1932 Flintridge

It's been a while since I've worked on something unique and my latest project definitely qualifies.

It's a very interesting model called the Flintridge and it's a model that today's modern Hamilton reintroduced just a few years ago.  Originally introduced in 1932, it was produced for three years.

The major featyre that makes the model distinctive is a solid gold cover that is spring loaded to lift up to reveal the time when you activate the lever at the upper right lug.

The Flintridge is also a very unique model because it was available with either the 19 jewel 979 or the 17 jewel 987.  When you consider it was sold at the height of the Great Depression, the Flintridge was an extravagant purchase - $150 in today's currency is over $3,700 when adjusted for inflation!  Just the upgrade from the 987 to the 979 was a $600 option in today's dollars. 

Cooler heads prevailed in 1934 as the cost of the 979 version decreased $10 but it was still a LOT of money.  With today's price of gold, the Flintridge is still a very valuable watch - if you can even find one out in the wild.

The catalog shows that the cover for the watch was intended to be monogramed.  Most of the time they are engraved but there are plain examples out there.

From a production standpoint, more yellow Flintridges were prodcued than white, with about 365 yellow versions manufactured with the 987 movement and about 305 produced in white gold.  You can add another 191 yellow versions with the 979 movement and 142 white versions with the 979 movement.  If you do the math, somewhere in the 500 range Flintridges were produced in yellow gold and 450-ish in white gold - so either way, it's a pretty uncommon model, especially when you consider how many probably got scrapped over the past 90 years.

My project watch came via a collector who found it on ebay and decided to take the risk and purchase it.  If you're in the market for a Flintridge you probably need to be willing to buy and fix it versus waiting for the perfect one to come around.  According to the listing, the watch was running.

The upper right lug is actually a lever that releases the cover.  I think the "spring has sprung" as it kind of works but it's a little wonky and doesn't stay closed.  This is probably something a talented gold smith could address.

Looking at the dial and hands, it looks as it should with the exception of the gold second hand.  The original would have been black to match the hour and minute hands.

The case is a two-piece design, sort of, as the back snaps into the front.  The pop up cover is the "sort of" part.  It's definitely more complex than a standard two-piece case.  Regardless, the back holds the movement and when you pry it away from the front you get access to the dial.

The Flintridge was marketed as a "sportsman's" watch but it's not shock protected.  It is solidly cased though, so it's got as much protection as the early 1930s allowed.

The watch is fully wound and not running.  A quick examination of the wobbly balance reveals that that the balance staff is broken.  Looking at the corrosion on the jewel settings, it's clear that it's been many years since this watch had a trip to the spa.  

The movement is missing one of the three dial feet screws.  I'll rectify that once the movement has been cleaned.

The dial-side of the main plate is unremarkable other than it shows the movement serial number.  By the end of the 1930s this was no longer the norm.  Well, actually the other side would have the serial number, but in this movement all of the bridges have the same number - that tradition would end in a few years.

Hamilton did not make a distinction with calibers other than to call them 987 or 979.  By 1932 the 987 version being produced was the 987F and the 979 version was the 979F.  If a model was produced after 1935 it would have gotten whatever caliber was being produced at that time - so a 987E  or even a 987A.

If you look at the bottom of the balance cock, you'll see it has the last few digits of the movement serial number.  Even the pallet fork bridge will be stamped accordingly.

Looking closely at the balance wheel, the gap between the arm and outer wheel is bent (where my tweezers are pointing).  This means the wheel is no longer round and probably is why the balance staff is broken. If I had to guess, the movement was dropped and it landed on the balance wheel specifically.

Looking at the balance staff from the side, you can see that both pivots are missing.  I could replace the balance staff but since the wheel is damaged, even if I successfully replaced the staff, the balance would not run correctly.  So I'm going to have to replace the balance assembly in its entirety.

The mainspring in the barrel is an old blue steel design.  I guarantee that it's set into a tight coil and lost most of it's original energy.

Yup, no surprise here.  You could say I've seen this before.

The case has posts to accommodate the strap.  These male lugs required female spring bars and they can be very tricky to find.

Fortunately the ones that came with the watch are fine and can be reused.

Everything gets thoroughly cleaned and inspected to make sure nothing is cracked and the broken pivots are not still lurking inside the balance jewels.  I have a few candidates for the balance replacement - we'll see what I can come up with.

All of the 987 and 979 movements use the same balance... sort of.  There are some important differences.

First, hairsprings changed over the 20 years that the 6/0 movements were produced.  When the Elinvar hairspring was introduced in 1934, the 987F became the 987E and used the new hairspring, as did the 987A.  When the Elivar Extra hairspring came out, the 987A got that too so the 987A could use either spring.

A 987 or 987F could use a balance from a 987E with no issues.  You could even consider it an "upgrade".  You could also drop an balance from a 987 into a 987E but by doing so, the movement would technically become the 987F (only the balance defines the difference between a 987F and 987E).

If it wasn't confusing already, the shape of the hairspring stud on the 987 and 979 movement is a triangle.  However, in the 987A the triangle points inward while all the other movements the point of the triangle points outward.  So the 987A (and 987S and 2987) cannot use an earlier balance without changing the hairspring stud.

In the photo below is a perfectly good 987A balance without a hairspring (it was bent all wonky and unusable).  On the right is the original balance that has been bent out of shape.  Theoretically I could put the hairspring from the original balance on the 987A balance.  There's an important caveat though... the length of the hairspring is actually tuned to the mass of the balance.  So if the balance wheels have significantly different masses, the timing for the balance will be way off.  But, what do I have to lose?

Without a hairspring, once it's installed, the balance spins freely - that's a great sign.

I'll prep a new Dynavar mainspring to install in the barrel and power the watch.

Welp, the new balance assembly is ticking away but who knows what the timing is?  The timer sure doesn't.  Oh well, it was worth a shot.

Option two was a balance from a donor 987 but the hairspring is a little out of shape.  The timer can tell a little but not enough for me to fine tune.

I switched the hairspring from the original broken balance to the replacement 987 balance and now it's picking up the timing.  The beat error is way too high though, so I need to try to adjust it.

After quite a few attempts I finally got the balance to run cleanly and with a relatively decent beat error.  The two lines should ideally be straight and not wobbly.  That could be the result of other wheels in the movement though and I'm already four hours into what should be a one hour project.  It's time to say "good enough".  After 90 years sometimes replacing the movement is the best option but this movement is now running and it runs in all positions - that's a success in my book.

The case is cleaned and I'll leave any polishing for a future goldsmith to address.  I don't know who DGW is but I hope they'd like to know their watch is running again (or is it DWG?).

I also replaced the second hand so the watch now looks like it would have in 1932... other than the aftermarket Speidel bracelet, of course.

1960 Thin-o-matic T-403

I think one of the most popular genres of Hamilton collecting is the asymmetric models.  You can find them in all of the movement types... Electric, Mechanical, and Automatic.  The Ventura and the Pacer are probably the most popular but there are lots of really cool models to choose from... if you can afford them.

Even the Thin-o-matic line got some action with the 1960 T-403.  It was produced through 1963.  Originally it was offered in a yellow gold filled case.  What makes it interesting is the shark-finned shaped lugs where the left side is straight and the right side sweeps out to cover the right side of the lugs.  The dial adds to the effect with two zones, one side gold and the other white finished.  The gold side has yellow embossed markers and the silver side has black lines radiating from the center to the 1, 2,3, 4 and 5 positions.

In 1962 a white gold filled option was introduced.  The dial for the white version has grey instead of gold.  Interesting, the style of hands are stick and lollipop with the yellow version getting black hands and the white version getting yellow hands.  So the yellow models are similar but also very different.

I posted on the white version in 2018 and recently had the opportunity to work on a yellow version

As received, you could be forgiven for not recognizing it.  It appears to have suffered an identity crisis.  The dial is a refinished replacement but the gold color is accurate.  The minute hand is luminous but the hour hand is not.  Check out the crown, I'm not sure what is going on with it, other than being extremely worn.  The watch is not running but hopefully I'll be able to resolve that with a basic overhaul.

The flat case back shows a lot of wear too.  It appears to be somewhat crudely engraved with initials and a date from June, 1961... perhaps a birthday, graduation, or even wedding?

With the crystal removed and the two piece stem separated, the movement will now drop out the front.  Notice the inside of the crown... maybe this was waterproof at some point but it definitely needs to be replaced.  The stem tube on the case looks to be larger - probably 2.5mm will be required.  There's a lot that goes into specifying the crown, you'd be surprised.

Behind the dial is a Hamilton 663 movement - one of the earlier pink micro rotor movements.  I greatly prefer these over the later silver micro rotors from the late 1960s and 70s.

The inside of the case back exhibits the sure tale signs of a micro rotor movement - you can see where the little oscillating weight and rubbed the inside of the case as it swung around.

One of the dial foot screws is totally buggered up.  In fact, most of the screws look like they've been turned with crappy screwdrivers.

The owner sent along a correct dial that has seen some adventures but lived to tell the tales.  It's a little dented and shows some scrapes but at least it's correct.  I don't have the proper hands though so I'll have to do the best I can.

Everything is cleaned and ready to be reassembled.  There are a lot of parts to these micro rotor movements but I should be able to get them all back together.

There... the movement is mostly reassembled... at least enough to be running so I can put it on the timer.

Not too shabby - I'll leave it as is for now.

The movement requires a 0.90 minute hand and 1.50mm hour hand - those sizes don't have a lot of options when it comes to simple black baton hands.  The second hand requires a 0.22mm pivot so I just painted the gold one that came with it black to match.  A new crown and replacement crystal make a huge difference on this well-worn case.  I also add a proper-fitting black leather strap.

I think the finished project looks great - especially compared to what I started with.  It's not perfect but it's 65 years old... it doesn't have to look new.  I'm sure the owner will enjoy it more now that it at least looks like a T-403 at a glance.

1956 Laird or 1954 Debonair L

It's been a hot minute since I've had a new model for the blog.  They're getting fewer and far between.  Still plenty to go though and they're not all solid gold rarities.

This one is about as plane-jane as they go, but still rather uncommon.  It's a 1956 Laird... a one year wonder, sort of.  Priced at $45 in 1956, that's the equivalent of about $545 in today's currency - so not cheap by any stretch but definitely entry-level by Hamilton standards

The Laird is interesting in that it was previously one of the Illinois models, specifically the Debonair L, introduced in 1954.  I haven't come across that model yet so this post is actually a two-fer.  Hamilton re-introduced the Illinois brand (that it purchased in 1928) and issued watches with Swiss-made movements.  This was sort of a test to see how the market would respond without "risking" the Hamilton brand.  When the world kept turning, executives migrated away from the Illinois branding and eventually there were lots of new Hamilton models introduced in 1956.

What's even more interesting is lots of the new Hamilton models were "B" models and in 1957 they dropped the B.  For example, the Jason B became the Jason, the Cabot B became the Cabot, et al.  The B signifies that the movement changed and the B model had an Illinois movement while the non-B had a Hamilton movement - but otherwise they looked mostly the same.  

So the Laird is interesting in that it doesn't have a B version but it does use an Illinois movement like in the Debonair L.  I guess because it wasn't planned for 1957, there was no need to make a B version.

What's also interesting is my project watch has a slightly different dial.  I would call this a non-cataloged option since it's obviously an original embossed dial.

The case back is stainless steel - also a new attribute for Hamilton watches, at least with RGP bezels.  There were earlier all-stainless models, of course.  This just underscores the efforts Hamilton undertook to stay cost competitive in an increasingly challenging global market.

Getting embossed dials refinished can be problematic as refinishers can often wear down the figures during the refinishing process.  The result is the figures look soft and rounded over - very dissatisfying, in my opinion.  This dial shows good, honest dirt that comes with age.  I won't even try to clean it.

The inside of the case back makes short work of identifying the model.  It says LAIRD right inside the back.

The movement inside is an Illinois branded movement without a caliber reference.  The TXD on the balance cock is actually the import code for Illinois - all Illinois models in the 1950s have this code.  This movement is based on an A. Schild 1200 and will eventually become the Hamilton 673.

Everything is take apart and cleaned.  Time for reassembly.

The last parts to go on (the back anyway) are the balance jewels that are supported by the incabloc shock settings.  The balance is actually ticking away without the jewels but only because it's dial down at the movement.

There... the jewels are in and the reassembled movement is ticking away with a nice motion.  Let's see what the timer thinks.

Well, not too bad.  The beat error is a little high but adjusting that is actually a bit of a challenge on this movement and I'm going to let sleeping dogs lie.  I could very easily ruin an otherwise fine hairspring by pressing my luck.

Notice anything odd about the two crystals below?  The correct crystal is on the right.  The left crystal came with the watch but it's not the correct shape.  It has a few cracks as a result, but it was pretty close.  The main difference is the corners should be rounded.

With a proper crystal installed, this watch now looks as good as it runs.  Not bad for a 70 year old watch.