Hi Guy's.
I have a friend that wants to know when the railroad commision approved the use of wristwatches and was the Accutron 214 railroad approved watch the first watch that bulova made that was railroad approved.
I think that Hamilton and Ball may have made one earlier, but I'm not sure when.
Thanks for your help. Mike....
In reply to Where these things not by mybulova_admin
If you have a edition of the Complete price guide to Watches by Engle, Gilbert and Shugart, they have a few pages in the very beginning of the guide decated to RR watches, mainly Pocket watches, but lists the 214 & 216 Calender as being approved by CP Rail Service in 1965
From all my understanding, there was a federal goverement commision who was in charge after 1891, to regulate railroad standards, and that was the body who C.S. Ball had to make his recomandations to , to set regulations for the US RR's after the big crash in Ohio.
I'm sure that after the railroad companies were flating rail all over the states, they were responsiable to someone.
I would have to read the book again, but I think this is what they talk about in the guide to watches book story, Didnt they say the goverment made up a commision that set regulations for a standard?
Mike..
According to the 1995 edition of Complete Price Guide to Watches
"Not all railroad GRADE watches were railroad APPROVED, to be approved each railroad line or company made a list of watches they would approve".
Accordingly Canadian Pacific approved the 214 and 214 calendar in 1965, but it doesn't follow that all railroad companies did.
So unless someone can come up with lists from all companies, I guess we'll never know.
Interesting to note that they listed it as a 17 jewel when in fact it's 15.
Here in the U.S. it was 1962.
* reference to this Date is readily available from several Accutron Historians on the internet.
As Mike mentioned earlier there would have to be an initial approval by the Agency overseeing Railroad operations :
U.S. Government.
1962
The Accutron Tuning-fork watch becomes the first wristwatch certified for use by railroad personnel.
The Elgin BW Raymond was actually the first wristwatch approved for railroad service in the US, in 1961.
www.midwestcs.com/elgin/scans/articles/m_1961_BWRaymond_wristwatch.html
In reply to The Elgin BW Raymond was by Elgin Doug
In reply to This isnt a 'railroad' by shooter144
The New York Central wasn't just a local system. It was one of the largest railroads in the country, operating all over the Northeast. New York Central was one of two railroads that were merged to form 'Penn Central' (the other being the Pennsylvania Railroad) which later became Conrail. Grand Central Station was their hub in NYC.
The other point is that if I'm not mistaken, the individual railroads were responsible for their own timekeeping standards - since they were all privately owned at that time - rather than that timekeeping being federally regulated. They did tend to follow each other to a certain extent, as in the gradual exclusion of 17 jewel watches in the late 19th century, but they each had their own standards, and their own lists of approved watches.
Here's an article from the NAWCC on railroad time standards.
EDIT: Added after reading the post below - Each railroad had its standards for allowable watches, which presumably had to conform to the minimum standard set by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
In reply to This isnt a 'railroad' by shooter144
The New York Central was one of the largest railroads in the US at the time, and operated all over the Northeast. Not a local New York City line! ;-) I suspect this was a coup for Elgin at the time - they probably needed one.
Your post below points to the Interstate Commerce Commission rules, which seem pretty broad. The individual railroads had their own standards, and lists of watches approved for use. This might be the source of some confusion in answering the question 'What was the first railroad-approved wristwatch?', since I've also seen references to an earlier Ball Swiss-built watch approved for service on some railroads.
Also, at around the same time as the Elgin BW Raymond Railroad Chronometer, and the Bulova Accutron, the Hamilton 505 Electric was approved for railroad service on some lines. Because there were so many railroads back in the early 60s, and so many went under or merged with other railroads, finding out just what was approved when, and by whom might be a difficult task from 50 years later!
1962
The Accutron Tuning-fork watch becomes the first wristwatch certified for use by railroad personnel.
http://www.bulova.com/about/history.aspx
The Federal Railroad Admimistration is the governing authority on all rail way matters ( I am a certified by the FRA private contractor), since 1966. Prior to that states and the Interstate Commerce Commission held regulatory control, tho I believe another commision specific to the railroad was in place but I cant for the life of me remember its name.
If I remember correctly the current standard is very short and simple. the trainman must have a timepiece accurate to +-30 secs in any 24hr priod.
In 1891 a 4 min differance in time caused a train crash in Kipton, Ohio, two trains collided killing 11 people. This set in motion the standardized time debate that led to both the current time standards and zones we have today.