Elgin Advertising, 1922

The Value of Time
By Kronos
Paintings by HARLOLD DELAY

"TIME!"  One of the shortest words in the Railroad Man's mother tongue - and doubtless the most tremendous.

A race with Time!  There you have the Railroad Man's summary of his very life.  For Time is his one great objective.  His shippers, his travelers place above almost every other consideration the Value of Time.

Speed and safety travel together only when Father Time himself leads the way.  For Father Time, on America's railroads, stands for that amazing development of Time-Service and train dispatching which alone make speed and safety possible.

For half a century, too, Father Time has stood for the finest railroad timepieces that money, brains and skill can produce -

Elgin Watches

THE RAILROAD STANDARD FOR HALF A CENTURY

Another Swiss Fake

Here's another example of a 19th century Swiss-made imitation of a high-grade American railroad watch.

Interestingly, this one is in a 20-year gold filled case with a decorative engraving on the back. In those times, watch manufacturers did not typically make cases, so someone bought a nice case for this movement. It's not unusual to see really good watches in cheap cases, and the reverse, as we see here.

Lastly, the watch is marked as adjusted for temperature. This adjustment is of course simply made up.

This movement, marked "Wall St", features fake jewels, which are really celluloid caps over normal pivots, non-functional external wheels, and a solid balance with phony "timing screws". It is also marked "heat and cold" which makes no sense what so ever.

At the center wheel, the brass ring meant to look like a jewel bushing is missing, showing that the jewels are just red disks sitting in recesses in the plate. Also, close examination reveals that the heads of the screws that would normally be holding the jewels in place, on this watch do not overlap the jewel bushings at all and so are also serving no purpose except appearance.

Swiss Fakes

In the late 19th century, American made "railroad grade" watches were widely considered to be about the best available. In addition, the American market for watches was huge and growing. This led to the appearance of cheap, Swiss-made imports designed to look like high-grade American pocketwatches. Here's a nice example.

This watch's "manufacturer" always makes me laugh. The watch is marked "H. Milton W. Co", not to be confused with "Hamilton" (or is it?). It includes many of the features typical of these sorts of high-grade imitation watches.


Note the jewels. The watch is marked 21 jewels, however the "jewels" are actually just caps over non-jeweled pivots. The "jewel" for the center wheel is missing, making the actual pivot visible. And in fact, the "jewels" are likely to be celluloid. Next, note the balance wheel. It is one piece, not split and not bi-metallic. The timing screws are actually just pins sticking out from the wheel.

The regulator includes a spring that actually doesn't do anything except hold the regulator in one place. It's just there to look nice, and to imitate actual micro regulators.

There is no click on the "ratchet wheel". And in fact the exposed winding wheels are also just for show. The do not move.

Lastly, the watch is marked as adjusted for temperature. This adjustment is of course simply made up.

It's not unusual for these watches to include non-sensible claims on the movement, misspelled words, fake wheels and other humorous features. Meanwhile, the movements definitely resembled high-end American makes. The cases also often would include a picture of a steam engine, as was at the time a popular way to give a watch an association with quality.

All in all, not exactly a great watch! But it is an interesting piece of history.

Educational Service Notice

From The American Horologist magazine, January 1939

Educational Service Notice

All guilds and associations not using old slide catalog are herewith notified that same is obsolete, and orders cannot be properly filled from same. Secure the new Educational Service Directory at once and comply with all new and additional rulings.

Your National is progressing. Keep in step, and up to date! New ideas, programs and services are now available.

Additional new pamphlets available soon. Place your order now for copies of the following new pamphlets under formation and process.

"Auxiliaries." How to organize them and their purpose.
"How to Finance Guilds and States." 
"Meeting Programs." 
"What Officers Should Know." 

All are free pamphlets. Limited number being prepared.

Setting Mainsprings - Additional

In my last note here regarding mainsprings I mentioned an example of a spring that, although unbroken, is so badly set that it is locked fully into the shape of the mainspring barrel. Here is that sample.

Amazingly, this is also a spring for an 18 size Elgin pocketwatch. It is the exact same size and type of mainspring as those pictured in the prior post.

Setting Mainsprings

The mainsprings provides the power than drives the watch. When a watch is wound, the mainspring, a flat ribbon of coiled steel, is coiled up around a center arbor. The force of the spring wanting to uncoil turns the mainspring barrel providing the initial motion of the watch's wheel (gears in other words) train. Were it not for the escapement, the watch train would rapidly run, spinning the hands, as the mainspring unwinds and turns the barel.

Over time, a couple of years of continuous use perhaps, this compression/expansion cycles cause the mainspring to give up some of it's force of wanting to return to it's original shape. Such a spring is said to be "set." In the most extreme cases , a spring can actually suddenly set into a fully coiled tight state. Although this is rare, some setting is notable in a mainspring even fairly quickly as it is in use. Watches in daily use need a new mainspring on a regular basis.

Shown here is an old spring and a new spring for an 18 size Elgin pocket watch. Note that the new spring turns back on itself at the outside end. This curve compensates for the fact that the force provided by the mainspring varies from when it is fully wound to nearly unwound. This variation can impact timekeeping over the watch's run-time.

Another Classic

I posted a new watch for sale today; a big 18 size with an early serial number. Here's the details...
http://www.elgintime.com-a.googlepages.com/watchforsale22