I mean, when you look at what you’re getting and you consider the price paid, it’s almost rude not to pay it … And I can feel confident in sharing the price paid for this timepiece because, well, it’s not a huge sum of money, not for a watch, anyway. And that’s not even the best bit… The PriceĪs this is my own watch, it seems crude to talk about money-but nevertheless, it would be remiss of me to avoid it. Striping on the bridges, polishing on the bevels, gold chatons, a turned crown wheel and ratchet-and even rounded spokes on the centre, third and fourth wheels. A watch built for hard graft would be expected to have a utilitarian finish, but here we see anything but. Under the crystal, a little lever is pulled out, and only then can the watch’s time be set.īut by far the most appealing thing about the calibre 992B is the way it looks. With 52 hours of wind and the best performance found in the first half, Hamilton decided to separate the time-setting function from the winding to prevent accidental adjustment and a repeat of the Toledo Express disaster. Hamilton is now based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland They would be inspected every six months or whenever accuracy slipped, the inspector marking the inside of the case back when a repair was made. The final iteration of Hamilton’s railroad calibre, over half a million made between 19, many worked hard on the railroad. Such volume warranted standardised parts, procedures and assembly to become what was known as the American system of watchmaking, the precious industrial secret that would change the fortunes of Switzerland entirely.īut for America at the time, and in this case Hamilton, it resulted in movements like this, the 992B. With production running into the millions of units, it’s not hard to see why.ĭemand for railroad watches, not just by the railroad, but by the public too, saw scales of production never before seen in watchmaking. Founded in 1892, with roots tracing back further still to 1874, and boasting a fully-fledged factory staffing some 750 employees by the turn of the century, it was the complete antithesis of the quiet Swiss watchmaker working alone in his workshop. The challenge of building a movement that accurate in that quantity was one Hamilton seemed quite ready to take on board. The watchmakers who met these gruelling demands were Ball, Elgin, Waltham-and of course, Hamilton. A watch, to be suited to the railroad, had to contain a minimum of 17 jewels, be adjusted to a minimum of five positions, operate from below freezing to a scorching 100 degrees-and be accurate to within thirty seconds per week. Regular time inspections were carried out. So, in 1893, under the watchful eye of Chief Time Inspector Webster Clay Ball, railroad watches became standardised. Even so, a watch running four minutes late cost the lives of nine when the number 14 train collided with the Toledo Express. The railroad companies agreed on a new system of four zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Time was set by the position of the sun, and so every town effectively had its own time zone. Hamilton was founded in 1892, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USAīut timing the “iron horse” was no easy task. Because America is big, America needed trains to move people and cargo around, and when those railroads started getting crowded, timing became very important. The Americans were very motivated to build precise pocket watches, and a lot of them, because of one simple thing: America is big. Jones took it to Switzerland, taught the Swiss how to mass produce high-quality watches with it, and the rest is history. So valuable was that information that IWC founder F.A. So much so, that the techniques not just in making the watches, but operating the facilities they were made in, were the envy of the world. These days the Americans don’t get so much love for their watches, but in its horological heyday, starting in the 1830s, America was the epicentre of the mechanical movement. Wristwatches were of course very much a thing in 1950, but not for Chicago Great Western-because this, ladies and gentlemen, is an American railroad watch. It’s a Hamilton, from around 1950, and it is not for wearing on the wrist. So, when I said watch, I didn’t mean what you thought I did.
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