Rare Ball Hamilton Official Standard Railroad Grade 999B Loaner Pocket Watch (1898)

This Ball Hamilton Grade 999B Model 1 was manufactured in 1898, amid twenty one production runs with a the total production of this watch was limited to a mere 3,300 watches. With so few produced, this watch is in a class of its own as an extremely rare vintage pocket watch. For many collectors, this watch might be your holy grail.

Rail workers were required by regulation to carry with them a timepiece that complied with the railroad timekeeping standards established in the 1890s. But as with any mechanical device, sometimes a rail worker had to put their watch in the shop to be serviced. When this happened, the railway companies timekeeper would loan the employee a watch to use. The railway company would engrave the case of their loaner watches in an effort to identify them as such. However, because they were loaners, these watches were often not as well cared for as a watch owned by an individual. Thus, finding one in excellent condition is truly a rare find.

All the materials used in the manufacture of this watch were of the finest grade available and used in designs by the legendary Webb C. Ball, the man who developed the railroad timekeeping standards for railroad grade pocket watches. While Ball himself did not manufacture these watches, he did partner with several of the major watch companies and imparted his expertise in the design and construction of watches that not only met the railroad standards he developed—they exceeded them. It shows beautifully for daily wear or to display proudly as a cornerstone of your watch collection.