With all the articles on railroad watch specifications, I see very little mention of cases. My question is this. Was it required that an open face case have screw on bezels? Were hinged front and back cases acceptable?

Most RRG pocket watch cases were SB&B, but a lot were swing ring, and also HB&B, and some Illinois Sangamo cases were SB&HB. Just from a practicality standpoint, the entire case, but especially the pendant and bow had to be robust enough to withstand the strain of being frequently pulled out of a railroad man's work pants or overalls in daily use.

The best reference point on what constitutes a good RRG case are the various factory cases* sold on RRG watches by Ball, Elgin, Hamilton, Illinois and Waltham. These cases were made by the major case makers to the specifications of RRG watch companies and were the industry standard of their day.

My personal favorites among these were the Ball Watch Co. "Ball Model" and "Official RR Standard" factory cases, Hamilton's "Railroad Model" cases, and the Illinois Watch Co. "Bunn Special Model" series.

* Cases sold on factory-cased RRG watches, almost always marked with the watch model and/or watch company name.

Just to add to the discussion, take a look at the Dueber Railway marked cases. They show a high level of workmanship and finish whether nickle or silver.

I was thinking more about the time before there were factory cased watches. Like in the period up to 1920 or so.

Donald the Dueber Railway cases were sold before 1920 and were meant for those wanting a best quality working case.

In my experience, the early 1900's Hamilton cased model 990 were screw on bezels, then later Hamilton changed to a 3-hinged case which had snap closures. These cares were (I think) optional for order by the watch seller as many Hamilton (and most all other watchmaker's) movements were generally built and sold as movements alone until the late 1920's when some makers began selling "timed and cased by (maker's name)" watches again. Generally those were screw on Bezels and Covers.

Exactly. My only question was whether the screw on bezel and back cases were a requirement for RR service and I guess the answer is no. Before the advent of factory cased watches, a buyer could choose the case he wanted from the retailer as long as the movement itself met the requirements. Is that correct?

Yes

I have mentioned this before and will do so here: The Great Northern Railway after 1920 or so did not allow hinged cases for railroad watches in their service. They were not considered dust proof or tight closing enough. This info came from the old Northern Time Service, a watch service center for train crews once located in St Paul (MN) Union Depot. I suspect other railroads had this same objection against hinged cases when we see how quickly the Illinois Watch Co. offered the Sangamo Special 60 hour watch in a screw back and bezel case. I know that the hinged version of the Sangamo Special was disallowed.

Can someone break out what SB&B, HB&B and SB&HB mean?

For some reason I assume it should be intuitive, but those brain cells must be on break.

SB&B = Screw back & bezel
HB&B = Hinged back & bezel
SB&HB = Screw back & hinged bezel, can't say I have seen one of these

Lorne, my ca 1921 17-size Sangamo Special, Sangamo Special Case Serial # 5680003, thin model with single-sunk dial, has a screw-back and hinged-bezel. It's the one pictured in my avatar . .

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While no expert I would speculate that most RRG watches were bought "on the cheap" by workers needed to qualify to work on the railroad in train service. Gold was not the "luxury" it is now as guys I worked with had mouths full of it. After 3 months on the road I was allowed to purchase a watch and a portion {$3.50} was with held from my cash pay envelope each week.

In old employee rule books from the New Haven the words Train Employees Must carry an approved RR Grade watch in Open Face configuration. While particularly mentioned for train service people, anyone that "Got Time from the dispatcher" were held to that rule also. Everyone I worked for that had anything to do with the movement of trains carried a standard screw face cased watch.

My first weeks in the track dept moved me to the title of asst.foreman. This was a job attained because I could read and write. None of the Track foreman i worked for could read or write so I would "Get the Track" with the foreman. We both listened on the wayside phone but with me filling in a form of what i heard. So I had an open faced standard watch case. Many trackmen especially Rail Machine Operators,truck drivers went for fancy cases, dials and hands. A man in the gang that went for a fancy case would not get a second glance. This rule carried up till the "60's and by 1968 when Penn Central came so did Pay Checks that bounced and the ability to buy approved wrist watches. And boy did we miss the Cash envelopes on Friday. LoL