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 ever increasing range and have a large assortment of American Railroad Grade Pocket Watches.

American Railroad Pocket watcheswere 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 railroads 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 o’clock.
• 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.