Lambodar Sahu

Railroad pocket watches were so called because they were especially used for the railroad. Railroad workers were required to have them. Not just any pocket watch can be used on the American Railroad system. A pocket watch must pass stringent rules and requirements before it can be approved for railroad use. What happened which caused this strict compliance on Railroad pocket watches? It is said that an inaccurate pocket watch of a Railroad worker caused the collision of two trains and the death of so many individuals. Since then, the government has become very strict in implementing regulations on pocket watches used on American railroads.

There were only a handful of manufacturers which were approved to make pocket watches for railroad use and among the most popular names were Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin. The standards of accuracy were very high. It was made so in the hope that similar accidents can be averted. All Railroad watches were quite large, about 16 to 18-inch in size. The pocket watches had to have glass covers which can be raised. All the dials had to be white and the numbers should be Arabic.

All people who worked on the railroad, engineers and conductors, were required to buy only approved railroad watches. The watches must be submitted for regular inspection so that the accuracy can be measured. All railroad pocket watches should not lose more than 30 seconds of accuracy. A little delay can cause fatal mistakes. All Railroad pocket watches also had to be American made, must have at least 17 jewels and must be resistant to extreme temperatures.

The standardization of pocket watches used in the Railroads paved the way for a lot of changes. The number of time zones was reduced to four and the correct time was delivered by telegraph. It is indeed undeniable that the creation of the Railroad pocket watch saved the lives of hundreds of people from imminent danger.