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.

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.

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”.

Elgin was the first major watch company to mass produce high quality pocket watches. Elgin National Watch Company produced some 60 million watches, so both watches and spare parts can still be found today.

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.

When Mr. Robbins took hold of what was then regarded as a forlorn enterprise, only 5000 watches had been made in all. Now over 2,500,000 have been made thus far at this one factory, of which 500,000 were made during the last eighteen months! The present capacity of the works is 1,250 Waltham pocket watches daily, which by recent improvements will soon be increased to 2,000. There have actually been sent out 30,000 in a single month, and 30,000 watches are needed all the time in the finishing rooms to enable the hands to work to advantage.”

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.

The following general standards had to be met to qualify for railroad use.

Railroad Watches shall be:
Of american manufacture in size 18 or 16.
Compensated for temperature.
Lever set.
Fitted with 17 or more jewels.
Adjusted for 5 positions.
Fitted with a patented regulator,double roller and the steel escape wheel.
Open face with winding stem at 12 O’ clock position.
Black Arabic numerals, each minute delineated on a white face
Must be timed to +/- 30 seconds per week.

Along with these standards the approved watches were required to be inspected and certified by a local inspector to see that each watch met the accuracy standards set by the railroad. Commonly these watches were submitted by employees on a quarterly basis.

American manufacturers answered this call by producing what was then known as the Standard Watch or Railroad Watch. Following this standard allowed for the manufacture of the most accurate time pieces ever developed and still marveled at today for their superior ability to keep time accurately.

These actions brought about a railroad system that was much safer and on time.

For more about the amazing world of railroad pocket watch collectibles visit with me at Vintage Pocket Watch

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_L_Smith

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: