About this lot

Description

circa 1879, the white dial, signed 'Railway Regulator', 48mm diameter, with black Roman numerals, blued spade hands, centre sweep and chemin de fer chapter ring, unsigned movement number 55024 with sliding lever at 2 o'clock, case, 55mm diameter, verso hinged at 6 o'clock, plain and polished with a vacant belted escutcheon shaped cartouche, interior with probable casemaker's mark of George Coates and Chester hallmarks for Sterling silver, the cuvette similarly marked and numbered 53024, 128.3g gross and presented with the winding key'Railway Regulator' was the trade name used for pocket watch movements manufactured in Springfield, Illinois by the Illinois Watch Company between 1869 and 1948. Railway or railroad watches were specialised and accurate timepieces once used to ensure the safe operation of trains. Regulations regarding the watches used by critical personnel on the railroads (engineer, conductor, switch yard controllers, etc.) were specified almost from the beginning of widespread railroad use in the 1850s and 1860s, and these watches had a number of minimum requirements including open faced dials, maximum variation of 30 seconds per week, a lever used to set the time, minimum dial diameter and bold, large numerals.

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