Does anyone know when the Mainliner "style" cases started showing up?

Thanks,

Regards,
Larry

I am interested to know this too...it's one of my favorite styles.

Page 236, 2012 Fat Book

The Mainliner
First seen c.1937, always marked "Hamilton Watch Co." on inside of case back.

The real deal Mainliner case would only be correct on a Hamilton 950 Elinvar, which was produced 1937-1940.

The lookalike Keystone J. Boss "Railroader" is probably the most popular railroad model case ever produced. It was sold by retail jewelers from about 1923 through the 1950s and was even revived as a "restrike" for a time in the 1970s.

Is that the Mainliner "wannabe" from Keyston also Ed?

I'm asking because I see a lot of 1920's movements in this case. I know all about the 950E mainliner, but that is not what I'm asking.

Thanks.

Regards,
Larry

This is a question that keeps coming up. The J. Boss Railroader which does resemble a Hamilton Mainliner in some respects due to a "family resemblance" that exists in these cases, however, they should always be called "J. Boss Railroader" cases and never "mainliner" style cases as this does nothing except to confuse us all and to have people keep referring to them wrongly.


The J. Boss Railroader was produced from the early 1920s up through the 1970s and was used on several makes of factory cased watches as well as being available from thousands of retail jewelers as original and replacement cases.

Now when Hamilton started using these cases in 1937 for their new 950E watches as Edward alludes to, they had their company logo engraved on the inside of the cases and marketed them as "The Mainliner". BUT, it actually wasn't a "J.Boss Railroader" case as the big difference is the "Mainliner" has 2 different features than the regular J. Boss Railroader case. The main difference is that the back bezel has 2 raised rings around the edge and the big difference is that ALL mainliner cases have Hamilton Railroad Model inscribed inside the back bezel.

So the answer is that the "J.Boss Railroader" cases were used from the early 1920's up until the 1970's and then some "restrikes" were made and they were sold up until the 1980's as replacement cases. Generally the restrikes had a left and a right side lever-cut out.

regards,
bb

Great lesson.

Thank you Buster.

Regards,
Larry

Buster thank you for your very informative post. I have a number of J Boss Railroader cases I just purchased from the estate of a deceased collector. One of my favorite styles, and that of many other collectors. You do see a lot of older movements cased in these cases because over time the original case wore out. I recall at my local Union Pacific jeweler (inspector) the Railroader cases were available new in the 1970's. I don't know if they were re-strikes. They should be called Railroaders but that seems as a practical matter like saying the original Kleenex is the only Kleenex, the rest being facial tissues. People just say Kleenex. When a term (such as aspirin for example) comes into common usage it is hard to stop it from spreading. I have committed the offense in my listings because the public seems to call the Railroader cases Mainliners and that general definition of the J Boss Railroader has become the currency of the market.

Thanks all, But......

As Smokey the Bear said.....

"Only you can prevent forest fires"

So start calling them as what they are

Then we can be the solution and not the problem.

"Tissue" Deacon ???

regards,
bb

Agree, Buster.

That said, hey Deacon, let me know if you're going to part with any of them there round watch-guts-holder thingies.

I was reading a little about it, but couldn't find anything about when this case started coming out.

So that case started being made way back in the early 20's. To me it looks like HAMILTON did the copying here, as that case was already being used for quite a wile before Hamilton decided to use it to introduce the 950E.

Now, we know that there were a few subtle changes made to it, copyright/patent laws come into mind, but the fact is that they did use that style for the 950E.

So I guess we COULD say that, the "Mainliner" is a "J. Boss Railroader" style case, to be correct.

I really don't see the problem with saying Mainliner "STYLE" case or "J. Boss Railroader" style case. It is what it is, and the facts show, without a doubt, that style case was being used LONG before Hamilton decided to use it.

So maybe we should have called the Mailniler, the J. Boss Railroader Wannabee.

Another very interesting thing here is how popular that case is compared to the world famous Wadsworth #2 BOC case. I thought the #2 BOC case was made longer but it looks like this case is/was used even longer.

Just another way of looking at this, sometimes disputed, topic.

Thank you for the info/links Debbie!

Regards,
Larry

I have learned a lot here, thank you all.

No tissue Buster I think I need some acetasalicyl------oh heck, asprin.