First article in honour of Giovanni

Interesting article, thanks a lot Thomas and Tonny.
I cannot thank Gio anymore, text him writing the usual "Forza Italia" lines.
I know Mark will have more details on how Gio got interested in RM pocket watches, Mark?

Thanks, Tonny! That was an excellent article and a very fitting way to honor Giovanni's memory.

A very nice gesture Tonny.

Being a railway enthusiast, I've enjoyed reading it immensely.

Very interesting article, thank you! By the way, as I understood there often was another system in place to avoid head-on collisions on a single track railway: the use of a unique token for a specific part of the track. A driver had to be in the possession of that token to be allowed to drive: quite an effective system!

Kind regards,
Paul

This article represents the ultimate synthesis between Italian passion and German thorough research. Well done and thank you Giovanni and Thomas.
Adrian,
(alwaysiwc).

This article is very fitting tribute to the passion of Giovanni and to the IWCs he loved. It is well written and informative. But, I have to say it brings tears to my eyes knowing Giovanni is no longer with us and that we will not see further contributions.

The article mentions the horrible train collision in Ohio described in history as:

"On April 18, 1891, near Kipton station, 40 miles west of Cleveland, Ohio, the fast mail train #14 collided with the Toledo Express. The fast mail was running at full speed, and the Toledo express was almost at a spot where it would traditionally pull over on a siding to let the fast mail pass. The massive collision killed nine men, six of them postal clerks working on the fast mail train."

As a result of this tragedy, the US government requested watch companies to compete to become the Official Standard Railroad watch for the US. The bidding was won by the Ball Watch Company, then located in Cleveland, Ohio.

My grandfather was in the railroad business in the early 1900's and had one of the Ball Official Railroad Standard pocket watches seen below. As a bit of trivia, the American phrase, "Get on the Ball" comes from having the Ball Watch Companies' association with producing accurate pocket watches. Get On the Ball means you are accurate, timely, etc.

Here are some pictures of my Ball Watch Company Official Standard Pocket Watch.

Some movement shots. Pretty nice decoration for a workman's watch.

Thanks for making this the first official post in the Collectors' Articles.

Excellent and informative data plus a beautiful railroad watch
Thanks Bill,
Adrian.

Great article. I really learned a lot from it.

I enjoyed Thomas's fitting obit and tribute to Gio. Touching.

Thanks Adrian, that's a great compliment from an expert that I admire.

An excellent article and thank you for publishing it this week. Thomas's remarks were very moving.

Bill, your photographs of your Ball pocket watch are outstanding. If anyone wishes to look into this subject in more detail, there's an excellent book given to me by a long time contributor to this Forum: "Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time" by Clark Blaise.

Thank you Bill for the added information and wonderful pictures and thank you Ralph for the hint, very appreciated.

Excellent article!

Thank you very much.

JK

Excellent and informative article. Thanks Giovanni and Thomas.

This is a great article and a good start to the initiative.

Thanks so much!

Great start to the new section and what a thoughtful tribute to Gio. Thank you Thomas.