[geeks] Watch prescision

[James]

At 09:54 PM 1/21/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>All,
>
>Someone off the list emailed me asking about the precision of waches. I
>was going to just write him back personally, but I thought you all might
>be interested.

Not long after the turn of the century (the last century) railroads 
required a watch to keep within 5 seconds a week (or some high value like 
that). There were actual specifications for the watches that Operations 
Department personnel were allowed to carry. 21 Jewel, 5 seconds/week and 
the lever used to actuate a time change must be concealed and cannot be the 
little winding knob (that thing has a name but I forget what it is). Each 
road set up their own standards, the one I quote is Boston & Maine, 1932 
Operations Department Trainman's Rulebook.