Elgin Pocketwatch

[clasikrock]

I was left my Dad's pocketwatch...It has been in a case for years now...He worked for the railroad..It is an Elgin circa 1953....21 jewels...it works as I wound it but has the wrong time...Can anyone tell me how to set it? Went to the Elgin site and found out some use a lever and some have to be set using some kind of key...I know Dad use to have to take it in each year to get inspected...Do I have to take it to a jeweler to get this done? Any help here would be appreciated....

[Veritas]

Hi Classic.
Likely it is leverset, if used on the railway.The lever to set it is behind the dial.So the dial needs to be opened to get to the lever.If you were to post this in American watches it would help you get more responses.And some pictures always help as well.

[Grant Perry]

Hi clasikrock,
I am going to move this thread to the pocket watch board as you will likely get more info on your watch there.
Grant

[Kent]

Hi clasikrock:

Welcome to the NAWCC American Pocket Watch Message Board!

Your watch sounds like it is a railroad watch (if you tell us all the markings on the movement - screw off the back to see it - we can confirm this) and, as Veritas posted, is lever-set. 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, which yours probably is. 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/).

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). A later list of Burlington Route employes required to carry a standard watch is shown in these 1949 CB&Q Rules (http://static.flickr.com/45/174562668_28998da6c1_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/) (scroll down to the title of the article). 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 (http://elginwatches.org/help/watch_repair.html) at Wayne Schlitt's Elgin Website.

Also, check out Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.pocketwatchsite.com/faq.html) on the Pocket Watch Site.

Also, Ed Ueberall, of The Escapement (https://home.comcast.net/~k_singer/Escapement.htm) has put together some notes on the Use And Care of Your Vintage Watch (http://k_singer.home.comcast.net/use_and_care_of_your_vintage_wat.htm) that may be helpful.

Service Frequency
If the watch is run continually, a cleaning and oiling is needed every 3-5 years. If you're only going to wear your watch occasionally, this ought to be done once at the onset and about every ten years thereafter. If you're not going to carry it (or run it), don't bother getting it serviced. Many of the watches in my collection (that aren't run) haven't been cleaned and oiled in 20 or 30 years or more.

I try to get the railroad standard watch that I carry on a daily basis - a Hamilton 992B - serviced every two years because that's what most of the railroad time service rules required by the time the 992B was built. I recognize that this is considered extreme, or overkill, but nevertheless, I've carried my watch for over twenty five years and it is still in as good mechanical condition as when I got it, keeping accurate time within mere seconds per month.

Good luck,