Western Railroad Discussion > How to Find a Vintage Railroad Pocket Watch?

A (non-TO) friend is wondering where the best place would be to find a working vintage railroader's pocket watch (e.g., a decent condition Hamilton).  In his words, something like  ".... a retired from the Santa Fe before 1940 sort of gold pocket watch" ?  Do collectors of such things have meets or some website where they buy and sell pocket watches?

Thanks in advance for your responses...

-Tom

I have had good luck finding them in pawn shops . When  working the San Fernando local near Los Angeles many years ago we used to hit the pawn shops in San Fernando on spot time and bought and resold many of them. Not sure of the current market there though.
Tom

This guy fixes, restores, and sells them:

http://www.gilliswatches.com/

Arlington WA

TAW

Usually quite a few of them on Ebay. I picked up a nice one at a flea market years ago.

Do like I did - wait until your retired engineer uncle passes away, and...

Awww...  probably getting a bit late that for that, huh?

Now that I think about it, there's probably some shoestring nephew of a cousin out there just waiting for me to ............

-Larry Doyle

 A classic,  work-a-day, utility watch, reliable pocket watches were the Hamilton ( Lancaster, PA) movement model number 992B.

There are other pocket watches that range in rarity and price, but a good, reliable pocket watch is the 99B. Unscrew the back to find the number..
The Hamilton is really nice & Jewel movement, very reliable, and very good time piece.

The story was that they kept their BEST accuracy when you wore them to work every day, sitting on the dresser seemed to let their accuracy wander.

Wear yours all the time, they like the motion and the travel....Sitting around, they miss it.

Wes C.

Hamilton 992b is a good call.  Railroads had certain minimum requirements like 21 jewel movement.  No Roman Numerals.   A Hamilton Railway Special shouldn't be hard to find.  Some of the rarer watches can run into big bucks.  

Sphogger

Agree that the 992B is the working railroader's watch.  Many thousands were fielded between the '30s and 70's.  The guts matter.  The watch face and case are variable in styles and materials.  I have a nice type 55 stainless steel cased one that is my carry watch.  Got it a couple of years ago on e-bay for .5 K$, in near mint condition.  Find a first class watchmaker to go through your acquisition and set it up right.  You'll love it.

grafvonb49

Currently on eBay a 992b is from $250-500

A good article about the Hamiltons

http://linuxfocus.org/~guido/hamilton-992b/

Posted from iPhone

Should also be:
Size 18
Adjusted in five positions
Open face (no hunter case)
Lever set

Here are the old Santa Fe time service requirements. There were some exceptions to this that were allowed, if approved..

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Outstanding info, all; many thanks for all your great suggestions and background information...we sure appreciate it!

--Tom