I know that many collectors turn their noses up at watches that have hairline cracks on the dials, but I have heard many "old heads" on the railroad discuss this. They said that inside the cab of the engine, or the caboose the temprature often exceeded 100 degrees. Then they would stick their head and chest outside the window to watch for the brakeman's signals into sub-zero tempratures. They sometimes could hear a unique "ping," or "plink" sound like nothing else they had ever heard. It was the sound of the enamel dial cracking from expansion and contraction at a different rate than the copper backing. I consider this to be an honest indication that the watch put in time as a precise and functional working instrument.

Great story! It has the feel of modern day "spin" rooms tho.

Over engine noise and imagining the possibility of one wearing ear muffs in sub zero temps, I think it unlikely.

Saying that, I dont have a problem with hairlines. I think they add a little character. In fact , when I see a mint dial, I go into skeptic mode and worry about switching and originality.

Happy hunting,

Bill Kapp

That is a good point. I asked the same question when I was told this story. The answer I got was: we are used to diesel locomotives that whine all the time, but when the old steam engines weren't pulling all-out, they could be very quiet.

I am not too sure on how quiet those old steam locomotives were, I grew up helping out on the old narrow gauge that ran from Durango Colorado to Farmington. When we would get the fire built up in the box & the steam pressure up that cab would get pretty loud & banging with the metal expanding & what not.

Boy I sure wish they had never rip this line up, I don't think a day goes by that I don't wish I could hop on it again.

Tom

Yes, there is something romantic about hearing the sound of the whistle in the distance, close up, however, it could shake the window panes.

Stephen:

This story sounds like a myth to me, I worked 28 years on the Canadian Pacific Railway on the ground and in diesel locomotives, I worked with hundreds of locomotive engineers from the steam era and never heard of anyone talking about hearing distinct pings as their pocket watch dial got hairlines from extremes of temperature. I worked on cabooses with coal stoves going from this warm environment out to switch cars in -40° weather with the wind chill factor characteristic of winters on the Canadian prairies, and my old Hamilton never pinged or showed any damage.

Buchaneer

Larry has a point, and in a previous discussion, I had mentioned that some dials did crack "naturally" due to stress relief and differential expansion between the highly stable porcelain and the less stable copper substrate. In Larry's case were his watch to have fallen out of his "body - temperature" clothing to the ground (not a nice warm snowdrift) and suffered an extreme thermal stress by cooling to -40f (for example) and then left near the stove at 80 deg. in the Caboose, and IF his dial was Porcelain (not enamel, there would be a probability of some micro-crack developing, SILENTLY!

Also, these cracks could "grow" over time just like a fracture line in a glass window pane.

MOSTLY though (in my experience) the particuler watchmakers who were graduates of a "Conan the Barbarian" school of "watch repair" would easily crack any dial by crow-barring it off the pillar plate before making sure the dial screws were all loose enough.

Hair lined dials are, in my humble opinion, the result of repair people having employed excessive force. Prying seized hands off the watch with improper tools incurs a significant risk of dial damage. Please bear in mind that which we, in the late 20th and early 21st century perceive as art, were simply tools of trade during the late 19th and early 20th century. I believe the reaction to mention of a hair lined dial on an 92 Waltham in 1910 would have been "Huh? It still keeps time... Now, where is that bottle of Scotch?".

Just to add to what has been said, a lot of times you see chips or hairlines around the lever for the lever set watches. This can be the result of not pushing the lever all the way in, and closing the case on the lever.
Brian C.

Okay, okay. I was just relating what I was told. Those old heads were good at telling stories! Now here is another question: I've seen a number of Sangamo Specials with replacement dials. Were they more susceptible to damage for some reason than Bunn Specials? Were the movements thicker, and therefore necessary to replace them if they were recased? Or maybe people are more likely to trade them off if they don't have the original dials...