American made railroad grade pocket watches were the finest quality pocket watches of the era; of such high standards and quality, that the Swiss attempted to copy the work of the American firms to the point of producing watches with American sounding brands or movement names. We offer here a fine example of American watch making from the early part of the 20th century. We invite you to read all the copy and view the finely detailed photos.

A great condition and especially attractive vintage Hamilton Ball Official Standard railroad grade pocket watch circa 1939. Featuring 16-size open face white gold filled screw back case, a beautiful condition single sunk enamel dial with large black enamel arabic numerals, prominent black enamel minute indexes, and blued steel spade hands. Powered by high grade 21 jewel, 5 adjustments, lever set Hamilton caliber 999 movement with gold set jewels and beautifully damascened nickel plates. Note, the dial is free of any cracks or hairlines, common on enamel dials of this era.

A fine condition vintage esteemed Ball railroad watch in a very desirable white Ball signed Keystone case, with minimal wear, and free of any personalized engraving and with popular “stirrup” bow. In excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition and offered with our 1 year warranty of accurate time keeping and operation. An impressive piece of of our nation’s history to wear, or display on a mantle or cabinet in one of our hand crafted wood pocket watch stands. (See photo shown with turned hardwood stand SKU 35614 for $150)

NOTE: Lever set pocket watches use a lever located under the screw off bezel which slides out to release the mechanism that locks the time setting feature. This is a protective device required of all railroad grade watches so that the time cannot accidentally be changed by the crown dislodging. This safety feature was required when strict standards of quality and accuracy were instituted in 1893 after the tragic train crash of 1991 known as “Kimpton disaster” when 2 trains collided in Ohio because of inacurracies of the train engineer’s watch.