Vintage Pocket Watches

vintage pocket watches

Vintage pocket watches, such as Railroad models by Waltham, Rockford, Elgin and Hamilton, and Illionois, are more than simply a hobby. Many models of these uniquely American time pieces often sell for thousands of dollars at auction, making them wise investments, as well as beautiful pieces of history.

Railroad watches are not only popular with collectors in the United States — antique watch enthusiasts from Europe and Asia are also actively buying up these pieces of Americana. Because of the limited number of railroad watches produced, they are becoming increasingly rare.

Other pocket watches manufactured in the 1800′s and early 1900′s, such as Waltham and Hampden, were mass-produced. Even so, these pocket watches are also valued by many collectors and antique jewelry enthusiasts.

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Elgin Vintage Pocket Watch

A Short History of Elgin Pocket Watches and Wristwatches

elgin vintage pocket watch

Elgin started in the watch business in 1864. The first Elgin was the BW Raymond railroad watch, which was released to the public in 1867.

Elgin’s first company name was the “National Watch Company. In 1874, the name became “Elgin National Watch Company”. This name remained in use until the late 1960′s, when Elgin got completely out of the watch business. The new name was “Elgin National Industries”.

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Waltham Pocket Watches

waltham pocket watch

The Waltham Pocket Watch company of Waltham, Massachusetts, began in 1857 after the acquisition of a failed watch company by Royal E. Robbins. By 1881, Waltham was thriving, as reported in the Scientific American newspaper:

“There are 3 1/4 miles of work benches, mostly made of cherry plank, 2 feet wide and 2 inches thick. There are 4,700 pulleys; 8,000 feet of wall rods; 10,000 feet of main shafting, and 39,000 feet of belting, varying in width from 2 inches to 2 feet. All this machinery is driven by Corliss engine of 125 horse power.

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The Railroad Pocket Watch – A Brief History

Why was the railroad watch developed?

By Roger L Smith

railroad pocket watch

To understand how important the railroad watch was, first we need to know a little about the railroad. By 1880 there were thousands of miles of track and hundreds of trains sharing these tracks at the same time. To be sure that no two trains met in the wrong direction, time was of great importance.

In those days there was no time standard, each city and town operated on their own time schedule. During this period the many railroads had 50 different time zones to manage.

The conductor of the train had to be aware of the always changing time zones to be able to avoid accidents. The railroads soon developed a standard of times zones across the country the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific which was later adopted by congress as the national time standard.

However a great many accidents still happened due to inaccurate time keeping devices. In 1893 after a major accident claiming several lives, a standard for the manufacture of watches for railroad use was presented.

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Military Vintage Pocket Watches

vintage military pocket watch

Just as Railroad watches needed to be absolutely precise, military watches were built for precision as well. Here’s a fabulous specimen of a Hamilton military pocket watch:

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Gubelin Vintage Pocket Watch

gubelin pocket watch

Gubelin watches, both pocket models and wristwatches, were first created in 1885 in Berlin, Germany. In the early years of the company, Gubelin partnered with high-end watchmakers, such as Patek-Philippe, Jaeger Lacoultre and Audemars Piguet.

The resulting time pieces were exquisitely engineered and also beautiful; there were wrist watches and pocket watches, fashioned in all types of shapes and sizes. After collaborative work with other watch makers, Gubelin went solo and continued to create many styles and types of watches for men and women, at varying price points.

Gubelin vintage pocket watches can still be purchased from collectors and online vintage retailers; some Gubelin watches continue to be manufactured today, nearly 150 years later.

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