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The Water Cooler
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Watch Rebuild – OSA Member Owned – U.S. Contract Pilot's Watch Issued In Vietnam – LONG POST - PIC HEAVY
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<blockquote data-quote="ttown" data-source="post: 3907165" data-attributes="member: 2114"><p>Nice work [USER=24867]@thor447[/USER] here’s a watch that was used in WWII and Vietnam, this watch was considered out of specification if it lost over 7 seconds a week and used on mission critical assignments.</p><p></p><p>This one is an 8 position watch, an unadjusted watch while fine time piece for a consumer grade watch, those watches were not used on the railroad up to the late 1890s</p><p></p><p>The accident that changed it alll.</p><p></p><p></p><p>On the 19th day of April 1891, there was a collision of two trains in Kipton, Ohio. The accident resulted in the death of engineers of both trains. From the official news, an engineer’s watch stopped running for four minutes before restarting which led to the accident. After that day, the people of the era started to acknowledge the importance of proper time standardization for rail transport. In addition, an accurate standardization of watches was necessary to be used by rail transport’s workers. That was the beginning and the birth of Ball railroad watches.</p><p></p><p>The Lakeshore and Michigan Southern Railway employed Webb C. Ball as the Chief Time Inspector to examine the watches and set a new standard of watches used for rail transportation. After a thorough investigation, Ball decided to set an official RR Standard (RR stands for the railroad) to ascertain the right timekeeping devices for railroad workers. Then, the workers should bring their watches to be checked regularly at the Ball Time Service once every two weeks.</p><p></p><p>Since punctuality is the key to every sort of rail transportation, it’s essential to make sure that the watches have no difference in telling the exact time. After such an accident, now it’s very much clear that having the right timepiece on the wrist decides the matter of life and death. As it’s a must for the train employees, strict criteria must be maintained to produce the reliable Ball railroad watches.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]322922[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]322921[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>Here’s a watch I went though about 20 years ago. </p><p></p><p><strong>Hamilton</strong>, 4992B, United States Air Force Navigational Master Watch GCT, 22 jewels, adjusted six positions. 16 size, Elivar extra hairspring. Made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. Hack setting (stem pulls out to stop second hand). Military nomenclature on back.</p><p></p><p>The 4992B is based is a slightly modified version of Hamilton’s famous 992B which was developed for use in the railroad industry in the United States and is probably one of the finest mass-produced pocket watches ever produced. It was introduced in 1940 and billed as “America’s finest and most accurate railroad watch.” The 4992B is the same design but modified with a sweep second hand that could be stopped for synchronization and had a 24-hour dial which was important when operating in areas all around the globe. </p><p></p><p>These timepieces were used by the navigator and pilot as the airplane’s master time source during World War II through Viet Nam era (today’s Navigational timepiece can be found here: <a href="https://windycitywatchcollector.com/shop/wristwatch/marathon-watches/marathon-navigator-date-watch-sapphire/" target="_blank">Marathon Navigator Watch</a>). It was intended to be set to Greenwich Civil Time (GCT) as a reference timezone. Late 1950’s pieces were carried by Navigators aboard <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress" target="_blank">B-52 long-range bombers</a> as seen in the Movie, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove" target="_blank">Dr. Stangelove</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ttown, post: 3907165, member: 2114"] Nice work [USER=24867]@thor447[/USER] here’s a watch that was used in WWII and Vietnam, this watch was considered out of specification if it lost over 7 seconds a week and used on mission critical assignments. This one is an 8 position watch, an unadjusted watch while fine time piece for a consumer grade watch, those watches were not used on the railroad up to the late 1890s The accident that changed it alll. On the 19th day of April 1891, there was a collision of two trains in Kipton, Ohio. The accident resulted in the death of engineers of both trains. From the official news, an engineer’s watch stopped running for four minutes before restarting which led to the accident. After that day, the people of the era started to acknowledge the importance of proper time standardization for rail transport. In addition, an accurate standardization of watches was necessary to be used by rail transport’s workers. That was the beginning and the birth of Ball railroad watches. The Lakeshore and Michigan Southern Railway employed Webb C. Ball as the Chief Time Inspector to examine the watches and set a new standard of watches used for rail transportation. After a thorough investigation, Ball decided to set an official RR Standard (RR stands for the railroad) to ascertain the right timekeeping devices for railroad workers. Then, the workers should bring their watches to be checked regularly at the Ball Time Service once every two weeks. Since punctuality is the key to every sort of rail transportation, it’s essential to make sure that the watches have no difference in telling the exact time. After such an accident, now it’s very much clear that having the right timepiece on the wrist decides the matter of life and death. As it’s a must for the train employees, strict criteria must be maintained to produce the reliable Ball railroad watches. [ATTACH type="full" alt="6999C3EA-0F5C-42D0-AEE2-2FA06E445409.jpeg"]322922[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" alt="FF3D0BE4-653F-49B1-B6F1-540882B758DF.jpeg"]322921[/ATTACH] Here’s a watch I went though about 20 years ago. [B]Hamilton[/B], 4992B, United States Air Force Navigational Master Watch GCT, 22 jewels, adjusted six positions. 16 size, Elivar extra hairspring. Made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. Hack setting (stem pulls out to stop second hand). Military nomenclature on back. The 4992B is based is a slightly modified version of Hamilton’s famous 992B which was developed for use in the railroad industry in the United States and is probably one of the finest mass-produced pocket watches ever produced. It was introduced in 1940 and billed as “America’s finest and most accurate railroad watch.” The 4992B is the same design but modified with a sweep second hand that could be stopped for synchronization and had a 24-hour dial which was important when operating in areas all around the globe. These timepieces were used by the navigator and pilot as the airplane’s master time source during World War II through Viet Nam era (today’s Navigational timepiece can be found here: [URL='https://windycitywatchcollector.com/shop/wristwatch/marathon-watches/marathon-navigator-date-watch-sapphire/']Marathon Navigator Watch[/URL]). It was intended to be set to Greenwich Civil Time (GCT) as a reference timezone. Late 1950’s pieces were carried by Navigators aboard [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress']B-52 long-range bombers[/URL] as seen in the Movie, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove']Dr. Stangelove[/URL]. [/QUOTE]
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