hamilton 992 pocket watch serial number 1217878

Rival companies like Waltham, Elgin and Illinois etc all competed to get the various different Railroad contracts to supply watches and as a result each watch company kept on making their watches to higher and higher specifications. This is called Damaskeening and was brought to America by Swiss emigres who came to work in the booming American Pocket watch industry in the last three decades of the 19th century. Many Railroad (and other American) watches have intricate patterns and designs on the plates and the wheels. They had to have screw on back and front both for the cleanliness of the movement and to prevent the time being changed too easily. Accurate from -5c to +30c and to 6 seconds a month. While still in American hands (until 1969) the company produced fewer than 6 million watches.Īmerican Railroad Watches had to conform to very exacting specifications originally 17 jewels minimum. Hamilton invented and patented The Elinvar hairspring in 1932 and all subsequent watches had a version of this spring the most successful of which was the 992B. The company went through many name changes and was eventually incorporated as a subsidiary of SSHI in Switzerland in 1976. The Hamilton 992 Railroad Watch became very popular with railroad workers and accounted for nearly 50% of their total production.

The Lancaster Watch Co was formed in 1874 and became the Hamilton Watch Co in 1893 when they started to produce Railroad Watches.

Hamilton 992 pocket watch serial number 1217878