Anyone know or care to guess which 16s RR grade was probably the most popular in use in the U.S. ?I Think it would be the Hamilton 992 or 992B.Both were made for a real long time and must have sold in huge numbers.Same with the Elgin B.W. Raymond and Waltham Vanguard.This may be a dumb question, probably has been asked before, but should stir up a lot of opinions...Thanks!, Ted Brown.

Ted

I agree with you, I think it would be the 992B & the BWR. They are not my favorites but I would guess those two sold the most.

I am not saying anything is wrong with any of them, I just like Illinois for some reason.

That is my guess.

Tom

I would agree with both of you in that the 992B & B.W. Raymond would be the most used by RR men with the Raymond probably being the one most used....

If you ask 10 people their favorite watch, you will probably get 10 different answers....

I personally do not have a 'Favorite' type watch, but if I had to pick one over the other....well I don't know that I could, off handed....That would be a tough decision....

How's that for straddling the fence....

Regards,
Jerry

I'm going out on a limb and take a guess at the most popular was the 992-B.

Yes indeed my favorite is a 992-B in a model 11 case.

That aside I can say from experience the watch I saw used most often on the 3 railroads I worked on, the C&NW, The Milwaukee Road, and The South Shore Line, was a Hamilton 992-B. They outdistanced Ball and Accutron wrist watches in an era when wrist watches were very much in vogue.

If you go strictly by production numbers, Lin and Mitch would be correct....

525,000 Hamilton 992B's vs Elgin 571's from 1946 thru 1954 @ only 171,000....No contest

Regards,
Jerry

I know I asked this before, but of that 500,000 give or take number of 992B's, does that also include 3992B and 4992B production? If not, definitely no contest. If so, that number is kind of padded by war time nagivator watch numbers rather than just railroad watch production numbers. Hamilton got the primary WW2 government contract, so those numbers went through the roof.

Either way, the 992B in ANY configuration seems to be the odds on favorite. I carry a 4992B conversion myself these days.

Regards! Mark

The most popular 21j 16s RR grade was undoubtedly the 16s Hampden New Railway. The 23j Hampden model 104/Special Railway would make it even more overwhelming. As we all know Hamilton stole the Hampden New Railway movements and falsely labeled them 992B. In fact the Hampden people were forced out of business and sold to the Godless communists in Russia because of the theft of about 900,000 Hampden movements that were then labeled 992B and 950B. Now that that ismettled Would any members be interested is an IHC 185 Hampden chapter. Dave Abbe and I will join and Dave was not anesthetized when he said it!

Right on, Deacon! Hampden nuts have to stick together,I would join too. Thanks.

Thanks for understanding my offbeat humour Ted. I am serious about starting a Hampden group and have no idea where to go. I have long collected but was never a member of any club or association and now that I am I would not mind getting a Hampden group going.

It would be a great thing.Hampdens in my opinion still get dumped on by the watch collecting world.But I also think that more and more people are starting to see the light.So, to add to the Hampden list, how about the 19J Railway and 21J No. 105...2 more of their most popular 16 sizes.I also think that the sale of Hampden to the Russians,and the loss of the whole US watchmaking industry was a national tragedy.We made the best watches the world has ever seen.I don't care what the Rolex or Vacheron & Constantine people think, ours were better made and far more beautiful.Plus most of our watches were priced so working men could afford to buy one that would last forever.

I'm surprised that noboby mentioned the 21 jewel Crescent St. or 645 Walthams....I guess I just did!They too were sold in immense numbers.

quote:

So that more than 525,000 is just the 992B production and they made as many of the 4992B as Elgin made of their 571 and that does not begin to count the other offshoots from the 992B design.

THAT was the DEFINITE answer I've been seeking since I first asked this question, Lindell. Thank you for finally spelling it out in the clear for me.


Though the statement "Additionally there were the 950B, the 4992B, 3992B and 2974B derived from it...." may have been clear to you, it was read by me that those 'additional' items were derived from the original 525,000. Glad THAT finally got sorted out in my noggin!!

I wonder what the total TOTAL number was, INCLUDING those derived from the original 992B design?

Like I said above, seems like the clear winner to me, just based on the staggering numbers produced!

I keep one of my two 992B's out for carry at all times with rotation with others of my collection, but my Hamilton's get the most carry time.

Regards! Mark