Pocket watches

I like pocket watches myself. Most of the time if I carry a timepiece (other than my phone) it's going to be a pocket watch. Only have a couple wrist watches and rarely wear one. Got away from using them when I was working as an A&P mechanic after I shorted myself out on the battery box of a Cessna, still have the scar on my wrist to remind me of it. That combined with the bands on a couple of them giving me a rash led to using a pocket watch instead.

Don't have any really nice old ones, a couple are even battery powered. I do have a nice Soviet railroad watch and a couple decent but inexpensive US ones from the 1960's and 70's. Also a very fancy Elvis watch my mom gave me that plays the music to "Love Me Tender" when you open it. Mom worked for Graceland for several years so I got a lot of Elvis items (and she loved working there, met fans from all over the world). I have to be really dressed up to carry that one LOL!

Onomea said:

I was into American railroad watches for a while. Fun researching them, and they were very fine timepieces. They came about because, in our vast country, trains kept on running into each other on the single tracks that traversed our continent. Need one or the other train to pull off on a spur while the other roars on through.

1885, if memory serves, with Ball, approved railroad watches began. Had to be accurate within something like 30 secs a week. (I think it was.) A railroad man's watch had to be checked — regulated — weekly.

Fun stuff. Still have three. Two Hamiltons and an Illinois.

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I still have an old Elgin Railroad pocket watch that works fine .

I had two pocket watches I inherited from my great-grandfather converted into wrist watches for my dad and myself.

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I've watched...

robvious said:

my Aerospace Engineer son has started to fix and build watches as a hobby... I find that fascinating, but couldn't even focus my eyes on the big parts lol.. he sharpens his tweezers with an Arkansas stone.. and he uses a microscope.. he is currently building me a watch for fathers day.. it's a secret.. no idea what it will be.. looking forward to seeing the watch..

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...some videos on handmaking watches. I simply couldn't do it. And having bad eyes makes it worse. I saw a wall clock cut out of plywood with a laser cutter. The gears were as big as my hand. That's more my speed.

A side thought about handmade machinery. I watched a vid of making a gun at the H&H factory in England. I think I could do that, but the artistry they get with fitting the action to the stock with a wood chisel is amazing.

fhsjrm said:

I had two pocket watches I inherited from my great-grandfather converted into wrist watches for my dad and myself.

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That is really cool. Never even heard of that.

Bald1 said:

That is really cool. Never even heard of that.

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The company is called Vortic. They're out of Fort Collins, CO.

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I have 5 working pocket watches. Two early Elgins, a railroad grade (but not a railroad watch) Hamden, a very fancy Elgin and a 50 year old Swiss pocket watch.

I also have seven mechanical clocks.

And, I have a retired watchmaker who lives nearby!

Kevin

I have a few including two that came from family. I bought a nice 1920's era Elgin that I use when I occasionally spiff up a bit to go out. I tried to get Grandad's Buren fixed but the watchmaker could not get it going.

As long as it had....

alwslate said:

Back before cell phones were every where I carried a red plastic wind up pocket watch that cost me $2. Not quite a collector's item but served it's purpose.

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As long as it had HANDS instead of a digital display, I LIKE IT!

I have a few pocket watches but seldom carry them. Most non-jeans pants do not have a watch pocket and the jeans watch pockets are usually too small. And then there is the problem of where the chain is to be attached along with it interferes with carrying a pistol, especially pocket carry.
As to wrist watches I took mine off when I retired, only wear one for specific reasons. Mainly rely on phone or clock in vehicle.

I have a few. My best is a watch that my great-grandparents purchased for my grandfather on his graduation from high school. His birth date in on the silver dollar watch fob.

gjgalligan said:

I have a few pocket watches but seldom carry them. Most non-jeans pants do not have a watch pocket and the jeans watch pockets are usually too small. And then there is the problem of where the chain is to be attached along with it interferes with carrying a pistol, especially pocket carry.
As to wrist watches I took mine off when I retired, only wear one for specific reasons. Mainly rely on phone or clock in vehicle.

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I generally wear a western style vest for concealed carry, works well with my watches..

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I had a few pocket watches. All but one were Hamilton 992b RR watches.
One that I never photographed was a gorgeous Hamilton 950b RR watch.

They are all gone now.

None of them had any special provenance so I was OK with letting them go.

enjoy,

bdGreen

Gone but not forgotten.

My 992b that I wore from about 1970 until my first cell phone around 2002 or so.

Stu

You all may find this an interesting site. AOL

On a side note, I can't help but wonder if anyone younger than we boomers really know what that little pocket on the right side of our jeans was for.

An interesting thread as I live in Elgin of watch building fame. Recently a parcel of land here was totally fenced off to allow remediation of the radioactive material on site. An interesting story. Luminescence Disfigured and Killed 1920s Watch Painters - ALEXANDER

I initially wondered if this was an overreaction until I read this: Radium-226, used in vintage watch dials, has a half-life of approximately 1,600 years, meaning these dials remain essentially radioactive for centuries, even if they no longer glow.

hsguy said:

An interesting thread as I live in Elgin of watch building fame. Recently a parcel of land here was totally fenced off to allow remediation of the radioactive material on site. An interesting story. Luminescence Disfigured and Killed 1920s Watch Painters - ALEXANDER

I initially wondered if this was an overreaction until I read this: Radium-226, used in vintage watch dials, has a half-life of approximately 1,600 years, meaning these dials remain essentially radioactive for centuries, even if they no longer glow.

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I have several watches made by National Watch, Elgin National Watch and Elgin. Been to the town on several occasions. (I am in the area 4x a year on business). It is a shame the factory buildings are gone.

Kevin

Interesting bit of history:
(I learned this from researching my grandfather's watch)

If you've looked at enough antique pocket watches you may start to notice a few things about the cases. Sometimes the exact same movement from the same company will have a completely different case, and sometimes you will find watches from two completely different companies in the exact same case. Frequently you will also find a very expensive case containing a rather low grade movement, and/or a high-grade movement in a very plain case. This was because up until the late-1920s to early-1930s the movement (the mechanical bit) and the case were made by different companies and generally sold separately, and it wasn't until the inter-war period that the watch manufacturers began to sell "complete" watches instead of just the movement.

What many watch shoppers did was go to their local watch/jewelry shop with a budget in mind and they would decide how much they wanted to spend on each part (movement and case) based on what was important to them. Once their decision was made, the watch smith would case the movement, regulate it for several days and then turn it over to the new owner. Some stores would match popular movements with popular cases "on spec" and have them ready to go for a buyer who didn't want to wait.

This is why you can find expensive solid-gold cases with lower end 7-13 jewel movements. On the flip side, the railroads generally chose 19-23 jewel movements and put them into plain, tough nickel cases. I believe that Elgin may have been the first of the major watch manufacturers to purchase an outside case company to sell complete watches, although it certainly didn't take the others very long to follow suit.

And for those who are interested, pocket watches with covers and the winding stem at the 3-o'clock position are commonly referred to as "Hunter Case" watches; watches without a cover and the winding stem at 12-o'clock are known as "Open Face" watches. Watches where the cases were modified to wear on the wrist were commonly referred to as "Trench Watches", stemming from the First World War. Hunter case watches were never approved for railroad use.

Thought this might be interesting...

I remember my grandfather having one when I was young. But the only time I remember him carrying it was on Sundays when he was in his suit and dressed for church. He was a farmer and I guess he didn't want to take a chance on damaging it while working on the farm.