Here is a interesting Hamilton watch 12 size take a look.

Lindell yes it,s a nice tribute too him..Ever time i buy a watch like this it makes me wonder why they were ever sold..

That is a great find. I love watches with some history.

I hate to say this, but the way this work is going, if that happened today the hero may not get a watch. Instead some companies might dock his pay for time spent away from his duties.

I remain very curious about the 1916 Bower Mfg Co. Chemical accident that Mr Peter Urbany got this very nice Waltham Watch Award for his lifesaving heroism on May 3rd, 1916.

Some History;

Henry Bower {1833-1896} graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1854. Two years later, he opened a drugstore and chemical shop at 7 South Front Street in Philadelphia, and in 1858, he built Bower Chemical Enterprises. Not far away near Chestnut and Front was the grocery store owned and operated by James Wills, Jr. whose bequest founded the Wills Eye Hospital.After perfecting the ammonium sulfate system, Henry Bower began to recycle stearine effluent as far away as Louisville and St. Louis, and he contracted with up and down the East Coast to convert gas works waste into high quality ammonia. In 1867, he discovered a reliable source for potassium ferrocyanide, an essential ingredient in pigmenting paint and printing inks. By the turn of the century, Henry Bower Chemical Manufacturing Company was the largest producer of chromium in the United States.

The whole piece (note the Bailey Banks and Biddle Dial, Henry Bauer Co went right up the hill for that, top shelf Jwewler)!

What I find so ironic about the first watch is the way different railroads handled like situations.

The B&O awarded a yardman for stepping up and saving a life, when my Dad did exactly the same thing back in 1951 on the Norfolk and Western by pulling a man out from in front of the oncoming Powatan Arrow passenger train that was coming past his classification tower at 60 mph. This high speed was allowed by N&W passenger trains within yard limits at the time.

He had just enough time to spin the man around to see the oncoming train, then both jumped to a retaining wall next to the track as the train roared by. He said he had never experienced a wind or such an intense sound in his entire life of a train passing by within 3 feet of his nose at speed. The retaining wall was above the B&O mainline, and a switcher was working behind them, so they couldn't jump down out out of the passenger trains way...so they had to stand and hope for the best. Fortunately they weathered the storm and were left standing and shaking after the last N&W passenger car passed.

All he and the other workman got was chewed out by the yard foreman for being so close to the track when the day passenger train was coming through, especially the car checker Dad had grabbed, as he had been walking between the rails with his back to the mainline...a HUGE no-no. Several people witnessed the action, and shook my Dad's hand after the foreman left....but the railroad never DID say anything.

Dad said the car checker he pulled out of the way was scared so bad he quit his job that very day, and Dad never saw him again. Dad worked until 1953 when he finally left railroading and went to work at Goodyear Atomic Corporation in Piketon, Ohio until his retirement in the 80's. He rarely spoke of that incident, but others who worked with him told me about it anytime Dad and I would run into some of his old railroad buddies. He'd always shrug it off and change the subject.

Regards! Mark

I agree with everything that's been said in this column. I think there are many unsung heroes out there in the work force who should get recognition for working above and beyond the call of duty. I could go on and on about this, but won't waste time with what should be obvious.

Steve G.

In 1947 my dad worked for the Fresco Railroad and he ran a repair crew....

This day, they were working on a two mile section of the tracks and had to be completed by noon because of the traffic on the rails....

His younger brother, my Uncle, was working in the crew and in another part of the section that was being repaired....by himself which was a no no....

My dad just happened to go by the place he was working and a rail had fallen on top of him, there were no other workers there and Dad picked up the rail by himself and lifted it off his brother so that George could slide out from underneath and get clear before Dad dropped the rail....Those rails were very heavy if you have ever seen one....

It is amazing what one person can do under stressful situations....

Just a story, and the railroad never said one word about the incident, I'm not sure they ever found out about....probaly not....

Regards,
Jerry

If they were anything like the N&W, they would have probably fired your uncle, then reprimanded your Dad for lifting the rail in an 'unsafe manner' by himself.

Regard! Mark

No doubt, Mark, that is probably why nothing was ever reported, by Dad.... he knew what would happen....

Regards,
Jerry

That's why he was in charge too! He KNEW!

All this aside, these watches still puzzle me as how they tend to get away from their respective families. Unlike watches with only initials, the history of WHY they were in their relatives possession is plainly engraved on the case. The family history is lost when they go to the open market.

I have never understood this.

That said, I LOVE to see them. Any more out there?

Regards! Mark

This watch is now on the 185 auction site ,take a look.