A Mysterious Timer

There’s a chain of relevancy here… See, I’m a watch guy and have been for a long time. The mechanical nature of a proper and well built time piece has always fascinated me. And that fascination, like a lot of my fascinations, turned into an obsession at a pretty young age. I’ve collected watches for as long as I can remember.

Of course, I’m also a hot rod guy. And like many sick with obsessions, I’m always looking for intersections. The hot rod/watch intersection comes by way of the legendary Otto Crocker. Otto was a master watchmaker in Southern California during the golden era of hot rodding and in the late 1940’s, he invented The Crocker Timer – America’s first truly accurate timer that was used in all sorts of auto sports including Land Speed Racing and Drag Racing.

By all accounts, Otto was a damned genius… And his machines were incredible. I’ve searched for one for years… And that of course, started yet another obsession – vintage racing timers.

I guess somehow word got around that I was into these things and just last week, I got an email from a fellow that had landed a vintage timer. It’s not a Crocker Timer, nor is it quite as accurate as Otto’s machines (The Crocker Timer measured down to 1/1000 of a second) but it does appear to be from the 1950’s or so. Here’s some clues:

– The timer was built using 1950’s era “Standard Electric Timing Company” parts.

– The Synchro motors within were last rebuilt in the mid-1960’s.

– The timer was picked up at the Pomona Swap Meet in the 1990’s. The seller said that it was being used at an “old country drag strip” before he got it.

And that’s all we got… There are no labels taking responsibility for its construction and there are no other leads. However, the current owner of the machine and myself are interested to know if any of you old farts out there might recognize this thing. I’ve fingered enough old timers to know without doubt that this is a drag strip timer, but I’ve never seen one quite like this one. Anyone out there have any ideas?