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Railroad-era pocket watches were designed and built during the glorious age of dedicated, purpose-built tooling, meaning that they did one thing and they did it very well. 8-in-1 multi-tools sold on infomercials were thankfully still a century away.

That means that pocket watches are not wristwatches, but that doesn't stop people from wedging one into a conversion case and strapping it to their wrist. They were designed to be carried in a vest pocket, remaining fairly stationary while maintaining reasonable accuracy during changes in temperature, varying mainspring strengths, and gravity pulling from different directions. They were never designed to be swinging wildly at the end of your arm; there's simply too much mass on a railroad-era balance wheel to be able to quickly overcome sudden changes in inertia.

Pocket watches are also not clocks, though people will often use them as such. Clocks were designed to just sit there in a warm house on a level shelf with the weights pulling uniformly straight down, and once the pendulum length was dialed in they would be remarkably accurate. Watches that just hang from a nail need to be timed for that one position to be the most precise.

People also fail to tether these delicate antiques, evidently preferring to see them smash to the floor. Better yet are those who happily hand one over to a small child so the kid can drop it instead, but since children are shorter than adults they probably figure the watch can't fall as far.

These century-old mechanical works of art are capable of truly impressive performance if treated well, maintained properly, used in the manner intended, and honored for the history and the stories that they contain. Take care of your great-grandfather's treasured heirloom so that it can be handed down through the generations.