18 size Hampden deuber grand 17 j HC #1866648

Any information about this movement would be greatly appreciated. Is it RR Grade? Thank you

It is listed in the "blue book" as "17J adjusted" which in many of these later Post RR grade rule enforcements which did not apply to any 17 Jewel OR Hunter Movements means that John Deuber "adjusted" these for "Temperature Only" and even marked them such.

Thank you David for that information.

Hi Charlie,

To add to the good info David provided this is a Model 4, with around 40,000 made in all variations and in this variation a little under 10,000. Probably closer to 1903 production, but these dates can vary 2 or 3 years either side in some cases, and as David said not a RR Grade.

Cheers,
Bila

Charles, as this is a valuable and respectable movement and watch, I urge you to understand these comments only apply to using it to run railroad trains on schedule.

Thank you also Bila, I appreciate the information.

Charlie,

You may know this already, but just to be clear about RR watches in general - and this can't be repeated often enough - RR grade is much less determined by jewel count than it is by adjustments (as Dave indicated).

Many people believe that RR grade only applies to 21 jewel, five-position adjustment, open-face watches. It does not. There were many RR-grade watches with just 15 jewels and fewer adjustments, including but not limited to many E. Howards, all 16 and 18 size Elgin BWRs, Illinois Bunns, and some higher Waltham grades.
Also, there were some Hampden 17j RR-grade watches.

A lot of the early RR watches were in hunting cases. Many of them had Roman numerals. That may come as a shock to some. It shouldn't.
One should not get hung up on the RR requirements put into place late in the century or after the turn of it. There were railroads in the 1850s. There were still few to zero 21 jewel and not many 19j watches made in America by 1870!
It does not seem to me that many people read the literature available about all this.
Throughout history, pretty much nothing happened overnight, including RR-grade designation, and even when it was codified by Webb C. Ball and separately by some railroad companies, not everyone agreed. Some companies and/or railroads fought him or ignored him for years.
It's all good reading.

kh