Ball Watch Co. of Clevelenad, Ohio.

Webster Clay Ball was born on a farm in Knox County Ohio on October 6, 1848. After a two year apprenticeship to a jeweler in Fredericktown, Ohio, Ball relocated to Cleveland, Ohio. After several years of working for various firms in nearby cities, he formed the Ball Watch Company in 1879. At this time, the railroads were still operating under local time. It was not until 1883 that standard time began to be implemented into the system. With this came the broadcasting of the time signal from the Naval Observatory. Ball was the first jeweler in Cleveland to display the time signal or the correct time in his shop window. He was instrumental in the organization of railway timekeeping and became a general inspector for over 125,000 miles of railroad in the United States, Mexico and Canada. He help standardize the watches used in the railroad system by requiring the watch to meet a base line of quality and performance. He designed the watch inspection system. Ball used movements and clocks from the top American manufacturers and sold many under his own firm's name. Webb C. Ball died in 1922. The business was continued by the family until the 1960's. The name has been sold and is now used by a Swiss firm.