What is a pocket watch?
A pocket watch is a timepiece meant to be carried in the pocket, rather than worn on the wrist. Pocket watches predate wristwatches by about 400 years, the first invented in 1510 Nuremberg, Germany by Peter Henlein. Despite its long history, the absence of exacting mass manufacturing meant the accuracy of pocket watches varied greatly from watchmaker to watchmaker, even into the 19th century. Dire results were to be demonstrated in the great train wreck of 1891 in Kipton, Ohio. Here the pocket watch of an engineer stopped for 4 minutes, leading to two trains colliding on the same track. The only way to avoid further disasters was for the American Railway Association to set a high quality standard for pocket watches used in the railway system. Ergo, a pocket watch that met this standard held the distinction of being Railroad Approved.
