watches is called the Sea Wolf. https://www.richardperrett.com/seawolf/

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Lovely watch, the guy doesn't live too far from me, he also has his own line of watches, given all the do and don't's with that pocket watch you do feel overall the design is flawed though.

Frankly, I do not possess the expertise to comment on its design. For the time, I'd imagine it would have been magical. Sheesh, it's magical to me now. The wrist watch "repeaters" are equally enchanting and the melding of engineering and art is spectacular in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Frankly, I do not possess the expertise to comment on its design. For the time, I'd imagine it would have been magical. Sheesh, it's magical to me now. The wrist watch "repeaters" are equally enchanting and the melding of engineering and art is spectacular in my opinion.

Hmm... are you sure about railway men carrying minute repeaters?

Railroads published a list of watches approved for the key people and that's all they could buy. Over time that list got shorter and shorter and the jewel counts went up. They were not allowed to buy any fancy or overly complicated watches mostly because they had to be railway approved and needed way more service and were more delicate. The last list I saw was from Santa Fe and it was in the 1980s and contained mostly Quartz Models. All approved watches had to be lever set and I've never seen a minute repeater that is lever set be it U.S or European manufacture.

Maybe back in the early 1800s before the standards were codified they used just about anything which resulted in some spectacular crashes which is why they developed the standards.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Lovely watch, the guy doesn't live too far from me, he also has his own line of watches, given all the do and don't's with that pocket watch you do feel overall the design is flawed though. PS his own line of watches is called the Sea Wolf. https://www.richardperrett.com/seawolf/

One of the problems with minute and quarter repeaters is they were made for the well heeled which meant gold cases. That alone makes the price atmospheric these days but if you set your sites on a quarter repeater they are much more affordable. I have a Swiss made one from the very early 20th century which I bought around 30 years ago. I think I paid around $1400 for it.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Today I'm carrying my MWC Military automatic pocket watch, in stainless steel and sapphire crystal glass, I believe it has a Seiko/TMI/SII calibre NH35A movement.

I got mine in the other day and it is flawless! Not bad for a first pocketwatch. Thank you for being a great enabeler...

Originally Posted by Grizzley1

The latest 3,ordered with months between them, but all arrived the same week, didn't make my wife hapAttachment 340715Attachment 340716pyAttachment 340714

I'm getting better with the camera the next ones will, be better
First on is StormchaserDlc-glo, second is the Ball in bronze, and the last one is a Zenith El primero

Yes this isn't the watch the railroad used, it's better in every way, they also didn't have Tritium back then either...jus sayin

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Hmm... are you sure about railway men carrying minute repeaters?

Railroads published a list of watches approved for the key people and that's all they could buy. Over time that list got shorter and shorter and the jewel counts went up. They were not allowed to buy any fancy or overly complicated watches mostly because they had to be railway approved and needed way more service and were more delicate. The last list I saw was from Santa Fe and it was in the 1980s and contained mostly Quartz Models. All approved watches had to be lever set and I've never seen a minute repeater that is lever set be it U.S or European manufacture.

Maybe back in the early 1800s before the standards were codified they used just about anything which resulted in some spectacular crashes which is why they developed the standards.

When I was on the Railway in England we were issued a watch, Timex.

I was talking about the U.S from the late 1800s until the 1980s or so. Every country has their own regulations.

In the U.S supposedly there was big railway crash near Elyria Ohio and since it involved a mail train the Govt got involved and their investigation revealed engineers and conductors were using all sorts of watches and clocks many off by minutes a day. Being a minute a day off can mean being late at a switch and colliding with another train so that's how U.S regulations happened and the whole time inspection service started.

In Japan on the Japanese Railway System they are issued Seiko Pocket Watches to this day.

Originally Posted by Grizzley1

Yes this isn't the watch the railroad used, it's better in every way, they also didn't have Tritium back then either...jus sayin

Actually, they had radium filled dials but they weren't allowed.

Railway approved Pocket watches were far better in every way than modern mass produced watches. You can buy a Miyota 8000 series mvmt for around 40 bucks and it will keep time to within 15 seconds a day or better. Modern machining and tolerances make this possible but I wouldn't call it a "good" mvmt.

Railway grade pocket watches were accurate to within a scant few seconds a day. The mvmts were highly decorated and the parts in many cases used exotic materials. The brass used was harder than todays case hardening which wears over the years, many used diamonds for the main cap jewel, many used gold gears for the gear train. If they made a mvmt today like an old pocket watch mvmt it would cost a fortune.

I'm Not knocking Swiss Movmts. They are great and the El Primero is outstanding. It's just a matter of how you define quality. It's like saying a Honda Civic is a great car (which it is) for what it is. If you compare it to a top of the line Mercedes it doesn't look so great anymore.