Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs

John Jefferys the 18-century London watchmaker that made John Harrison’s H-4 chronometer, also made a pocket watch for Harrison. This watch incorporated a number of features that were incorporated in Harrison’s chronometers. The watch Jefferys made had bi-metallic, temperature compensation, and maintaining power, features also contained in H-4. Key wind watches of the era, stopped when they were being wound. A maintaining power feature took over during winding, to keep the watch running.

The Harrison watch by Jefferys is in the Clockmaker’s museum, in London (we must have missed it when we were there). The watch was in a jeweller’s safe in London during WWII. The building took a direct hit during a bombing raid, and the building burned. The watch, (in the safe), baked for ten days under the smouldering ruins, so it is remarkable that it still exists,

The watch proved remarkably reliable. Harrison’s dependants remember it always being in his pocket. It was the Jeffery watch that led Harrison to believe that a watch, (not a clock), might be the solution to building a marine timekeeper. He came to this conclusion while working on his H-3 chronometer (which he spent 19-years working on).

Probably the most famous portrait of Harrison, shows him holding the Jefferys watch.

In 2008, on our tour of England, we visited the Greenwich Observatory. All the Harrison sea clocks were on display there, including H-4. It was on that trip that we visited the Clockmakers and Watchmakers Guild Museum where this picture was taken. The feature item in the picture appears to be H-4, but chances are this is a replica. In front of H-4 is what I believe to be the watch that John Jefferys made for Harrison. If I had had my wits about me that day, I would have taken a close up on the signs in the show case. Perhaps I should go there again!

I bought a sterling fob in an antique store in Boulder, Colo. in 1991. I wore a watch on it a few times, but I took the cure one day when the dam thing got hung up on something or other, and pulled the watch out of my pocket! My luck! It landed on a carpeted floor, so no damage! It took me a few minutes to dig it up, so I put it on my Waltham Vanguard wind indicator model, and staged a photo. But no way I’m going to wear the watch with the fob on it! The caption on the pamphlet, “The Big Hill”, refers to a stretch of track on the CPR mainline, west of Calgary.

In 1883, the grade on the line from Laggan, Alberta (now Lake Louise), to the Continental Divide at Stephen was a six mile climb to an elevation of 5,332 feet, with grades to 1.8%. From the Continental Divide, heading west, the builders were faced with the steep sided valley of the Kicking Horse River, and a 1,260 foot downgrade to Field (B C), a distance of ten miles. It was decided to lay track from Stephen to Field, which was a grade of 4.5 %! That is an unheard of grade for a train to have to traverse! This line was used until 1909 when the Spiral Tunnel was built. This reduced the grade by 50%, and added 4 miles of track.

“Pusher” engines were used if the train was heading up the grade, and there were three safety switches for trains that had trouble safely negotiating the down grade. Still, there were accidents!

Apologies to our American brethren who might take exception to the Great Seal of the United States on a fob which is on a Canadian collector’s watch which has a Canadian 24-hour dial.

Anyway, the picture.

I went to 25 NAWCC marts over 33 years of membership. I can count on my fingers the number of watches I bought at those marts. I always found that the stuff I was after was the stuff many collectors were after, and the vendors knew it! Over those years, I bought lots of antique tools, books, parts watches, etc., but I really went for a break from a Canadian winter. Buying with Canadian dollars affected how I bought. I have one Howard (series VII), 2 Keystone Howard series Vs, one series XI, and the series 4 (or 9, depends on where you check). That one I am wearing, today.

We have a pretty active local NAWCC chapter. Prior to COVID, we had lunch once a month, and people brought watches to show and sell. For the last year, we have been meeting via Zoom each month, but it has been more organized around a particular theme each time, which has been very interesting. The meetings are listed on the NAWCC site, so sometimes we even get some people joining us from elsewhere if they are interested in the topic.

The Rocky Mountain Regional was canceled last year, but it is tentatively scheduled for the end of August this year. They were originally planning to hold it outdoors at a county fairgrounds because it seemed safer with respect to COVID, although there are obvious concerns about weather and security. With the fast vaccine rollout and the return of most counties to blue status (and possibly heading to clear soon), I'm wondering if they might move the location.

A grail clock for a Seth Thomas collector. I recently sold one of my two S T World clocks to a collector friend. So now I have only one. There are lots of them in the hands of ardent collectors, but I don’t see them coming up for sale very often. Always looking,

Among the reasons I was not a big buyer at these marts, was that, being in Canada, the nearest one to us (Pacific North West) was distance, customs, the Canadian dollar (boo hoo!), expense, etc. By the time you factor in the cost of the trip, the bargains aren’t really bargains! Anyway, I am no longer a member, and I regularly pick up items, locally, for a fraction of the total cost of an item from an NAWCC mart. Besides, at our stage of life, it really is time to be downsizing.

Not as much fun. 🙁