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After a serious train accident in 1891 on the East Coast of U.S.A., caused by the malfunction of a railway agent's watch, the North American railroad industry charged their General Time Inspector Webb C. Ball to establish unified standards for all the watches used by their personnel across the various participating Railroad Companies:
The Waltham Watch Company immediately complied with the requirements of Ball's guidelines, and soon did Elgin Watch Company and most of the other American watch manufacturers, applying the American System of Watch Manufacturing. Waltham became the official timekeeper of railroads in 52 different countries.
W.C. Ball's guidlines are the basis of the officially certified Chronometers standards, as now laid out by the " Société Suisse de Chronométrie ", which was founded in 1924Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 See also 1924 in aviation 1924 in film 1924 in literature 1924 in mu and "The Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute" COSCThis article is about the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute, known by its French language acronym of COSC . For the state college in Connecticut, see Charter Oak State College . Founded in its current structure 1973, the COSC ("Controle Officie ("Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres").