Greetings...I recently purchased a nice 16s Keystone silveroid case with hinged covers and dust plate which is stamped Ball Model,what exactly does this mean...were these made specifically for railroad models??

Mark

Can you post some pictures?

Mark,

The Ball Model marking indicates that your case was made for use with Ball watches. These cases were made to the specifications of the Ball Watch Company by all the major case makers, and were the standard of the industry in their day.

Once Ball Model cases came into general use circa 1906, they were used on all new Ball Official Standard watches, and were also available as replacement cases.

Lorne is right, some pictures would be a big help and would enable us to tell you more about your case.

Ed....Thanks for the info,am out of town but will try and get some photos up later for everyone!
Mark

Mark the Ball cases, while made for Ball, were also used on watches other than Ball watches. You may find for instance an Elgin in a Ball marked case and if there is no evidence of extra case screw marks the Ball case may have been original to the watch because that is what the buyer wanted. In general Ball cases carried a premium because they were well made and IMHO nickle cases wear forever and look good on a railroad watch.

Thanks Deacon, I think the example you gave is an instance of a non-Ball movement being put into a new Ball Model case back in the day, either when that movement was purchased new or for a replacement case.

Remember that recasing pocket watch movements in second-hand cases is a byproduct of the relatively recent phenomenon of people collecting old watches, and it is also what we have to do now because new cases are no longer being made.

Back in the day this situation was reversed, the old watch hobby didn't exist as we know it today, so there wasn't any source of second-hand cases to speak of, but more importantly, anyone could have gotten a brand new Ball Model silveroid case fitted to their movement for something like $3.50 by any jeweler, so naturally that's how it was done.

I picked up a Keystone silveroid Ball Model, size 16, on eBay about 2 years ago, the movement it held was a 7 jewel Waltham, not running, selling for parts.