LOL! Thanks Jerrry. How about 'Ravings of a guy who wandered around in places where he shouldn't have as a youth?"

Your Dad's Elgin is a beaut! I don't think I've ever seen that grade before. He had great taste, that's for sure.

Regards! Mark

Hey Mark, Thanks for the compliment on Dad's watch....I don't know how much it cost in 1947, not much I'm sure because we didn't have any money, we had plenty because we raised it on the farm but no money....

You need to be carefull of the Title of your new book....what you suggested implies that you may have been invloved with those creatures of the opposite SEX....

On second thought, that may be the best title because of that....you know what the advertising world says...."SEX SELLS"...!

Regards,

Jerry

I hope you have a suggestion on how to clean the coffee off my PC keyboard that I just spit all over it after reading that.

Regarding your Dad's watch, it's more than possible he purchased it through payroll deduction, as that's how most railroaders bought their standard watches.

Regards! Mark

Hi again Mark; I loved the photo of the Waverly Depot, HOWEVER WHAT I REALLY NEED IS AN INTERIOR VIEW SHOWING THE WALL WITH MY CLOCK ON IT LOLOL

Heck, I was lucky to find THAT photo! LOL!

Regards! Mark

Tom

Looking for your photo in the station.

So far I have just found ads in newspapers for the business.

Here is one from the Portsmouth Times 05/30/1937 that says the trains run on their time.

Tom

I have really enjoyed this thread,brings back a lot of memories.Born and raised not a 100yds. from a railroad track in west Texas.Never knew anyone who worked for the railroad though.As boys we would catch a slow mover and ride her into town about 5 miles and sometimes be lucky enough to catch one back.Guess we were pretending to be hoboe's.There was a stockyard about 2 miles from the house and on occassion the train would off load cattle there to rest and water.Now that really made our day when we could help unload the cattle and a few days later help load them up.What a great thrill it was!!

Roger

I did the same sort of thing, we had a narrow gauge line of the Denver & Rio Grande. It ran out near my house which was on the edge of town, I use to flag down the steam locomotive & they would let me ride in the cab & shovel coal. When they got into the center of town I would run around down town & then run back when the whistle blew & get a ride back home. I hated to see them close the line & tear up the rails, I always think it would have made a nice tourist attraction now days. It was part of the line that still runs from Durango to Silverton Co.

This is a photo of it in town.

Tom

I was born north of Knoxville Tn but my parents moved to NE Ohio when I was young and my father worked for a stone quarry company in Lorain county. The had a track system around about 2000 acres of various quarry sites that tied into the main double track system that ran east west along the lake. They used a diesel and had flip cars to carry the large sandstone blocks on. My parents lived near one of the spurs that crossed one of the highways so I did a lot of track walking in my younger days, and put a lot of pennies on the track to see how smashed they would be. Then I would go to my grandparents and see the old steamers. The last time I saw a working steamer was in the mid 90's and I lived in Castalia Ohio and lived near the coal railyard and N&W was still running the J-Class 611 on excursion runs and they parked the 611 near the highway and to see that extremely streamlined 4-8-4 and that tugboat sounding whistle, it wasn't much after that they put the 611 back in the museum.

I was fortunate to ride behind 611 the first time she came into Portsmouth on her N&W excursion runs between Portsmouth and Rarden on the Peavine. Decent ride, though they put us in a passing track as soon as we crossed the Scioto River for an eastbound freight, so it was kind of anti-climatic.

One of the most terrifying things I've ever experienced was years later when I heard 611 was supposed to be coming into Portsmouth from the north, and so positioned myself at the end of a country lane that turned off U. S. 23 just south of Lucasville.

Sure enough, I heard that whistle calling for the crossings in Lucasville about a mile away and saw her headlight round the curve. It's a long LONG straight stretch from Lucasville to the Rosemount overpass, and I learned later that the dispatcher gave 611 permission to exceed posted track speed, as the J's were always allowed 90 mph limits on the Valley Run.

Well, without going into further details, there's absolutely NOTHING more terrifying than a passing streamlined 4-8-4 'J' class passenger steam locomotive putting 20 passenger cars at 80+ mph on a level straight track from less than 20 feet away! Almost sucked the wind out of my lungs! I was sitting on a concrete signal base by a crossing too, so the sound and vibration was like an earthquake!

It was an experience I will NEVER forget!

Here's a DARN good example of what I experienced. Just up the speed a bit for my experience, but you get the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...e5Pc&feature=related

Now THOSE were amazing engines!

Now, to tie this back to topic, my best friends grandfather was the replacement engineer of the passenger train 'Powatan Arrow' that traveled the road from Tidewater to Cincinnati. Portsmouth was the crew change terminal, and his grandpa would take the run from Portsmouth into the Cincinnati Terminal station and back. The class J and K2 streamlined engines were the primary motive power for all the N&W passenger trains.

I actually knew the man for a few years before he passed away, and he was another who spoke of the road in reverent tones. He must have been at the top of the seniority list to have maintained the daily run of the crack day train for the N&W. He held the position for years, and retired from the run rather than being bumped to a lower assignment.

The watch he carried was an Illinois Bunn Special, and the first Illinois railroad watch I ever laid eyes on. My friend and I used to take great pleasure in pulling out our watches before biology class when at high school to compare time. My great granddad Pete's Elgin and friends Illinois Bunn Special were always excactly to the minute.

Tom, I gurarantee that Joyce was having a tough sales year when that ad was published. January 1937 the Ohio River came over the floodwall and completely flooded Portsmouth. They were still cleaning up the debris in June of that year due to all the damage.

Regards! Mark

In regards to the pricing I mentioned earlier the breakdown was for movement only (from the list mentioned in the post) The $2 difference between the 940 and Hampden Special Railway would amount to about 13 hours pay at 16 cents/hr. The $4.50 difference between the 940 and the Vanguard/Veritas would amount to about 28 hours pay. If you look at the 1915-1917 timeframe and only 16s comparable movements and list prices from either the Hamilton TimeBook or sales catalogs as the ones posted on the Elgin site

Hamilton 940 - $28.00
Illinois Bunn - $28.50
Hampden N-R - ???
Hampden S-R - $30.00
Waltham Van - $32.50
Elgin Veritas - $32.50
Illinois Sangamo - $34.00

From the 1916-17 catalogs
1916 Hamilton Time book
940 - $28.00
990 - $37.50
992 - $32.50
1917 Oskamp-Nolting
John Hancock -$33.20 (18s)
McKinley/105 - $34.20 (16s)
BWR $50 18s
FT $46.50 18s
BWR $50 16s
FT $46.50 16s
Bunn $42 18s
Bunn $47.50 16s
A Lincoln $43 16s
Vanguard $56.60 18s
Crescent st $46.60 18s
Crescent st $46.60 16s
645 $44.50
Riverside 19j $47.80

With the exception of the Waltham Riverside 19j all the others were 21 jewel versions (movements only price). In this time frame I am not sure if the 18 size pricing is a good indicator because these were on their way out of RR service but the 16 size pricing should be fairly valid. At an average hourly wage of 25 cents/hr in this time frame that should give you a good ideal on the impact each of these watches inflicted on the RR'er.

No WONDER the railroads and inspectors offered payroll deduction!

I've also been rereading some of the FT vs. BWR articles from past years, and it's interesting that the 18s FT's were made from the same materials as the Veritas grade models, but were sold for so much less money than, say, the BWR 18s. No real rhyme or reason for it, and no explaination in any Elgin paperwork. They hardly promoted the FT model either, but sold the heck out of them to railroad men.

Regards! Mark

Mark and Claude, this probably also shows why so many really high end railroad movements ended up in silveroid cases.Besides being nearly indestructable, they looked great, and were next to nothing price-wise, compared to gold or gold filled.Buying that 18s Vanguard in solid gold would have meant a mortgage payment!Thanks Claude for the prices, that really shows what a wallop that was to their budget.I imagine the so-called popular price RR movements like the 6&845 Walthams, South Bend's 227, Hampden D.W. Co., etc. must have sold better than the more expensive grades.

Could be, Theodore. I never saw one in a silveroide myself. Every man I knew with the exception of one, as well as every big Elgin I own, was/is housed in a WELL worn gold or gold filled case. Same with my great grandfathers....a gold filled, though a bit brassy, case.

As close as folks watched their money back then, they were also 'brand loyal'. In my families case, even though the Elgin cost more, they'd buy one because THEIR Dad carried one, and they had to keep the family tradition. If it took them longer to pay it off, so be it.

I guess the N&W paid a bit better due to the fact they made their money from hauling coal, and out of mines THEY owned. Maybe the workers could afford a better case, and most were able to hang onto them during the Depression. I honestly don't know.

Regards! Mark

Mark, Ever wonder why the railroad companies didn't just loan the watches to their men, rather them make them buy their own?I've always wondered about that.Another thing about the prices, I remember seeing in some old catalog reprint ads in some of Roy Ehrhardt's books, some RR watches that were "price furnished on request".I wonder if they made special price deals with watch inspectors if they ordered several at a time.I never knew N&W also was in the coal mining business too, I guess they must have been their own best customer!Sounds like you're an Elgin collector.They made some great RR's., I only have a few , a 21J 349, 16 & 18S 19J BWR's, and an 18S 17J BWR full plate.I hope to someday get a Father Time, I think that's the coolest name for a watch ever.Thanks! Ted.

Theodore that was why I implied that there was no motive for the railroads to push the limits on the watch requirements, but to require watches that would meet the basic requirements. If you were to look you would see a great deal of variation among the various railroad companies in regards as to how strict the watch regulations were just as you see in the two that I posted. There were more than a few watches that would meet the Santa Fe and C,B&Q requirements that many people don't consider them to be RR watches because many feel the requirements changed at a much faster rate than 1949. Many feel that adjusted to position was well bypassed by 1915 which is not the case in both examples I posted. I doubt that many railroad companies would take on the expense of buying watches for all workers since that would be quite a hit on the profit margin.

Let's say I've owned more Elgins in my life than just about any watch brand....but as I posted above, I'm afraid it's that family brand loyalty pushing through. It's what the Cross family carried. Of the Elgins I currently own, I have a 1910 FT railroad 18s model 367 with diamond end stone, and a 1911 Veritas model 214 with diamond endstones, and a 16s Veritas model 376. They're carried in rotation and keep perfect standard time.

I believe I read once that PRR issued loaners to their engineers back in the 1800's, but as Claude points out, it cut into the bottom line. As it was they found them on more than one occasion being held in pawn shops, the borrowed funds used for the purchase of liquor. That ended THAT great experiment.

Here's one that Dave posted a while back that really got my blood pumping, even if it WAS a Hamilton:

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...751021703#1751021703

Regards! Mark

Claude, I never thought about it that way, if they had owned all the watches, I guess that would have been a giant expense, plus they would have to eat all the maintenance and repair cost.Those "new " standards, if not for the grandfathering, would have taken everything under 21 jewels out of sevice, they did the right thing by keeping the minimum standards .Another thing, imagine what it was like for RR men in the Great Depression, no matter how bad you were hurting, that watch payment still had to come out of your pay.I'm sure a lot of them ended up out of work, and many RR watches got sold for next to nothing, and many nice cases got scrapped.I know in the depression, RR movements got a lot cheaper, but no one could afford to buy them.Thanks, Ted.

Thanks Mark, especially like those old full plate Father Times, the ones with gold lettering.I often carry the 349, and the 17J BWR, both are great runners and run right on the money!I guess watch brand loyalty does run in families,always has, always will!

This is from Central of Georgia Railroad Dec 1936


4. The minimum standards adopted by this Company for new watches going into service is a grade known among American movements as “16 Size, Nickel, 19 Jewel, Lever Set, Double Roller, Patent Regulator, Adjusted to heat and cold, and not less than 5 Positions,” the variation of which must not exceed 30 seconds per week.

The grades are plainly specified as follows:
BALL MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
ELGIN MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
HAMILTON MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
ILLINOIS MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
WALTHAM MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward.

5. All new watches in service must show manufacturers’ grade, name, or number engraved on movement. No watches specially made or named by and for any jeweler will be accepted.

6. The minimum standard of watches now in service shall be 16 or 18 size, 17 Jewels, single roller, lever set, adjusted to 3 positions and in such condition and repair as will enable them to run with a variation of not over 30 seconds per week.

So here is another RR where adjusted to 3 positions was acceptable as of Dec 1936.

Another one but a bit earlier

Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railway Company

OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT

Chicago, Ill, December 1st 1921

OFFICERS AND EMPLOYES

1. Effective December 1st, the NATIONAL RAILWAY TIME SERVICE COMPANY, of Chicago, Illinois will have general supervision of the watch inspection for this company. Employes designated below are required on and after the above date to submit their watches for quarterly inspection and semi-monthly comparisons with standard time to the various local inspectors who are appointed to this purpose, and who are under the general supervision of the National Railway Time Service Company, Chicago, Illinois, General Time Inspectors.

2. Trainmasters, Yardmasters and assistants, Train Dispatchers, Engine Dispatchers, Roundhouse Foremen, Road Engineers, Motormen, Firemen, Road Conductors, Brakemen, Flagmen, Train Baggagemen, Yard Engineers, and Yard Conductors must submit their watches for quarterly examination and semi-monthly comparison as required by the rules.

3. Names and locations of local inspectors and standard clocks on the respective Divisions will be shown in current time tables.

4. The minimum standard of excellence adopted by this Company for new watches going into service is a grade known among American movements as “16 Size, Nickel, 19 Jewel, Lever Set, Double Roller, Patent Regulator, Adjusted to heat and cold, and not less than 5 Positions,” the variation of which must not exceed 30 seconds per week.

The grades are plainly specified as follows:
ELGIN MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
HAMILTON MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
HAMPDEN MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
HOWARD MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
ILLINOIS MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward;
SOUTH BEND MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 21 Jewels;
WALTHAM MANUFACTURE, 16 size, 19 Jewels and upward.

5. All new watches in service must show manufacturers’ grade, name, or number engraved on movement. No watches specially made or named by and for any jeweler will be accepted.

6. The minimum standard of watches now in service shall be 16 or 18 size, 17 Jewels, single roller, lever set, adjusted to 3 positions and in such condition and repair as will enable them to run with a variation of not over 30 seconds per week.

It appears rule #6 in both cases allows for the grandfathering of watches that we've been talking about through this entire thread. As long as they met the time standard, and were the specified size, jewel count, and adjustment numnber, they could be accepted into duty.

The fact single roller watches were still accepted in 1936 surprises me, though.

Regards! Mark

Mark that does not surprise since if you go back to the details of the early Hamilton 992 it only had a single roller up until the early 1900's. The 990 had a double roller from the beginning but the 992 didn't so one would have to debate that an early 992 was not worthy of using for railroad use, I tend to think that would have been a difficult task. Maybe some of the Hamilton experts can comment when the 992 went from SR to DR but I think it was very early 1900's and before 1910. Oh well guess I had to look it up myself the 992LS was SR up to 377,001 and DR after 379,000 I guess the serial numbers in between were hit or miss with SR or DR and that would put the date around 1904-1905.

Yeah, that's my point. Most manufacturers had switched over to DR by 1910 or so, if not before, so the fact they were still accepting them in 1936 is something I've never seen before in an official railroad ruling.

Everything else, yes, but not the SR watch being mentioned in such a way. I always figured the SR movement being more suspectable to being jarred to the point of being overbanked more easily than a DR movement, and therefore more of a concern to a business whose workers were being bounced around on steam locomotives or rolling stock. Just an assumption on my part, of course.

Interesting!

Regards !Mark

That was also my impression of the SR>DR was to improve the durability and resistance to shock etc. Probably it became a moot issue since most companies added the DR by default for that very reason but in the cases of the SR-992 there were not excluded.

Has anyone else heard of or know anything about that National Railway Time Service Co. listed in Claude's post?The name kind of implies it may have been a big nationwide thing.Thanks guys, this keeps getting better!...Ted.

Ted

I think that was one of the many that did rail road watch & time services. Ball had a company with offices in various parts of the country & National was another one.

There is a little more information on these services in these other posts.

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...=287104623#287104623

Tom

Thanks Tom, I missed seeing that before.Take care,Ted.

Theodore, the post that Tom pointed you to also shows the politics/corruption in this area. Many people idolize Mr. Ball but here is a situation where someone was using his influence to set regulations that also would benefit him by making the regulations stiffer for RR watches since he owned a watch company. Buster's comment wrapped it up about as good as it could be wrapped up!!

quote:

How EXTREMELY interesting

Two seperate bills, one in Michigan and Illinois, to investigate and stop the "Ball" price gouging and keep those affiliated with watch companies from being considered, and ** POOF ** the bills just disappear

Corruption & Pay Offs and the "Ball" goes on

Perhaps the more things change, the more they stay the same

regards,
bb

Claude and et al....we can say many many things that apply to Webb C. Ball and probably be correct on most occasions....One thing for sure, however, He alone is responsible for the tremendous improvement in horological accuracy that occured after the 1891 train wreck in Kipton....There is, of course, no way of accurately putting any numbers to the lives he may have saved by this improvement in time keeping....

Was he an astute business man....absoulutely, but the BAll Watch Co. made no watches, they would buy watches from various watch company's and modify them and eventually he did become a Vice Pres. of Hamilton....The following is a short summary from Wikipedia that tells most of it....

Wikipedia Summary:

Webster Clay Ball (October 6, 1847 – 1922) was a jeweler and watchmaker born in Fredericktown, Ohio. After a two-year apprenticeship to a jeweler, Ball settled in Cleveland, Ohio to join a jewelry store. When Standard Time was adopted in 1883, he was the first jeweler to use time signals from the United States Naval Observatory, bringing accurate time to Cleveland.

In 1891 there was a collision between Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway trains at Kipton, Ohio, which occurred because an engineer's watch had stopped. The railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their Chief Time Inspector, in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for railroad chronometers.

He established strict guidelines for the manufacturing of sturdy, reliable precision timepieces, including resistance to magnetism, reliability of time keeping in 5 positions, isochronism, power reserve and dial arrangement, accompanied with record keeping of the reliability of the watch on each regular inspection.

His original jewelry business in Cleveland grew into the Ball Watch Company (currently headquartered in Neuchatel, Switzerland), which used other watch companies' movements, perfecting them and then reselling them. Ball Watch Company also ordered watches complete from other watch companies. Ball used movements from the top American manufacturers, Elgin, Hamilton, and Waltham, and switched to Swiss movements as early as the 1940s in their wristwatches. The Waltham Watch Company complied immediately with the requirements of Ball's guidelines, later followed by Elgin National Watch Company and most of the other American manufacturers: Aurora, Hamilton, Hampden, E. Howard & Co., Illinois, Seth Thomas, later on joined by some Swiss watch manufacturers: Audemars Piguet, Gallet, Longines, Record Watch, Vacheron Constantin.

Webb C. Ball became the vice president of the Hamilton Watch Company and focused his efforts on developing watches for the railroads. On February 10, 1907, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers honored his efforts by appointing Ball as an honorary member.

They were the first wrist watch allowed to be used on the Railroads, (using a Swiss manual wind movement) followed quickly by the first American made wrist watch on "the roads", Elgin.

The firm was family owned by direct descendants until the 1990s when the right to use the name was sold. The new firm continues the tradition, using Swiss-made (primarily ETA) movements and making watches for sportsmen and even for some small railroads.

At the end of his career, Webb C. Ball was overseeing over 125,000 miles of rail tracks in the U.S.A., Mexico & Canada , having greatly contributed to the security of all railroad systems. The Horological Institute of America celebrated his efforts on October 20, 1921. He died in 1922.


Regards,

Jerry

one **** of a great American, nae doot aboot it!!!!!

Jerry, Ball did own the company and did directly profit from proceeds from that company so any rule or regulation that he affected would have a direct impact on this wallet. In today's time that would never have been allowed because it would be a direct "conflict of interest" but that was then and not within the last almost 80 years. There will be many that say he did make watches even though I agree with you that he took movements purchased from other companies and did some finishing and casing and sold them. If Ball did not work with the government to make changes someone else would have, in the end the US government knew changes had to be made. Also anyone that does not believe that Ball profited or gained some advantage over the other watch companies because of his position in having a major impact on watch regulations are just ignoring the facts. I have not seen anything where Ball donated the profits from the Ball watch company to charity so in that case the profits would have gone to the shareholders/owners of the Ball watch company which means until Ball sold or died, whichever was first he profited from the proceeds of the Ball watch company which indirectly gained access or had a great influence in the standards for those watches. You might have a good a good argument that Webb C Ball did what he did for compassion to save lives if he did not create the Ball watch company, but the fact is he did create the Ball watch company and did profit as a result of that company so someone can argue just as effectively that his motives were not just compassion or the advancement of horology but personal greed.

Claude, I will respond to your last post in this manner, with your permission, of course....I will separate each of your assertions and insert my response to each in an effort to respond to all....


Jerry, Ball did own the company and did directly profit from proceeds from that company

Webster Clay Ball (October 6, 1847 – 1922) was a jeweler and watchmaker born in Fredericktown, Ohio. After a two-year apprenticeship to a jeweler, Ball settled in Cleveland, Ohio to join a jewelry store.

so any rule or regulation that he affected would have a direct impact on this wallet.

He was an astute business man....absoulutely

In today's time that would never have been allowed

Neither would John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil) or Ma Bell (AT&T)....

because it would be a direct "conflict of interest" but that was then and not within the last almost 80 years. There will be many that say he did make watches even though I agree with you that he took movements purchased from other companies and did some finishing and casing and sold them.

If Ball did not work with the government to make changes someone else would have

Someone probably would have, but Webb was the most qualified to do so, that is why the Rail Road Officials not the U.S. Gov. chose him. The U.S. Gov. didn't get involved with operating the railroads until 1917 and only then because of the war effort.
, in the end the US government knew changes had to be made.

Also anyone that does not believe that Ball profited or gained some advantage over the other watch companies because of his position in having a major impact on watch regulations are just ignoring the facts.

I don't recall hearing anyone claim that Webb didn't profit from his endeavours and if any one can gain an advantage over another in order to make more profit is, I believe called business acumen.

I have not seen anything where Ball donated the profits from the Ball watch company to charity so in that case the profits would have gone to the shareholders/owners of the Ball watch company which means until Ball sold or died, whichever was first he profited from the proceeds of the Ball watch company which indirectly gained access or had a great influence in the standards for those watches.

Quite frankly, I don't believe he did either, publicly, what he did privately no one knows....on the same token, I do not know if the Directors of Elgin, Waltham, Hampden, Rockford or any of the other watch companies did either....Additionally, Webb died in 1922 and the Ball Watch Company stayed in family hands until the 1990's, I believe....

You might have a good a good argument that Webb C Ball did what he did for compassion to save lives if he did not create the Ball watch company, but the fact is he did create the Ball watch company and did profit as a result of that company

No, I am not implying that Webb did anything because of compassion for human life....he undoubtedly saw a business opportunity and seized it as would any good business person of that day if given the opportunity....


so someone can argue just as effectively that his motives were not just compassion or the advancement of horology but personal greed.

Again, Claude, I don't know about his compassion, but the methods he insisted on certainly did help horology and I am sure he did profit from his business acumen....


Claude, the reason I responded in this manner was simply to make sure that I responded to each of your points that your were making and I must say you did a fine job in your post. I also want to say to you that you have done a super job throughout this topic and it will & has become one of great value to the club....

Regards,

Jerry

Just one point that is often mentioned is that Ball just bought watches & then put his dial & case on them & resold them is not correct.

Every watch bearing the Ball name had to go through his shop. Each watch was torn down & then rebuilt. Balance wheels & hair springs were given minute inspection.

The watches were then held for a week or more while they underwent testing a fine adjustments. Trays of watches were put into an oven & held at a temp of 90 degrees for four hours, then they would be checked against a chronometer. Then they were placed in an ice box held at 40 degrees for four more hours & then again checked against the chronometer.

Next each watch would spend 24 hours in each of the five positions & checked each time.

After all the test the watches would be cased & put in a chamois pouch & then once more checked for accuracy.

If a watch couldn't be brought into "time" it was returned to the watchmakers in the shop & torn down again & go through the process again.

Most of this information comes from an interview that was done with Mary Babcock, she & her husband Harrison F. Babcock worked for Webb Ball in Cleveland for I believe about 40 years each. Mary was responsible for testing & adjusting the watches after they were rebuilt.

The interview with Mary Babcock was published in 1964.

Tom