Back in the day… Men carried real watches…
The one on the left is my grandfather’s Elgin pocket watch from the 1890s when he was a railroad engineer for Union Pacific. He carried that watch for over 60 years.
The one on the right is a Hamilton pocket watch that was presented to my dad in 1958 for 30 years of service with Interstate and Esso pipeline. They both still keep excellent time, but sadly we no longer have watch pockets to carry them in.
I used to carry them occasionally for ‘dress’ occasions when pants still had watch pockets or I had a vest on. Not so much anymore…
Today it seems like the bigger/bulkier/uglier the watch is, the more popular. I’ve seen kids wearing WRIST watches that are bigger than these pocket watches. OBTW, these you actually have to wind! No batteries, no fancy solar cells, just quality watchmaker’s art…
Nice ! I’m glad you have old time pieces that your parents / grandparents used in their every day life (60 years – Man, talk about history!). Family heirlooms like that can’t be replaced at ‘The Mall’, don’t care what the commercials say.
There is something elegant about a pocket watch with a neat chain, maybe a fob as well. Since we never wear waistcoats anymore, it’s nearly impossible to use them. They are relics of a more gentle age of men’s dress.
I’ll stick to my Timex Expedition, the best watch I have ever owned. I wonder, though, if you found a good seamstress, maybe he/she could sew in a watch pocket on a few dress pants. But I thought those little pockets on blue jeans was a watch pocket. What else can they be used for? Too small for a gun, not deep enough to put your change. What else could they be?
I have two of my father’s watches. One he used when he worked for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The other was given to him when he was 16 in lieu of wages promised. The railroad watch still works.
My grandfather’s c. 1895 Elgin is safely in storage; I use a much-less valuable modern version, whenever I can. Some of my blue jeans still have watch pockets.
Yours look better than either of mine, btw.
It occurred to me the other day – we’ve gone back to pocket watches! Stop 10 people on the street today and ask them for the time, and I’ll bet 6 or more pull their phone out of their pocket before they look at their wrist.
I carried my great grandfathers Waltham for a few years until I almost lost it crawling around in the brush in South Texas chasing a wounded javelina. Got a couple others I carried for a while, but they seem to all be made by the chicoms.
As Rev. Paul says, most of the jeans I wear have watch pockets. They’re good for my motorcycle key. 🙂
I also wear bibs sometimes when doing work around the house. Mostly it’s because that’s almost all I remember my grandpa wearing. They have a watch pocket on the bib.
Nice! I was just recently given a pocket watch for my birthday. It was made in 1976 to commemorate the bicentennial. Liberty Bell on the front cover, eagle clutching branch and arrows on back. I thanked my mom, who got me the watch at a pawn shop. When I removed the back cover, I realized that it was a true 17 jeweled movement, and I thanked her again. I have had it for about a week now, and it is still keeping accurate time. I wind it first thing in the morning, and don’t have to worry about it otherwise.
The numbers on the Elgin are beautiful – what a terrific keepsake!
j.r.- You’re right!
LL- Today the ‘only’ way to wear one is to wear a vest…
CP- LOL, they’re Zippo pockets… :-0
WSF- I’m not surprised!
Rev- I’d still keep it if it was butt ugly… Family heirlooms aren’t always pretty… 🙂
Joe- Too funny, and you’re right… sigh
Randy- I’m glad you found it!
LCB- That too! And yes, real bibs STILL have a watch pocket.
DLG- That is outstanding! Keep that one!!!
Mrs.C- That it is!
I haven’t worn a watch in 30 years. I just never liked the feeling of something clamped on my wrist (I’m not much into jewelry at all). But my husband has this very old elegant wrist watch that I just love. Those watches have both character and history. Excellent!
My five year old son has a cheap pocket watch on a chain he carries most days he broke it after a week or so after he got it (made in china) was a gift from his preschool teacher at graduation anyhoo he also loves trains we recently stoped at a train musem in N sioux city S dakota and learned that in the time period of your watch every station had a time keeper and the enigineer and conductor would report to his office to confirm that there time pieces were synchronized to the station masters clock
I thought that was pretty neat and it explains how they stayed on time via telegraph
grand dad always said if you dont learn some thing new every day it was wasted
Amazing watches.
I wish I knew what happened to my grandfathers pocket, it had a key to wind it. The crystal flipped up so it could be wound. It chimed on the quarter hour, half hour and on the hour different tones. It was his great grandfathers watch.
My grandfather was born in 1886.
We used to have pocket watches, because the magnetrons froze wristwatches.
Also, it was one less electrically conductive thing to take off entering a cabinet.
I just passed on to my son the pocket watch awarded to his great grandpa for his excellent butter. Sadly it doesn’t run, and I couldn’t find anyone that wanted to risk working on it…
There are three more family pocket watches that need attention, with the same problem… love old watches.
Brigid- Understood, and a lot of folks seem to be going that way now…
Rick- I think I’ve seen ONE of those in my life. Sad to hear it’s disappeared.
Ed- GOod point!
Dammit- I’m looking around. I’ll let you know if I find anybody.
Dammit, if you’re in Northern Virginia visit Greenan & Sons in Springfield. Mr. Bass is an excellent watchmaker. I’ll let no one else touch my Great-grandfather’s watch.
703-451-6000
Well, as you no doubt know, pocket watches proved to be somewhat impractical while flying an open-cockpit airplane. And they weren’t very useful on horseback or while maneuvering.
So warfighting gave us wristwatches.