E. Howard pocket watch

[Mr. Ed]

Good afternoon,
I am not a watch collector, however I do have a family heirloom and no one is left in the family to give me the history. I have attached a photo and description any information on the vintage and craftsman who may have made the watch would be nice to pass along to my children.
It is a series 10, 21 jewel, the serial number inside on the works is 1309630.
The case is by Wadsworth with several sets of numbers some stamped (1982511)and others scribed (3-63)(J8802E30).
On the back is a locomotive made from copper inlay with I believe tri-color gold flowers, vines and leaves.
I have had the watch for ten or fifteen years and have never been able to set the time, I would think to set the time I would pull up on the winding post and turn but that doesn't work.
I would like to have the watch serviced, however I have been reluctant to let anyone handle it as I don't know anyone I am sure to be qualified. Anyone in my area, Boca Raton, Fl?

[Mr. Ed]

Good afternoon,
I am not a watch collector, however I do have a family heirloom and no one is left in the family to give me the history. I have attached a photo and description any information on the vintage and craftsman who may have made the watch would be nice to pass along to my children.
It is a series 10, 21 jewel, the serial number inside on the works is 1309630.
The case is by Wadsworth with several sets of numbers some stamped (1982511)and others scribed (3-63)(J8802E30).
On the back is a locomotive made from copper inlay with I believe tri-color gold flowers, vines and leaves.
I have had the watch for ten or fifteen years and have never been able to set the time, I would think to set the time I would pull up on the winding post and turn but that doesn't work.
I would like to have the watch serviced, however I have been reluctant to let anyone handle it as I don't know anyone I am sure to be qualified. Anyone in my area, Boca Raton, Fl?

[doug sinclair]

Ed,

Welcome to the NAWCC Message Board, pocket watch section!

You have a Keystone Howard, by the E. Howard Watch Co. E. Howard & Co., makers of watches, clocks, tower clocks, etc., sold the rights to the Howard name as used on watches to the Keystone Watch Case Co. circa 1903, provided they marked their watches E. Howard Watch Co. Your watch is a lever set which means that the front bezel must be removed, the lever peeking out at the edge of the dial near the 2:00 pulled out, and the hands set as required. Push the lever back in, put the bezel back on, and you're good to go.

For repair, try Hess Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. Jeff has a staff of technicians who specialize in watches such as yours. Perhaps there might be other suggestions as well.

Your watch is quite collectible, and was considered to be of railroad approved quality in its day. There should be a symbol on the movement which resembles an arrow with a circle which contains a 5-pointed star. This signifies 21 jewels, adjusted to 5 positions, heat, cold, and isochronism. Your watch was likely made circa 1917.

[Kent]

Hi Mr. Ed:

I also extend a welcome to the NAWCC Pocket Watch Message Board!

Pictures and some catalog information on Keystone-Howard watches can be viewed at the excellent E. Howard Watch Co. (http://www.awco.org/EHowardWatch/index.htm) website. Additional pictures and more information can be viewed at Howard Pocket Watches 1858-1930 (http://www.oldwatch.com/howard.html). Its believed that all Keystone-Howard watches were furnished in Howard-signed gold, or gold-filled Keystone or Crescent (a Keystone company) cases. Keystone-Howard’s railroad grade watches are discussed in some detail in the NAWCC Bulletin, April 1999, pages 191-206.

Howard's 16-size, series 10 was made as a railroad watch and due to that it is, as Doug said, a lever-set watch. Lever-set means that you have to pull out a lever to allow the crown (winding knob) to engage the hands to set them. Starting just around 1907, it was generally required that watches used in railroad time service be lever-set. This was to prevent the inadvertent changing of the time while winding a watch. On an open-face watch, the lever is located under the bezel (the metal ring that holds the crystal). Typically, for open-face watches, the lever is at 6 minutes for a 16-size watch, although There Are Exceptions (http://static.flickr.com/27/54955674_80f33584c0_o.jpg). The bezel may screw off to expose the lever. Or, if the case has hinges, there should be a raised lip, just clockwise of the pendant, with which to pry the bezel open on its hinge. For most hunting-case watches, the lever protrudes from the bezel at 21 minutes for a 16-size watch. To set the time, the lever is pulled out, parallel to the surface of the dial. Usually, people hold the watch in their left hand and use their right thumbnail to catch the lever's little tab and pull it out. Be careful not to catch the edge of the dial with your thumbnail, dials get chipped that way. Also, Pocketwatcher's website has some good instructions for Setting A Lever Set Watch (http://pocketwatcher.zoovy.com/category/watch_information.settingaleversetwatch/).

Keystone-Howard Targeted The Railroad Market (http://static.flickr.com/1/130485316_6bdfeff16c_o.jpg) with lever-set versions of its 16-size, Series 0 (23-jewel), 4 (17-jewel), 7 (17-jewel), 10 and 11 (21-jewel) movements. Many people have come to call any large old pocket watch, especially one with an engraving of a locomotive on the back of the case, a railroad watch. This usage is frequently is incorrect. The term "Railroad Watch" was used by the watch and jewelry trade (and is now used by collectors) to refer those high grade watches that met the requirements of railroad time service rules and standards. The railroad industry, and the railroaders themselves, referred to the watches as "Standard Watches," literally, those watches that met the railroads' time service standards.

Although the person who originally owned a watch may have worked for a railroad, it is not necessarily what could properly be called a "Railroad Watch." The use of a standard watch was only required of a portion of railroad employes (correct spelling, used in many older railroad documents), usually those directly involved in running the trains, or controlling, or affecting, the operation of trains. Other employes carried whatever watches they liked. Typical lists of those required to carry a standard watch appear in an 1892 report of Time Inspection on the Illinois Central Railroad (http://photos13.flickr.com/18116144_9bc4fcef3f_b.jpg) and as Standard Time Rule No. 2 in a 1901 Edition of Canadian Pacific Railway General, Train, and Interlocking Rules (http://photos9.flickr.com/13887167_289ea8006f_o.jpg). The Union Pacific RR website has concise explanations of Past and Present Railroad Job Descriptions (http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/jobs.shtml)

To learn more about railroad time service, time inspection and railroad standard watches, see ”Just What Is A Railroad Watch?” On the Pocket Horology, NAWCC Chapter 174 Website (http://www.pockethorology.org/). However, please keep in mind that information that became available since the above was written indicates that hunting-case watches were not specifically prohibited from railroad time service, at least, not as early as 1906-1908.

Watches that are carried daily need to be cleaned and oiled at regular intervals. Railroad time service rules varied, but requirements for cleaning on a basis of once every year and a half were typical for railroaders at the turn of the century. By the mid-1920’s this was extended to two year intervals.

The “Sears, Roebuck and Co., Inc. Catalogue No. 104,” Chicago, IL, 1897, reprinted by Chelsea House, Philadelphia, PA, 1968 had this to say on page 371:

“We Guarantee for Five Years All the movements sold by us. This does not refer to the life of the movement, but that we will for five years from date of purchase, correct free of charge any fault which may occur from defective material or workmanship. Any well made movement will run a lifetime if properly cared for.
“Remember That your watch should not run longer than one and one-half years without having the old oil cleaned off and fresh oil supplied. This must be done at the expense of the purchaser.
“The balance wheel of all modern watches makes 18,000 beats or revolutions per hour; 432,000 per day, or 157,788,000 per year. An engine or sewing machine will be oiled several times per day, but we have known people to carry a watch for ten years without having it cleaned or fresh oil applied.
“Usually, a movement thus treated is of no value, being entirely worn out. Take good care of your watch if you wish it to perform its duty properly, for it is a very delicate machine. Our charge for cleaning and oiling is 75 cents. The regular retail price is $1.50.”

Watch cleaning and oiling costs a bit more today than it did a hundred years ago. Check out What You Need To Know About Watch Repair at Wayne Schlitt's Elgin Website:
<span class="ev_code_brown">www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/watch_repair.html</span>
<span class="ev_code_blue">To view, go to the </span><span class="ev_code_brown">Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page</span> <span class="ev_code_blue">at</span> <span class="ev_code_brown">elginwatches.com</span>, <span class="ev_code_blue">then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on </span>'Go'.

Good luck,