In 1887 the American Railway Association defined the fundamental standard for watches. Within the 1800’s America’s commerce relied on our railroad system, and railroad safety relied on accurate timekeeping. A minimum standard of excellent quality, adopted by the company for watches, was supposed to include: a mechanism with 15 stones and a patented controller that is adapted to changes in temperature, variations in time should not exceed 30 seconds per week. Employees are now required to check their watches for a quarterly review and comparison with the standard weekly time with various local inspectors, who were appointed for this purpose. It opened June 15, 1892, the Central Railway of Illinois served as the beginning of the examination watches. Indeed, each station keeps the memories and has a connection with each family. In fact, the train brought many new things in life and hope to people across the country, delivering products and food, transporting people from one city to another, delivering mail, and ensuring the democratic process by allowing presidential candidates to meet and talk with people in every state. The huge success with 1830’s were puffing giant black locomotive, which belched steam and fire, moving up and down the countryside. Great importance in that era was the railroad. Postal Service was the main form of communication, connecting the country, because America is slowly moving to the 20th century. They were slower, yes, because to get from one place to another takes time. Of course, those days are past were not quite so simple as most of the memories. Few homes had electricity, and even radio have not yet entered into their lives. Women wore long dresses, and the main method of washing clothes was a washboard. Kodak camera has not yet been launched on the market. Almost all of the Ball-Hamilton 999B watches used a circular damaskeening pattern, but a small number of watches were produced in late 1954 featuring a straight line damaskeening pattern.It was the end of the nineteenth century in America.
#BALL RAILROAD POCKET WATCH VALUE SERIAL#
The table below is specific to the Ball-Hamilton grade 999B, which used its own sequence of serial numbers.
#BALL RAILROAD POCKET WATCH VALUE SERIAL NUMBERS#
Ball's watch standards and their reputation for accuracy.īall Watch Company Ball Serial Numbers and Production Dates The colloquial phrase "on the ball" purportedly derives from Webb C. Ball was overseeing over 125,000 miles of rail tracks in U.S.A., Mexico & Canada, having greatly contributed to the security of all railroad systems.
Ball's standards.Īt the end of his career, Webb C. Today's criteria for the certification of each COSC Officially Certified Chronometer are still based in part upon Webb C. Watches marked "BALL & Co." are much more difficult to find than those marked "BALL WATCH Co." Ball watches are today some of the most collectible of the American railroad pocket watches. The Ball Watch Company branded and distributed watches made by Hamilton, Waltham, Illinois, Elgin, E. The Waltham Watch Company complied immediately with the requirements of Ball's guidelines, later followed by Elgin Watch Company and most of the other American manufacturers, later on joined by some Swiss Watch Manufacturers. Webb Ball established strict guidelines for the manufacturing of sturdy, reliable precision timepieces, including resistance to magnetism, reliability of time keeping in 5 positions, isochronism, power reserve, accompanied with record keeping of the reliability of the watch on each regular inspection. The Ball Watch Company did not manufacture watches directly, but the company helped develop the specifications for watches used in railroad service. Ball as their General Time Inspector in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for Railroad Watches. When Standard Time was first adopted in 1883, he was the first jeweler to use time signals, bringing accurate time to Cleveland, Ohio.Īfter the infamous collision between Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railways at Kipton, Ohio, which allegedly occurred because an engineer's watch had stopped unnoticed for about 5 minutes, the railroad officials commissioned Webb C.
Ball was born in Fredericktown, Ohio on Octoand became a jeweler and watchmaker.
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