The First Railroad Timekeeping Symposium

The First Railroad

Timekeeping Symposium

The first major gathering on the

subject of Railroad Timekeeping

was held in Rockford Illinois in

October 1995, almost 20 years ago.

This picture shows the front cover

of the catalog of the exhibit put

together by Bill Meggers and Jim

Hernick both of whom are,

unfortunately, no longer with us.

There has been a great deal of

information uncovered since then

but the work of Bill and Jim is still

a major influence on all of us.

Watches and American Railroads,

the Early Days

A short history of the watch on

American railroads from 1853 to 1883.

What Time is it Here?

• Time was local to each community of any

significant size or isolation.

• Local sundials or rarely a transit telescope

established the local time of day.

• If the church did not have a clock, the clock

in the General Store or the jeweler’s shop

was the time source.

Seconds beating Wall Regulator

by B. D. Bingham

Does Anyone Know When

the Train Will Get Here?

• The trains operated on a schedule

based on the local time at the

Headquarters or Maintenance

Yard.

• The local train station kept a clock

with “train time” as well as one

with “local time.”

• The Hoosac Tunnel is 73.0453

degrees West of Greenwich and

Boston is 71.0589 degrees West

of Greenwich.

• The time difference is 8 minutes.

The tunnel entrance was on Albert

Browne’s farm and he wanted a watch

that could show both local and train time.

The Beginning of Time Standards

• W. Raymond Lee, Superintendent.

Boston & Providence Railroad

– Began work on time standards in

1852

– Consulted Wm. Bond & Son in 1853

to inspect and provide certificates for

all watches on the line, repairing

them as needed.

– September 26, 1853 ordered a high

grade astronomical regulator with

jeweled pallets, etc. William Bond &

Son No. 137 delivered Jan. 5, 1855

at $300.

– Regulator 138 delivered to

Providence Feb. 1, 1855

• Lee convinced the Vermont

Central, Ogdensburg and several

other lines to do the same.

– Bond ordered 3 regulators and 45

best silver lever watches (later 2

more regulators) from Barraud &

Lund in London.

– A year and a half later Standard

Clock 153 and 16 watches were

delivered to Northfield VT Jun. 1,

1855

– V.C.R.R. paid $150 each for the

watches which were engraved with

V.C.R.R. and their inventory

number.

The Lee story and background are from the article by Dana J. Blackwell NAWCC Bulletin December 1986.

Vermont Central

Rail Road

The Vermont Central purchased Barraud

& Lund watches through Wm. Bond &

Son, Boston in 1855.

The b/w images show Sn 2/6173 donated

by Dana J. Blackwell to the Smithsonian,

marked V.C.R.R. No. 13.

The color image is B&L Sn 2/6234 also

sold by Bond (which is in the exhibit.)

The V.C.R.R. watches were assigned for a

specific tour not for an Employee to keep.

Horace Greeley • Photo by Matthew Brady

• Watch 2/6234 by Barraud & Lunds

• Sold by Bond & Son ca 1855

This watch in the exhibit is very similar to V.C.R.R. 13

sold to the railroad by Bond at about the same time. It

differs by having pinned pillars instead of screws.

The personalized dial is marked Greeley and could be

for Horace Greeley who was born in Vermont and had

a strong interest in railroads as well as liberal politics.

Bond and the London

Watchmakers

Wm. Bond and Son were the Boston

agents for Barraud & Lund.

The Vermont Central watches were

specified for the railroad and ordered

by Bond from Barraud.

These watches are atypical of

Barraud watches of the period and

were likely subcontracted to E. D.

Johnson of London or possibly F.B.

Adams.

In today’s terminology, Bond was the

designer, Johnson the fabricator with

Barraud the “maker” who signed.

examined and warranted the work.

At $150 in a silver case (in 1855)

they were very high priced. Dennison

and Howard were likely encouraged

by such events to build the Dennison,

Howard and Davis grade.

Penn. R. R. Co. - 22

• Wm. Cooper Penn. R. R. Co. watch

• Case is marked M.Z. which may

stand for Muckle and Zesinger

Philadelphia 1865 – 1872 according

to Niebling.

– Movement is marked Patent indicating a

Massey lever escapement and an earlier

date, possibly as early as 1857 when the

company purchased the Main Line. Or,

even 1854 when operations began.

– It is a substantially lower grade watch

than the Bond/Barraud watches being

plain jeweled without any compensation

features.

– A Liverpool rather than London origin is

a less important a distinction.

Camden & Amboy

Appleton Tracy

Watch 116 issued for the day’s run by

Camden & Amboy R.R and Transit Co.

April 1863, American Watch Co.

The winners of the first round were this

Waltham Appleton Tracy grade and a few

years later the B. W. Raymond from Elgin.

Going Upscale at

Waltham

• There were two competing

views of what the American

machine made watch should be.

1. A good reliable and affordable

watch in significant volumes.

2. A better watch than could be

made by hand.

• R. E. Robbins represented the

first view.

• The rebels at Nashua Watch Co

represented the second view.

• These “super watches” were not really

marketed to the railroads although they were

meant to compete with watches like the

VCRR #13

• The lower grades of Appleton Tracy and

Am’n Watch Co. were likely sold to the

railroad industry but full plate designs were

believed more sturdy (and were cheaper).

American grade 19

jewel 20 size made

in Nashua in 1861American grade 19

jewel 18 size made

in Waltham in 1860

The Age of

American Competition

• In 1864 the period of Waltham as the only* American

factory ended.

– Waltham reabsorbed the Nashua Watch Co.

– Elgin was founded on the western frontier

– Aaron Dennison having been fired from Waltham started the

Tremont Watch Co

– Howard continued to decline to compete

– J. C. Adams and other speculators were attracted to the market.

– Many talented people were looking for a new home away from

Waltham.

• The end of the Civil War was bringing a sense of

opportunity.

* E. Howard & Co. had a factory but their manufacturing approach would

not scale up to real mass production, nor did Edward Howard want to do so.

First Generation Keywound

American Railroad Watches

• Waltham ‘founded’ 1854

• Elgin

• Tremont

• Marion

• Trenton

• New York

• Illinois

Appleton Tracy & Co. - 1857



B. W. Raymond – 1867• Waltham

• Elgin founded 1864

• Tremont

• Marion

• Trenton

• New York

• Illinois



Tremont Watch Co. - 1865• Waltham

• Elgin

• Tremont founded 1864

• Marion

• Trenton

• New York

• Illinois



First watch was Frederic Atherton stem wind

and button set in 1867. Many were finished as

KW due to problems with setting mechanism.

• Waltham

• Elgin

• Tremont

• Marion founded 1864

• Trenton

• New York

• Illinois



A Trenton railroad grade

keywind picture was not

available.

Do they exist?

• Waltham

• Elgin

• Tremont

• Marion

• Trenton founded 1864

• New York

• Illinois



Initially the Mozart Watch Co.

The investors fired Mozart and

moved the company from

Providence RI to Springfield,

MA. Produced the Springfield

grade in KW and SW in 1867.

An image of the keywind was

not available.

• Waltham

• Elgin

• Tremont

• Marion

• Trenton

• New York founded 1864

• Illinois



Started late but produced two grades

of adjusted kewind watches in 1871.

• Waltham

• Elgin

• Tremont

• Marion

• Trenton

• New York

• Illinois founded 1869

Pennsylvania Railroad Co.

B. W. Raymond

The railroad watches issued by the

Pennsylvania Railroad with marked dials.

Pennsylvania in Kissimmee

This example of a Pennsylvania Railroad

dial showed up on an Appleton Tracy at the

2015 Florida Mid Winter Regional.

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the

movement.

The Waltham 1870

Why did they build it?

• Waltham was getting its fair share of the railroad business with the Appleton Tracy and Waltham Watch Co. grade 1857 model.

• All of the B. W. Raymond watches were Quick Train with “Chronometer Balances” and had a better reputation.

• Winding and setting from the back was considered a big improvement.

• The company decided to produce a high grade full plate watch to complement the high end ¾ plate watches derived from the Nashua design.

• Woerd had some new ideas that he wanted to incorporate and several new patents to apply.

Challenges and Opportunities

• After the first wave of watches for railroads culminated in the 1870

model and similar high quality key wind watches the industry

needed a new challenge.

– The final generation of KW were the first American watches to equal the

performance of the English watches used on the Vermont Central.

– Stem winding was the first opportunity for design innovation.

– The second was the open face design that had not been an issue until stem

winding was introduced.

• There was nearly 10 years of lag between the first stem winders

and the stem winding open face watches.

First stem winding model

• The E. Howard & Co. Series IV

was one of the fist stem winding

watches but was never really

targeted for the railroad trade.

• Much later, Howard supplied

Brotherhood marked watches for

Webb C. Ball.

• When Howard sold off its watch

brand after 1900, the E. Howard

Watch Co. became a major

supplier of railroad grade

watches.

• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867

• United States Watch Co.

– Frederic Atherton 1867

• Newark/Cornell Watch Co

– Arthur Wadsworth/Paul

Cornell 1867

• New York Watch Co.

– Springfield 1867

• Lancaster Watch Co.

– Perry Patent 1867

• American Watch Co.

– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874

• Illinois Watch Co.

– Model 2, 1878

Stem Winding Pioneers


The Frederic

Atherton grade was

the first watch

produced by the

United States Watch

Co. of Marion New

Jersey.

• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867





Cornell 1867






– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874


– Model 2, 1878


Problems with the

stem winding

feature contributed

to the company’s

ultimate failure.


• The Newark Watch Co. was founded nearly simultaneously with the

United States Watch Co. and had problems from the start with

technical disputes and money management.

• Arthur Wadsworth invented a stem winding feature that was offered on

their top grade.

• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867





Cornell 1867






– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874


– Model 2, 1878


Image of the Arthur Wadsworth Trenton watch courtesy of Bonhams Inc.

• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867





Cornell 1867






– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874


– Model 2, 1878

First stem winding model Stem Winding Pioneers

• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867





Cornell 1867






– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874


– Model 2, 1878


Waltham made very few 1868 model in either the Am’n grade or this

American Watch Co. grade.

It was a good step on the way to the very successful 1872 model.


• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867





Cornell 1867






– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874


– Model 2, 1878


This Elgin Grade 70 watch adds stem

winding and a patent regulator to the

Grade 69.

Don Carlos Mac’s lovely portrait runic

dial was likely added to the watch

after he retired.


Stem Winding Pioneers First stem winding model

• E. Howard & Co.

– Series IV 1867





Cornell 1867






– 1868 model 1868

• Elgin Watch Co.

– Model 2 1874


– Model 2, 1878

The Market is Getting CrowdedBy the mid 1870’s everyone wanted to make railroad watches. Designs proliferated.

J.C. Adams was promoting watch factory deals all over the country.

Waltham’s Robbins and Elgin’s Avery had formed a trust to purchase patents.

Something else needed to be done to dampen the speculation.

Waltham

Ups the Ante

• Waltham introduced the 1872 model with the Am’n grade in 1872.

• It was followed immediately by the cost reduced Park Road grade.

• In 1876, the Centennial Exposition was held in Philadelphia and Waltham

attempted to intimidate the other competitors by their performance there.

1872 American Grade, No. 670044

19J Centennial Exposition Watch• This watch was the trial

leader at the 1876 Centennial

Exposition in Philadelphia.

• The first run of model 1872

in American Grade are listed

as 18 jewel watches with

center jewel only on the

back plate but this watch

actually has full center

jewelling.

• The trials at the Centennial

Expo were conducted by

Theophilus Gribi and the

watch report was written by

James Watson of the Detroit

Observatory, Ann Arbor MI

Impact of the Centennial Expo

• In a general sense Robbins’ great outlay and the effort

to produce the American Watch Co. grade 1872 model

went unnoticed by the other American makers.

• However, the Swiss took notice and after some lag

adopted American technology and methods in the

setting of their own small producer based system.

• After a significant delay (1879), Elgin produced the

Grade 72 and Grade 91 convertible watches that were

likely equal to the 1872 American grade. (This may

have been at least partly due to personal competition

between Vanderwoerd and Moseley.)

The Open Face Era

• High quality watches were

available from many makers in

1879.

• The next step to making a

modern “work watch” was to

put it in an open face case with

the stem at 12:00.

• The resulting stem winding, lever setting, open face watches were the ultimate

design that the “standard watch” followed.

When Formal

Standards Began

• The Stem winding, Lever Setting, Open Face competitors were

Waltham, Elgin, Illinois and (almost) Hampden.

• Elgin was content with its convertible design and Illinois with the

5th pinion design.

• The Hampden and Waltham approach of a distinct train for open

face watches seems to have been preferred by the creators of the

standards.

• Illinois and Elgin adopted the distinct wheel train designs in the

mid to late 1890s.

Illinois Watches in 1883• 5th pinion watches were a

very important part of the

pre-standard story.

• Perhaps more importantly

for me Bill Meggers really

loved them.

Elgin Watches in 1883• The Elgin convertibles that

competed for railroad service

would not have been the 21

jewel Grade 72 and 91 but the

Grade 47 and Grade 50

Hampden Watches in 1883

• The Hampden Grade 60 in the exhibit is

most likely from 1884 but the records are

sketchy enough to let it slip in.

Waltham Watches in 1883• In addition to the 1872 and 1879 models available in 1883,

Waltham produced the 1883, 1888 and 1892 before Elgin

produced a standard open face watch in 1897.

• Illinois produced their first standard open faces watches in 1892.

The First Railroad Timekeeping Symposium

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