Joe Dawson's Watch #4

 
In this contribution from Larry Snyder, the grandson of Joe's brother Charles, we can see a picture of a watch presented to 1912 Indianapolis 500 winner Joe Dawson by his 1914 race car owner Charlie Erbstein. It was during the 1914 Indianapolis 500 that Dawson suffered career-ending injuries. This is one of four images. In the first you can see the inscription Charlie had engraved, calling Joe America's greatest driver. Larry also provided pictures of the face of the watch and its back.
 
This image shows the internal works of the watch, which still functions. Appropriately enough the watch also doubles as a stop watch breaking time down to one-fifth of a second - standard in those days. The button for starting and stopping is at the top of the winding stem. The upper of the two smaller dials keeps track of the stop watch minutes, while the lower small dial is the second hand for the basic clock function. The overall diameter of the case is 1.925".
 
Check out my article about this great auto racing champion - a man about which too little has been recorded.

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