Northern Partners

Brief History: Ball Watch Company
Cleveland, Ohio
1879 - 1969

Webb C. Ball was born in Fredericktown, Ohio on October 6, 1847 and became a jeweler & watchmaker. When Standard Time was first adopted in 1883, he was the first jeweler to use time signals, bringing accurate time to Cleveland, Ohio.

After the grave collision between Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railways at Kipton, Ohio, incurred because an engineer's watch had stopped unnoticed for about 5 minutes, the railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their General Time Inspector, in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for Railroad Watches.

The Ball Watch Company did not manufacture watches directly, but the company helped develop the specifications for watches used in railroad service. Webb Ball established strict guidelines for the manufacturing of sturdy, reliable precision timepieces, including resistance to magnetism, reliability of time keeping in 5 positions, isochronism, power reserve, accompanied with record keeping of the reliability of the watch on each regular inspection.

The Waltham Watch Company complied immediately with the requirements of Ball's guidelines, later followed by Elgin Watch Company and most of the other American manufacturers, later on joined by some Swiss Watch Manufacturers. The Ball Watch Company branded and distributed watches made by Hamilton, Waltham, Illinois, Elgin, E. Howard, and Hampden. Watches marked "BALL & Co." are much more difficult to find than those marked "BALL WATCH Co." Ball watches are today some of the most collectible of the American railroad pocket watches.

Today's checking criteria for the certification of each COSC Officially Certified Chronometer are still based upon Webb C. Ball's standards.

At the end of his career, Webb C. Ball was overseeing over 125,000 miles of rail tracks in U.S.A., Mexico & Canada, having greatly contributed to the security of all railroad systems.

The colloquial phrase "on the ball" purportedly derives from Webb C. Ball's watch standards and their reputation for accuracy.

Ball Watch Company
Approximate Serial Numbers and Dates