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Originally Posted by Mork_417

When my grandfather past in 07, he gave me his pocket watch. I've had it put up since then, but from time to time, I've gotten it out to admire. Recently I started expressing how I would love to be able to display it.

So, the girls surprised me with a pocket watch stand for my birthday yesterday!



I really wish i had done this sooner, but I don't think I would have appreciated as much as I do now. Something about hearing it tick away, is surprisingly satisfying.

NICE PIECE! BE SURE TO WIND SLOWLY EVERY DAY BUT DON'T OVERWIND AS THAT WILL BREAK THE MAINSPRING. COUNT THE NUMBER OF TURNS TO AVOID THAT!! I OWN SEVERAL OLD GRANDFATHER'S WATCHES (WALTHAMS AND ELGINS) AND COLLECT WATCHES GENERALLY. LURK AT PAWN SHOPS, SUBSCRIBE TO WATCHTIME MAGAZINE AND ATTEND ESTATE SALES-OFTEN ADVISING THE SALES PERSON TO RAISE THE PRICE ON A WATCH BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'VE GOT. ALSO FIND A DECENT REAL WATCH REPAIR GUY TO KEEP THE THING MOVIN' AND GROOVIN' AS THE LUBRCANT WATCH OIL NEEDS TO BE REPLACED OCCASIONALLY AND THE ACCURACY MAINTAINED.(HE WON'T WORK CHEAP!) THESE WATCHES WERE ACCURATELY MADE TO SAVE LIVES ON TRAINS; PREVENTING NUMEROUS COLLISIONS IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS; < GENERALLY THE 'GAME' WAS FOR THE ENGINEER,CONDUCTOR AND FIREMAN TO COMPARE THEIR WATCHES, EACH AWARE OF HIS PIECE'S IDIOSYNCRASIES,AND DETERMINE WHEN TO BE ON A SIDING TO LET THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TRAIN PASS!!! YOURS HOWEVER IS FROM 1934 0N AS INDICATED BY YOUR 'INCABLOC' JUST ABOVE THE SMALL SECOND DIAL AT THE 6 O'CLOCK POSITION:

The Incabloc shock protection system is the trade name for a spring-loaded mounting system for the jewel bearings that support the balance wheel in a mechanical watch, to protect the wheel's delicate pivots from damage in the event of physical shock, such as if the watch is dropped. It was invented in 1934 by Swiss engineers Georges Braunschweig and Fritz Marti. at Universal Escapements, Ltd, of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It is manufactured by Incabloc, S.A.Similar systems are ETA's Etachoc, Kif, Seiko's Diashock, and Citizen's Parashock.

The pivots and jewel bearings that support a watch balance wheel are fragile in comparison to the mass they must support, and without shock protection are the part of the watch most likely to be damaged under impact. Before the widespread use of shock protection devices like Incabloc, broken balance staffs were a common type of damage requiring watch repair.

< 1 OF YOUR SEVENTEEN JEWELS

These railroad-grade pocket watches, as they became colloquially known, had to meet the General Railroad Timepiece Standards adopted in 1893 by almost all railroads. These standards read, in part: ..open faced, size 16 or 18, have a minimum of 17 jewels, adjusted to at least five positions, (meaning the calibrations a watch has to keep it running accurately regarding of the position in which it is held) keep time accurately to within 30 seconds a week, adjusted to temps of 34 °F (1 °C) to 100 °F (38 °C), have a double roller, steel escape wheel, lever set, regulator, winding stem at 12 o'clock, and have bold black Arabic numerals on a white dial, with black hands. ....More highly jeweled watches add jewels to other pivots, starting with the pallet fork, then the escape wheel, fourth wheel, third wheel, then finally the center wheel. Jeweling like this to the third wheel adds eight jewels, giving 15 jewels in total. Jeweling to the center wheel adds two more giving 17 jewels in total. Thus, a 17 jewel watch is considered to be fully jeweled.

THE ''PA' IS PROBABLY FROM PENNSYLVANIA ONCE THE HEARLAND OF AMERICAN WATCH MAKING.