I Own a Railroad Watch!

I can't tell you how many times someone has called us or come into the Connelly Gallery with a "railroad watch" that belonged to their grandfather or great grandfather. They believed it to be a railroad watch because it had an engraving of a train on the back of the case. Most often they had a case that is called a Hunting Case (HC), which means the watch has a cover over both the movement and the face.

Hamilton Railroad Watch

Railroad Watch
To tell you what a real railroad watch is, I have to tell you a little history. In 1893 after a train disaster in Ohio, the railroads set standards for the watches used by railroad employees. Since there was no mechanism for knowing the exact time, as there is today, railroads became the nation's timekeepers for a while. All railroad employees had to have an open face watch (OF) with at least 17 jewels (adjusted to 5 positions) and it had to be a lever-set mechanism to change the time plus it had to stem wind at 12 o'clock. There were a few other requirements such as it had to have Arabic numbers on a black and white face with black hands and the grade had to be stamped on the back of the movement. And, it had to be accurate to with in 30 seconds in 30 days.

Regulator Clock
In the late 1800's through the early 1900's railroads were the time keepers for our nation. Often the railroad station would have a "Regulator" clock hanging on the wall. It is interesting to note that a true regulator clock told time only; it was never a "time & strike" clock. So if your clock also chimes and/or strikes the hour, it is not a true regulator clock.