Illinois A. Lincoln Model 9 Railroad Pocket Watch (1917)

About this Illinois A. Lincoln

At the heart of this watch is Illinois's A. Lincoln grade, the Springfield factory's 21-jewel, 16-size railroad movement named for the Illinois native who became president, and built to the same time-service standards as the better-known Bunn Special and Sangamo Special. This example, serial 3236529, was finished in 1917 and cased in a now rare white gold-filled Wadsworth openface. More than a century after it left the Springfield factory, it remains a beautiful and highly capable railroad pocket watch.

Twenty-one jewels, lever set, nickel finish, adjusted to five positions, temperature, and isochronism, the full railroad-grade specification. The A. Lincoln sat at the top of Illinois's 16-size open-face line as a premier time-service instrument. The five-position adjustment and isochronism tuning mean the balance keeps consistent rate whether the watch is dial up, dial down, pendant up, or lying on either side.

Housed in a white gold-filled case by Wadsworth, one of the most respected American case makers of the period. White gold-filled was a fashionable choice in the late 1910s and twenties, cooler and more modern-looking than yellow, and considerably rarer today than its yellow counterpart. The openface configuration and crisp bezel suit the railroad movement inside, built for the pocket of a working man who needed to read the time at a glance.

The face of this A. Lincoln is a striking American railroad dial, crafted from white enamel that provides a brilliant, clean backdrop. It features large, crisp black Arabic hour numerals paired with a vibrant red outer five-minute track, a multi-color layout designed specifically for split-second legibility on the rails. A set of blued steel spade-whip hands sweeps across the dial, flashing a rich cobalt hue when they catch the light, while a cleanly sunken subsidiary seconds register sits at the six o'clock position.

Accessing this beautifully preserved dial reveals the detail that marks a true railroad watch: the lever setting mechanism. To change the time, you pull back the bezel, pry out the small lever beside the dial, and only then does the crown adjust the hands; otherwise, the crown only winds. This rule existed because a crown-set watch bumped in a pocket could shift the time by minutes, and on a railroad running on single-track timetables, minutes meant head-on collisions. Lever setting made accidental time changes essentially impossible.

The A. Lincoln grade was Illinois's tribute to the Springfield lawyer who became president, a fitting namesake for the company's high-grade railroad line, built in the same Illinois capital where Lincoln practiced law. The Model 9 A. Lincoln in 21 jewels was produced from 1915 to 1924. This one was finished in 1917, the year the United States entered the First World War in April and began mobilizing two million men for the Western Front. American railroads, placed under federal control that December, were running at wartime capacity, and watches like this were doing the timekeeping.

Very good condition throughout. A century-old railroad-grade Illinois in a white gold-filled case is a practical collector's piece, handsome enough to carry daily, substantial enough to display, and backed by the kind of engineering that has already proven it can last a hundred years and keep running.

All Vintage Pocket Watches are cleaned, oiled and adjusted for accuracy and warranted for one full year from the date of purchase.