The following is from a Tariff Schedules Hearing by the House Ways & Means Committee from 1913, the part I copied below contains statements dated 1909 by Webb C. Ball, General Time Inspector from Cleveland, Ohio and Edward A. Marsh, Watchmaker from Waltham Mass. I thought it was interesting about the inspection of the Swiss Fake & I have seen Swiss fakes with the same markings listed on Ebay over the years.

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I have before me a Swiss-made watch which was brought into my office yesterday by a man who loaned a railroad employee $5 on the watch. The markings on this watch are as follows: "Missouri Pacific," "Specially Adjusted," "Extra quality," " Highly 23 jeweled," " Swiss." I find it has five jewels made of glass and the center jewel, one of the most important bearings in the watch, has the appearance of a ruby, but upon examination we find it is made of red wax.

The markings on this watch indicate that the figures giving the number of jewels at 23 were stamped on the plates after the watch passed through the customhouse. This is certainly one of the worst frauds that has come under my observation.

I have another watch movement before me which was recently detected in the hands of a railroad employee. It bears the following markings on the plates: "Ball Special," "23 ruby jewels, "Adjusted." On the dial is also marked "Ball Special." The numbers 23 were stamped on this watch evidently after it passed through the customhouse, as it is a very rough job, while the other lettering is plain and well done. This watch has only seven glass jewels. The general inside finish of both watches and under the dial is very rough and poor.

During the years I have had charge of this time-service work we have detected and taken out of service hundreds of such dangerous machines, and I do not know of any greater protection that can be afforded the traveling public, the shippers, the employees, and the railroad companies than the enforcement of the provisions in paragraph 189 of the tariff bill; and, furthermore, these same provisions will protect the integrity and high standing of reliable Swiss manufacturers who have spent large sums of money and years of patient skill and experience to produce watches that can be depended on and have gained a world-wide reputation. Certainly no harm can come to them or American merchants and their customers by having the provisions in paragraph 180 of the tariff bill fully complied with.

I wish to further state, if the provisions of this tariff bill in regard to the stamping of Swiss watches are fully complied with it will render valuable assistance to the time-service department in maintaining the service along such lines as will bring the highest degree of efficiency and safety to the railroads and the important interests involved in connection therewith.

Yours, truly, Webb C. Ball,

General Time Inspector.
Cleveland, Ohio
February 20, 1909.

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Mr. E. C. Fitch,

President Waltham Watch Co., Waltham, Mass.

Dear Mr. Fitch: Attached herewith please find two letters from E. J. Heather, employed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. at Peruque, Mo., that recite his experience with the Swiss counterfeit watch which you have, and indicating that he purchased it under the impression that he was securing one of our "Ball Railroad Standards."

You can understand that the manufacturers of this counterfeit have provided a very good opportunity for misrepresentation by stamping their movement Time Ball Special."

Here is a definite instance where the employee of a large railroad system, thinking to secure one of our watches, was deceived into purchasing a worthless imitation. Yours, very truly,

The Webb C. Ball Co., Per S. Y. Ball.

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BURLINGTON ROUTE.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co.,

Peruque, Mo., February 7, 1909.
The Webb C. Ball Watch Co.,
Cleveland, Ohio.

Gentlemen: Your letter February 5. So far the watch has not showed up. The only thing I will do I will accept your check for $5. Nothing less goes for the watch. I can get that much for it here, as that 23 J. will sell it. Please return watch or mail your check.

Yours, truly, E. J. Heather.

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BURLINGTON ROUTE.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co.,

Peruque, Mo., February 17, 1909.
The Webb C. Ball Watch Co.,
Cleveland, Ohio.

Dear Sirs: You asked for the particulars as how I came in possession of the "Ball Special" watch I sent you for examination as to the value and for cleaning. I bought this from one man and a boy. They were dressed fairly good, but claimed they were out of funds and wanted to get to St. Louis, and offered the watch in question for sale at a sacrifice, so they put it, claiming that it was "Ball Special," with 23 jewels, and was worth, or cost them, as near as I remember, about $20, and that it was a No. 1 watch, etc. But before I bought it I called up a man over the phone who handles watches as a side line and he told me that the Webb C. Ball Watch Co. was good, of course. I thought I was getting something for nothing and supposed the watch was a regular Webb C. Ball.

Yours, truly, E. J. Heather.

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AFFIDAVIT OF EDWARD A. MARSH.

I have this day made a careful and detailed examination of a watch movement, on the top plate of which is stamped the number 172,654; also the following words: "Time Ball Special," "Nonmagnetic," "Six positions," "Highly 23 jeweled" also the word "Swiss." On the steel cap covering a portion of the regulating mechanism is stamped the word "Adjusted." On the dial are the words "Time Ball Special" and "Jeweled" in Roman letters, and over the second circle the word "Adjusted" in script.

This movement would be briefly described as "18 size, open face, full plate, stem winding, and lever setting."

The construction would be technically known as a "4 pillar model," with a "right angle escapement," and "going barrel.

In detail it is described as follows: The plates and bridges are of brass, but plated to represent, or imitate, nickel—that being the metal used in the majority of American watches and used exclusively in the higher grades.

The workmanship throughout is coarse and the finish is cheap. The top plate contains four jewels, which are set in the plate itself, although there is an attempt to represent separable settings by surrounding the jewels by circular lines and by the insertion of screws, such as are used in high-grade American watches, to secure the jewel settings in place. The balance cock contains the usual two jewels—a "hole" jewel and an "end stone." The lower plate contains no jewels.

The potance. or lower support of the balance staff, contains one hole jewel corresponding to that in the cock or upper support of the balance staff, but in place of a jewel end stone a flat steel disk is used. The pallet (which in all ordinary American watches contains two jewels, which act upon the teeth of the escape wheel) has no jewels at all. The roller; in place of the ordinary "jewel pin," has merely a piece of brass wire. The entire number of jewels contained in this movement is 7, instead of 23, as stamped on the top plate. Note that the figures "23" are not stamped, but were evidently engraved after the watch passed the customhouse. The body of the balance wheel is composed of a single piece of nickel instead of being bimetallic, as in the regular compensating balances. The rim screws in the balance are really imitation screws. The hairspring is so badly out of proper shape as to be entirely unreliable and would render impossible any adjustment of the watch to varying positions. Concerning the markings on the top plate, it seems evident that the word "highly" and the word "jeweled" were widely separated for the purpose of fraudulently inserting a fictitious number, so that while this movement could be invoiced as a "seven jewel" movement, it could after customhouse inspection be engraved to describe, represent, or indicate any desired number in excess of seven. The difference in the appearance of the figures and the words between which they appear gives strong evidence that this was done. Furthermore, it seems evident that the name "Time Ball Special" was adopted and used to mislead purchasers into the belief that they were buying a watch commonly known as "The Ball Railway Special", Mr. Webb C. Ball being chief time inspector on 70 of the railroads of the United States, covering more than 60,000 miles. This belief is confirmed by the accompanying letters from E. J. Heather and Webb C. Ball, the official time inspector above mentioned. While the words "Nonmagnetic " are not [only] absolutely false in fact, their assertion with other markings, which are entirely false, justifies the assumption that they were used with the intent to deceive and mislead the ignorant purchaser.

But more serious than the fraud and its accompanying pecuniary loss to the purchaser of such watches is the danger to life of the traveling public if such watches find even temporary use in railway service. It is to insure safety in the operating of railway trains that systematic time inspection has been established on most of the American railway systems. It is, therefore, little short of criminal to issue inferior watches, which are so marked as to deceive any portion of the public.

Edward A. Marsh.

Waltham, Mass., February 25, 1909.

Thanks Tom, interesting & informative reading.

As Lin said, these low-grade timepieces were made to mislead the ignorant back then, and they are still doing the same thing today.

Their appeal was to the avarice of the masses, the irresistible urge to take advantage of a supposedly distressed seller, cheating him out of something of great value for a low price, when of course it was the buyer/sucker who was being cheated in reality.

As Mr. Heather said "I thought I was getting something for nothing and supposed the watch was a regular Webb C. Ball."

When I 1st started collecting I too fell victim to the Swiss Fakes, fortunately I only paid about $20.00 each & I have kept them as examples. Luckily by finding IHC185 I have learned what to look for, not to say I still haven't fallen victim to other frauds.

Tom

Thanks Tom, for the article and you for the due diligence you bring to the club....This article should be 'required' reading for any serious collector....It not only points out the fact that fraud has been with us for many years but also the fact that it still exists, probably in greater numbers....

The real harm the testimony related to however, was far greater than it is today especially since the individuals that were taken advantage of really did need the accuracy of their time pieces because of their job. Whereas today, we as collectors only lose a little money....and learn our lessons by the pocketbook....not lives that may be lost....

Keep up the great work that you do for us here at IHC185....It is appreciated....

Regards,
Jerry

I am getting ready to sell this watch I just restored. It actually has 20 of the 21 Jewels in "working positions". Should I offer it to IHC185?

Interesting watch Dave. Looks like a "high end" Swiss fake to me. Are the jewels real, not glass or wax?

I thought this was unusual, I was looking at expired auctions on ebay & what do I find but a Swiss fake with the same serial number as the one mentioned in the letter I posted above in this topic.

After looking it must not be the same one since some of the wording is different or missing but I would guess with the same serial number it must have been by the same Swiss maker, or that is my guess.

Tom

Tom, that suggests that there were a few more than just 1 S/N17265 "Ball" watches made!

I got mine because "Rock Island" sounded a little more "Railroady" than "Time Ball".

The interesting thing is that on mine all the parts work as promised. If the Cap Jewels are glass, that is OK because they lapped them flat and the pivot jewels are all good press fitted type. The only fake is the center bottom main wheel jewel, and I think that is just red wax (real hard but waxy). Basically it is a 15 Jewel movement with 3 pairs of caps (6 more Jewels) for the 3rd wheel, escape wheel and pallet pivots. I am not really sure the caps do anything because the staffs look straight, but they could still control end-play (I guess). Of course position accuracy is "out the window" because to poise that Balance wheel would take more than an "act of GOD".

The real "bugger" was the Hairspring that is permanently attached to the Balance cock! So to properly clean things I actually pulled the hair spring wedge wire thingy out and had to restore it after cleaning!

This was also the case with a very early pre-breguet Hairspring (1870-80's) Longines I just did, so it is not really indicative of a "Cheap" job. The Swissers were evidently more protective of the "art" of maintenance (I guess) which kept their watches out of our Railroads.

I was going to do a pictorial on this but accidentally erased the pics in my camera that I took all through the process of teardown, cleaning and re-assembling.

Note that Tom's Time Ball Special was made to closely resemble a Waltham 1892 model.

Well I keep getting more amazed, I dug out the two Swiss fakes I have & wouldn't you know they are also the same serial number, apparently 172654 was a very good number.

Here are a couple of photos of them.

Tom

Second one

I listed mine at eBay. . .
http://cgi.ebay.com/18s-21J-Sw...7C293%3A1%7C294%3A25

It has a doifferent serial number too, must be "rare"!

Here is another article about these watches, it is from the June 30, 1910 Gazette & Bulletin in Williamsport Pa.

Tom