The Peoria Watch Co., Peoria, Ill., made this high-grade watch. The movement is marked with the company’s name and serial number 17672. The dial indicates the watch could be used for railroad timekeeping, where the most reliable watches and clocks were fundamental to safe and efficient operation. The definition of a railroad watch changed over time and varied among railroad companies in the nineteenth century, but by about 1920 generally accepted, closely specified standards governed almost every detail of watch construction for railway use.