Pocket Watch : Antique Waltham Vanguard Railroad Pocket Watch

The great North American railroad watch became an institution after a fatal crash in 1891, which was caused in part by the stopping and then restarting of the engineer's watch, which caused it to be four minutes slow. In the early days of railroading, when trains ran by strict time and timetable rules, that four minutes proved to be fatal. As a result, in 1893, the General Railroad Timepiece Standards were adopted, which mandated high grade specifications including a minimum of 17 jewels in the movement, a minimum of five adjustments and micro-metric regulation. The watch has a high grade 23-jewel stem-winding movement, grade 1623, adjusted, 6 positions and an Ohlson 1908 patent regulator. The movement is working nicely. It is fully signed and it has the serial number 29,377,599 dates it back to 1937. The movement is protected by an inner hinged cover. The watch measures 50mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside both of the case backs for Birmingham 1918, with a case maker’s mark for Aaron Dennison. The Dennison Watch Case Company manufactured and supplied cases to Waltham UK. There is a discrepancy in dates between the case and the movement which suggests they have been put together at some stage. However, the movement would have sat in a case just the same as this one, with the lever to set the hands at the 11 o’clock position (this is quite unusual as they tend to be on the opposite side). So there is a good chance this was originally a Vanguard case. The case is in good condition. The glass lens is in good condition. The rare dial has blued steel hands, a subsidiary seconds dial and outer minute track. There are a couple of short faint hairlines between 11 and 12 but they are quite difficult to see with the naked eye. The watch comes in a new presentation box. All prices include UK postage (excluding Northern Ireland). Please contact us regarding international shipping costs. Some countries do not allow the importation of antiques / watches / precious metals. Please contact us prior to placing an order if you are unsure about your country and we can check this for you. The international buyer is responsible for paying any import duties and taxes. All of our watches are checked over before listing and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch. We are a VAT registered company and all purchases are covered by Consumer Regulations. Credit / debit card purchases up to £300 can be made over the telephone on 01386 750238 or you can proceed via the red 'Buy Now' button on each listing page. We are an on-line only business and do not have facilities for callers. Our offices are open from Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. With regards to appraisals / valuations, we receive a huge number of information requests each day and unfortunately do not have the manpower to deal with them all individually. Our advice would be to contact a local auctioneer for a full appraisal.