Ball Watch Companyīall's original jewelry business in Cleveland grew into the Ball Watch Company. Ball was honored for his accomplishments by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Ball also contributed to the nationwide acceptance of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards adopted by the railroad industry in 1893. According to Ball in a copyrighted interview by James B Morrow in 1910, his service grew to control the inspection of watches railmen used on 125,000 miles or railroad lines, about half of the U.S.'s railroads, although the accuracy of this statement has been questioned. dealers to whom Ball was distributing watches and jewelry. The actual inspectors were the same jewelers who were Ball Watch Co. Ball requied watch inspection every two weeks and rejected watches which did not meet standards in order to ensure accuracy and facilitate safe railroad operation.īall promoted watch standards and built a watch inspection service, the Ball Railroad Time Service, to ensure watch accuracy on a number of railroads. Ball was asked to investigate "time and watch" conditions throughout the line. In 1891 the store was expanded by adding two stories to the building, making it a total of four stories.īall was commissioned by the Lakeshore and Michigan Southern Railway as their Chief Time Inspector following horrible train accident near Cleveland, Ohio on Apwhich pointed out that the nation's railroads were not all running on reliable timepieces. was incorporated in 1891 as a wholesale and retail jewelry business. A January 1891 advertisement listed Ball as the "Official Watch Inspector and Time keeper" for six railroads. Webb C Ball was Chief Time Inspector and developed a time inspection system for railroads centered in the Cleveland area. Ball was also the first Cleveland jeweler to purchase and display a chronometer, which allowed people passing in front of his store to check the time. 3rd) St.Īfter Standard Time was adopted by the railroads in 1883, Ball became the first Cleveland jeweler to use time signals sent from the Naval Observatory in Washington, D. Ball Co., which consisted originally of 2 showcases and a workbench at Superior Ave. By 1881 he had become the sole owner of the Webb C. Ball bought an interest in Whitcomb and Metten Jewelers in Cleveland in 1879. The watch on its own I thought was pretty ugly but it kept pulling me back and I absolutely love it.Ball Watch Co, Cleveland, Ohio Webb C. I also hated the idea of a certain town on the dial which shall remain anonymous…just gave me an absolute fur ball and the fact that it didn’t seem to cater for day light saving. It didn’t suit my needs totally as I do need India and Iran time zones which it doesn’t have. The PP I went back and looked at for over 2 months.
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The dial looked great in the phots, the single crown an inspiration but I just didn’t get the emotional connection. Its function and in SS the price point is good but I didn’t feel the clarity of the hands were much better for me as a user. The JLC I loved the photos but when I touched it in the flesh just felt under whelmed. It is also about 25% more expensive than the PP and larger in size at 42 mm.
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The downside to that is that you need to squeeze all those names onto the dial and then things start getting a bit cluttered.
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The VC is the most comprehensive with 36 time zones. Breguet make beautiful watches and pieces of art., I discounted it because price and the fatness of the watch made it wear a bit heavy on my wrist. The replacements I considered were Hora Mundi, VC Traditionalle World Time, Patek 5130 and the new JLC Geophysic Universal. I loved my JLC Master Geographic but really struggled reading the hands against the dial colour and reluctantly sold it.