Hampden Dueber Grand Railroad Pocket Watch, 1901

Hampden Dueber Grand railroad pocket watch, 1901.

The watch has a high grade stem-winding movement, Dueber Grand grade, which is working nicely. The Dueber name dates back to 1864 when John C Dueber began making watch cases. In 1886 he purchased a controlling interest in the Hampden Watch Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.

The movement is railroad grade, a high quality piece which met all the requirements for a railroad watch specification. It has a 17-jewel movement with screw-set jewels, Hampden Star patent regulator, Breguet hairspring for enhanced precision and lever set hands. The movement is fully signed and the serial number 1,602,896 dates it back to 1901. The serial number also confirms the piece’s railroad status.

The great North American railroad watch became an institution after a fatal crash in 1891, which was caused in part by the stopping and then restarting of the engineer's watch, which caused it to be four minutes slow. In the early days of railroading, when trains ran by strict time and timetable rules, that four minutes proved to be fatal. As a result, in 1893, the General Railroad Timepiece Standards were adopted, which mandated high grade specifications including a minimum of 17 jewels in the movement, five adjustments and micro-metric regulation.

The watch measures 55mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The case is gold filled and it has screw-on bezel (to access the lever) and case back. The case is in good condition, just general wear to the patterned back, just from years of use.

The thick bevelled glass lens has a small chip to the bevel but otherwise is in good condition.

The dial is signed with the name of the original retailer of the watch, Heller Bros, Berlin, Ont. Hellers Brothers were listed as jewellers, opticians and issuers of Marriage Licenses. The name Berlin was changed to Kitchener in 1916 following a local referendum.

The dial has a faint hairline to the subsidiary seconds dial and another short faint hairline between 11 and 12.

The watch comes in a new presentation box.

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All of our watches are checked over before listing, and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch.

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