This clock is a railroad Standard Clock that was manufactured over a hundred years ago by the Self Winding Clock Company of New York. Standard Clocks were located at crew terminals on the railroad-their location was always listed in employee timetables. All railroad employees who were required to have railroad approved watches were required to compare time with the Standard Clock before going on duty. Standard Clocks were regulated daily to official Standard Time, which was transmitted from the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.
This clock is a self winding unit that is powered by a mainspring. The mainspring is wound once an hour by an electric motor powered by two 1.5 volt batteries. This type of clock could be connected to the Western Union telegraph network to be synchronized with Naval Observatory time. Mechanical Standard Clocks had signs attached that indicated how many seconds fast/slow the clock was running. Standard Clocks were permitted a maximum variance of nine seconds from Standard Time.
This clock came from a railroad facility in California and was fully restored by my friend. The job included replacement of all wiring. The clock hangs on my bedroom wall and lulls me to sleep with its ticking. The motor is pretty quiet-not loud enough to wake me. It’s a pretty cool find as these self winding clocks are very collectible. The clock does come with a winding key-its only purpose is to operate the latches that secure the bezel to the clock case.
