Could a Hamilton 992 have been sold with moon-style hands?

I would think so if it were an earlier 992 IMHO. Let me explain that the early Hamilton's you could by a movement, pick out a dial, pick out your hand choice and your case and have your jeweler fit everything together. Now would anyone actual put moon hands on a RRG RRA early Hamilton 992? Maybe but if they did I do not think it would be RRA'd to use on a rail road. RRA hands needed to bee easily seen so that is why almost all 992's I have seen have the heavy spade hands up until Hamilton started casing the movements and putting the new style 992 hands on them and later changed the color to black and used them on the 992B. I have seen 992's with a spade hour hand and a thin pointed minute hand with no spade tip. Whether this hand would be correct for early RRG RRA'd 992's I do not know.

This is how I understand it and maybe someone that knows for sure will chime in and update us both.

Harry

Have to admit that the hands look great with the script dial but the movement is not all that early.

Put what looks good to you on it. You can always put different hands on it later.

Harry

Right or wrong?

Looks very nice. Everyone has their own preference and who cares what other people think? (:

Looks great!

I never have cared for the Breguet styled hands (moon). But to each his own. You could certainly "pick and choose" back in the day from your local jeweler. However as we know the 992 was slated to serve the RR industry needs and workers so I definitely prefer to see Spade & Pointer hands on those watches. The Spade & Pointer hands were Bigger, Bolder and EZ to read in low light conditions such as on locomotives and cabooses and at night.

regards,
bb

Point well taken, Buster. Was there much of a 'civilian' market for RR grade watches or would people generally go with less expensive lower grade watches?

Buster I was under the, probably mistaken, impression that the Spade/Spade were the more popular as far as RR hands on the 992. Again, better to see in low light conditions.

I guess I thought the Spade/Pointer hands were more for the lessor grade Hamiltons, say like the 974 etc.

Thanks for the info.

Regards,
Larry

Dana I'm sure there were those folks that wanted to carry the best, which would have been RRG, and they bought a RR watch. But for the most part they selected the lower grade watches to carry and some chose the 12 sz high grade watch to carry as there were some very good 12 sz watches that rivaled and even exceeded some RR watches !!

One of the terms of employment on the RR was to have a RRG-RRA watch that we had to pay for out of our own pocket, to maintain it, and to have on you while working....

Yes Larry Spade hands or Spade and Pointer whatever was in vogue at different times, you are correct.

regards,
bb

Buster-

What was the typical life span for a RR watch before a replacement was required?

They were built to last forever and to simply keep them maintained by a qualified repairman. That maintenance would put in new jewels, new mainspring, new hairspring, etc. to keep the correct time. The only time a watch was traded in or upgraded was if a RR company phased out a particular watch or if a worker just wanted the newest watch out there that many co-workers were using.

The thing about a mechanical watch is that a really good repairman can spend some time fine tuning even the less than RRG grade watches and make it keep time with the finest and highest jeweled RR watch. But it comes at a price because of the time involved in adjusting that watch to keep perfect time in the required 5 or 6 positions (face up, face down, pendant up, pendant right, pendant left, and the 6th position- pendant down).

I have had repairman tell me they could adjust any watch to keep perfect time in positions but at a price of 2-3 times what a normal C.O.A. would cost because of the time involved.

I know that in 1967 when they first allowed wrist watches on the Texas & Pacific Railway on our Division, workers traded in their pocket watches for $5-10 on the new fangled wristies. Some kept their old pocket watch and retired it to the night stand drawer. Like many things they were simply phased out.....

regards,
bb

Buster-

Considering the yearly production output of RRG watches by the major watch houses in this country compared to the robust nature of the product as described by you, I wonder how they managed to sell all their watches.

I would suspect through attrition, disabilities, quitting, being fired, and retirement each year new employees would replace the old.

Also Like a new car or truck today, I'm sure even though a watch could last a long time if well maintained, they were traded and upgraded to the newest and best fairly regularly which would explain the rows of used watches that I remember seeing in jewelry stores when I went to work at 1/2 the price of a new one. In 1966 the wage for a full days work was $26.80. A new RR watch would cost up to $100-150 and a good used one would cost $40-50, so since it amounted to 2 days wages, for even a used watch, many of us bought our first required watch in the used showcase and traded up to a new one when we got money ahead or after we got over the "derail", which was a period of time that a RR could fire you without sanctions or explanation to the union, which you couldn't belong to till you got over said derail, if you weren't the type of employee they desired.

Computerization and improved equipment steadily reduced employment, which peaked at 2.1 million in 1920, falling to 1.2 million in 1950 and 215,000 in 2010. Route mileage peaked at 254,251 miles in 1916 and fell to 139,679 miles in 2011.

After 1910 freight revenues were cut into by trucking. Also passenger service steadily declined by personal auto and air service use. Freight railroads continue to play an important role in the United States economy today, especially for moving imports and exports using containers coast to coast, and for shipments of coal, and since 2010, of oil. They are universally recognized in the industry as the best in the world. Productivity rose 172% between 1981 and 2000, while rates rose 55% (after accounting for inflation). Rail's share of the American freight market rose to 43%, the highest for any rich country........ {excerpts from Wikipedia}

regards,
bb

That would be $800-$1000 in today's money, a good chunk of change for a new watch.