A Short History of Railroad Watches

[@cheekymonkey444]

I own a Hamilton 992b railroad watch. I wore it many years as I was an engineer for Conrail in Penna. I had problems with it magnetizing on the big diesels because of the gigantic generator and traction motors. They emitted strong magnetic fields. For a short time I worked passenger service out of Philadelphia. There you must have a railroad approved watch. The pocketwatch fell out of favor, and I purchased a Seiko railroad approved quartz wristwatch. Both the Hamilton and the Seiko work flawlessly to this day, over 40 years later. In my area it is increasingly difficult, and expensive, to have fine watches serviced. That is a dying art.

[@johnhebert3855]

That picture of the conductor had "IC" on his labels. That stands for "Intercontinental Railway", a legendary Nova Scotia railroad. Nice. Great video. Thanks.

[@TimesTicking]

@johnhebert3855 Very cool! Thanks for your input.

[@palmerdahman5397]

Worked on Railroad ( B&O, Chessie System, CSX ) from '68-2011 42 yrs. First railroad watch was a Bulova Accutron...still have it

[@patricko9170]

I always appreciate the information in your videos. This one was very helpful in understanding how railroads influenced modern timepieces, and the strive towards better accuracy. Thanks!

[@TimesTicking]

@Patrick O Too kind! Thank you :)

[@Pindi44]

Very interesting, thank you. I really love the bold faces of railroad watches and the combination of technology and artistry in them. I have acquired a few and am very happy to own them.

[@TimesTicking]

@j bloggs Thanks for watching! We appreciate it.

[@jerryssalamon709]

The Hamilton 992 and 992B are still the Favorite of collectors! Accuracy and beauty all in one package.

[@paulschmolke188]

Most of my watches have a variation on the Ferguson design. I’m also looking at the Swiss Modaine railroad watches. I hope you’ll cover these in the future

[@grimmortal]

Really underrated channel. Love the choice of topics you guys take up. I recently picked up a Wenger with railroad typeface digits. This was interesting. Cheers guys.

[@TimesTicking]

@Prateek Keni Thanks for the support! :)

[@sylversyrfer6894]

Super interesting and helpful information!

[@paulschmolke188]

For me, accuracy is the primary thing I want in a watch. The best I have are Eco-drive Citizens and Bulova Precisionists. I have some older railroad watches and a close friend that collects the things. Incredible miniature machines, the benchmarks of their day. Modern quartz watches do a good job. Good video too

[@TimesTicking]

@Paul Schmolke Thanks for the support, Paul! We appreciate it.

[@TheGreyGhost_of43rd]

Thanks for this

[@TimesTicking]

Our pleasure!

[@-webfootoctopus7896]

You deserve more views

[@TimesTicking]

@- Ancient K. Man Thanks much! 👍

[@zulu6ix290]

I took a drink at every pun. I’m dead now

[@cocacolagrl100]

I saw one of these railroad watches in an antique shop near me and I can’t stop thinking about how cool it looked. I noticed the hands were missing though. It was listed for 20 dollars and the tag said Delaware Swiss pocket watch . I was wondering if it would be worth it to buy it and have the arms replaced?

[@BlueRidgeCritter]

Just stumbled across this 5 months late, lol. I would wager the watch you saw has a diesel locomotive on the back, and says "antimagnetic" or "incabloc" on the face near the seconds hand, and another image of a diesel locomotive of near the top where the name is. It is a very common watch, and have lots of different brand names. I have a 50 yo Waltham, and a 12 yo Delweaco, that are almost identical in every way, including the movement. They used a Swiss ETA mov't that was a workhorse, kind of like an HP calculator. Sadly, they just stopped making that movement a few years ago and the watches have become a lot more expensive (mine was about $140 in 2010, and now, new old stock pocket watches that were the same price range then, are running $350 or more now. They were good watches; they were pretty tough, really accurate, and lasted a long time. If you have access to a watch repair place, it might've been worth it to get the thing at that price and have new hands put on it and have it cleaned and lubricated. But if you don't have a good shop, it probably would not have been worth the effort. The hands were missing for some reason - I would guess somebody was trying to fix it and had it open and just didn't put the hands back on it because they couldn't fix it. That's just a guess, but that would be a red flag for me. As I said, it was a pretty common watch that you could buy up until about 10 years ago. They were not railroad watches, though.

[@Foxpest]

Of all the repairs that could be made to a pocket watch, replacing hands is the easiest! The tiny difficulty is replacing as original, otherwise using hands you like is acceptable.

[@Foxpest]

Me 1908 Hamilton 18s the ubiquitous 940. I wear it today.

[@TimesTicking]

@Foxpest Classic!! 💯

[@jeeperspeepers8323]

Both informative and entertaining. You should have way more subscribers than you do. In time, my friend, you will.

[@TimesTicking]

Thank you for the kind words! :)

[@TimesTicking]

@Charles Smith Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed the video. 👍

[@michaelmarron8441]

Rick 'Pawn Stars' Harrison brought me here

[@-webfootoctopus7896]

I love coltbirt lol

[@grandpabill1959]

Dude loose the nose ring. Remember when practicing tribal rituals. Always remember what tribe you come from.