RARE ONLY 8,000 MADE / c1898 WALTHAM 14S 11J STERLING SILVER POCKET WATCH.

Selling for parts or repair AS IS. Currently not working, the mainspring is broken, the dial is also detached, it will need a repair to get going & is sold as is. c1898 Waltham, 14S, 11J, Grade Hillside, Model 1895, stem wind, stem set with serial number 7261549. Dial is in poor condition & needs replacing, needs a complete new set of hands, missing the bezel. The english Sterling Silver case is hallmarked Birmingham with date letter w for 1896 & is 50mm in diameter.

Always happy to combine postage where possible & practical. HNCO are not responsible for import duties or customs charges. This is the buyers / importers responsibility.

HNCO is one of the leading sellers of Pocket watches on eBay Australia, with over 100+ Pocket watches on offer. We are constantly adding to our ever increasing range and have a large assortment of American Railroad Grade Pocket Watches. 

American Railroad Pocket watches were amongst the highest grade watches made, having been made for the railways makes them a great choice to use every day, mainly for their durability over time. Their lower production quantities and of course their high grade movements make them also a great gift or investment.

A typical railroad's requirements for a pocket watch in the early 20th century might include:
  • Only American-made watches may be used (depending on availability of spare parts).
  • Only open-faced dials, with the stem at 12 oclock.
  • Minimum of 17 functional jewels in the movement.
  • Size 16 or 18 only.
  • Maximum variation of 30 seconds (approximately 4 seconds daily) per weekly check.
  • Watch adjusted to at least five positions: Face up and face down (the positions a watch might commonly take when laid on a flat surface); then crown up, crown pointing left, and crown pointing right (the positions a watch might commonly take in a pocket). Occasionally a sixth position, crown pointing down, would be included.
  • Adjusted for severe temperature variance and isochronism (variance in spring tension)
  • Indication of time with bold legible Arabic numerals, outer minute division, second dial, heavy hands.
  • Lever used to set the time (no risk of inadvertently setting the watch to an erroneous time, when winding the watch with the stem)
  • Breguet balance spring
  • Micrometer adjustment regulator
  • Double roller escapement
  • Steel escape wheel
  • Anti-magnetic protection (after the advent of diesel-electric locomotives)
The minimum requirements were raised several times as watch-making technology progressed, and the watch companies produced newer, even more reliable models. By WW2, many railroads required watches that were of a much higher grade (as many as 23 jewels, for example) than those made to comply with the original 1891 standard.
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