It does have a lot of engravings on the inside I'll try to get some pictures for you guys
That is a very collectable piece! Red Coat is right on but a RR movement also had to be accurate in 5 or 6 positions (maybe marked 5p or 6p on the movement). The small etchings in the back case are from the times it was cleaned or repaired. The company was sold to Hamilton in the late 20's and finally ended up in Russia.
Thank you for the information, all good stuff to know. I enjoy the intricacy of these old pocket watches and learning more about them is always awesome to me.I'm a little late to the party John-internet issues/time.
Though the question was answered by Red Coat of what is a Railway Grade Watch
Here is your beautiful Grandfather's Watch model explained in detail.
What a keeper
Mechanically speaking, almost all 1900’s railroad watches shared a number of performance and reliability enhancing features. Most had a fixed regulator to avoid timekeeping variation from impact (A), a double roller balance wheel to avoid going out of action (often called overbanking) (B), 19 or more jewels to reduce friction and increase consistency of the gear train (C), timekeeping adjustment in 5 or more positions to make sure the watch kept accurate time regardless of orientation (D), and adjustment for temperature to ensure accuracy in a variety of climates (E). Many railroad watches had solid gold or gold plated gear trains (F) and jewel settings (G) to reduce the effects of magnetism as well as reduce tarnishing, and later watches had features such as magnetically resistant balance wheels, Elinvar hairsprings, adjustments for isochronism, and advanced cap jewel covers (H).
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My inlaw had the amazing ability of being able to completely take one apart, repair/clean reassemble and it work be like new.
I can't even comprehend how people can do that. I'd never be able to remember all the things you need to know to do that. I'm going to take this one into my local jeweler and get it running. It appears to be a piece worth getting it done.
While I completely support getting it fixed, do know that in most cases with pocket watches it will usually cost more to fix than it will be worth. This shouldn't matter as it is from family. Also added bonus for being a railroad grade, which sometimes beat out that cost to fix vrs value problem. That being said I have spent a few thousand dollars getting as many of my collection fixed and into good running watches as I can....with only one being worth more than I paid to have it repaired...and many of my running watches cost just as much to just clean and service as they are worth let alone if they needed any serious repair. Still I just can't let em get junked by someone....I feel compelled to save them. Have been considering learning the art so I can save some cash....but once you move beyond cleaning, the amount of hard to find specialty tools needed for such a small item is actually mind boggling.
I lack the brain power for that. I'd never be able to remember all that. Just don't have a brain good at the mechanical type of things.
