1931 Cushion B

Hamilton's first mens wrist watches were very simple and named by their shape.  The first 6/0 sized model was simply the Men's Cushion or Cushion Round, noting that the case was cushion shaped but the bezel opening was round.

Other varieties quickly followed and cases were "plain" or "engraved".  New shapes were introduced like the Barrel, Tonneau, and even the Rectangular.  The choice of materials spiced things up even further with solid gold, or gold filled, in green, white or yellow.  Even sterling silver got into the lineup from time to time.

In 1927 the new 987 movement was introduced and the 19 jewel 979 came along with it.  This new design offered a sub second movement at the 6 position.  By that time the Cushion Round had run it's course but in 1931 a new design was introduced, the Cushion B.

The Cushion B was produced in 14K gold filled in white or yellow only.  So if you see a cushion shaped watch with a round opening and a subsecond at the 6 position, it's most likely a Cushion B.

The Cushion was produced through 1934 and the only thing that changed year to year was the retail price.  The aviation dial listed in the catalogs is pretty rare to find in the wild but they're out there.  It's a simple dial with large luminous figures at the 12, 3 and 9 positions.

Generally speaking, the 17 jewel movement was used in the gold filled models and the 19 jewel 979 was reserved for the solid gold models.  However, there are lots of exceptions to the rule and sometimes you'll see the 987 in solid gold models (like the Piping Rock) and sometimes the 979 is in gold filled models (like the Lee).  The Cushion B was sometimes outfitted with the 979 but mostly you'll find the 987 inside.

One other bit of trivia is the 987 and 979 includes both the initial 987 and 979 but also the 987F and 979F.   The difference is in how the jewel settings are retained in the movement.  The F is in reference to friction fit settings while the earlier movements had setting retained by screws.  There is no other difference beyond that and Hamilton didn't promote the difference, 987 refers to the 987, 987F and even the 987E.

I recently had the opportunity to work on a Cushion B again.  The last time I saw this model was in 2013.

This project arrived in ticking order but it's been through a few hands, I suspect.  First, the hands are missing any sign of lume... I would call these skeleton hands.  The dial is missing it's lume too - or at least most of it.  It looks like a 90 year old dial, that's for sure.  What's remarkable is there is no wear through to the corners of the bezel.  The crystal is pretty tall though so it may have saved the bezel from shirt sleeve wear.  The crown is sitting proud of the case and you can see the stem tube.  This crown is not deep enough to accommodate the stem tube, or the stem is too long.  My guess is the crown is incorrect.

The back of the case is nicely engraved but I can't tell if it's just one letter or a couple of letters together.

Just for fun, let's see how it's running.  I normally don't bother with a baseline but I'm curious to see what I'm up against. 

Based on the shotgun pattern, this movement is making a ticking noise but it's not keeping any semblance of time.  Oh well, off we go into the unknown.

The Cushion B comes in a three-piece case with a back, a front bezel, and the center that holds the movement.  Two case screws hold the movement in place and once the crown is removed the assembly will come out the front.

This example has the 19 jewel 979F inside.  It's an upgrade over the 987F and includes a solid gold center wheel.  This would be an expensive movement to replace - I need to be extra careful with it.  Although, nice 987s are getting very hard to come by too.

Once the movement is removed, I can put the crown and stem up to the stem tube to see how it fits.  It's clear the crown won't accommodate the stem tube.  I've seen other examples where the stem tube is shortened - altering the case to fit a crown is the wrong decision.  I'll see if I have a better crown to fit.

Digging through my stash of crowns produces a winner.  This version has a deep enough well to cover the stem tube.  I'll probably have to replace the stem too though, as the crown and the stem must fit the movement inside the case perfectly in order to move from the winding position to the setting position.

With the dial and hands removed, I can start disassembling the movement.  In the shot below you can see the extra cap jewel that covers the escape wheel.  The other end on the train bridge has a cap jewel too - and brings the count up to 19 versus the 17 in the 987 movement.

Looking inside the barrel reveals an old blue steel mainspring.  It's likely set into a tight coil and lost most of it's energy.

Yup - called it.

According to the parts catalog, the 979 has a different mainspring than the 987.  The barrel is the same though so it's really the strength that's different.  I'll go with the 100 strength Dynavar mainspring.

Everything is cleaned and ready to be put back together.  Wish me luck.

I got the movement back together easy enough.  It's not a terrible movement to work on.  The worst part is the pre-Elinvar hairsprings are very easy to damage / bend and then you're screwed.  

The reassembled movement is ticking away with a decent motion - hopefully it's better than what I started with.

The two parallel lines had me hopeful until the 9.2ms beat error was registered.  That means the lines are actually really far apart, the one on the top is really on the bottom and vice versa.

Reducing the beat error requires removing the balance from the balance cock and then rotating the hairspring on the balance staff so that the balance impulse jewel is better aligned with the pallet fork.  If that sounds hard to understand, it's 10X more difficult to do in person.  As I said above, one false move and you'll bend the hairspring and that's game over.

My first attempt lowered the beat error to 5.1ms.  I'll give it another go.

Two more attempts and the best I've gotten to is 3.9ms.  Normally I prefer to get below 3.0ms and as close to zero as possible.  However, I'm going to call it here... after three attempts I have really pressed my luck.  A man's got to know his limitations.  A higher beat error mainly implies the watch will stop sooner than a watch with a lower beat error.  So this is still way better than what I started with.

The finished watch looks pretty good.  Personally I don't mind skeleton hands.  I could change them to black spear hands or I could even fill them with lume of some color.  However, since the dial is also naked, what's the point?  I hope I look this good at 95 years old!

1941 Gilbert

Sometimes watches remind me of other things... like the movie "Young Frankenstein", where Igor drops the brain he was sent to collect and has to substitute another in its place.  He came back with the brain of Abby Someone... or was it AB Normal?

The same is true for me with a few fine Hamilton watches that all start with Gil... is it the Gilman, the Gilbert, or the Gilmore?  There are only three, why do I always get them confused?  Am I the only one?

To be fair, the Gilbert and the Gilmore are pretty closely related.  They look almost identical but the Gilmore was introduced in 1953, produced for a single year and cased in solid 10K gold.

The Gilman was introduced in 1938 and overlapped in production with the Gilbert.  They're similar really in name only.

The Gilbert was introduced in 1941 and produced through 1951 - that was a really long run for a Hamilton model, with a short pause for WWII.

A lot was going on in 1941, namely the inclusion of some Coral models using rose gold and the "new" 982M or medallion movement was introduced for solid gold models.  The Gilbert was offered in solid 14K yellow gold with a sterling silver dial set with solid 18K gold numerals.  The code price 24 equated to  $85.  That's about $1,900 in today's dollars... try finding a new solid gold top quality watch today for $1,900!

10 years later, the Gilbert was offered at $125.  Adjusted for inflation, that's actually about $1600 in today's dollars.

The movement inside is the 19 jewel 982M movement, which is basically a 982 movement with extra finishing and tighter tolerances.  Starting in 1941, solid models with a 14/0 movement received the 982M.  14K gold filled models would get the 982 and 10K gold filled and stainless models would receive the 17 jewel 980 movement.

A recently received a nice Gilbert that was running oddly.  A lot of times that's just a sign that it's time for some maintenance.  All mechanical watches require regular maintenance.  Back when this watch was made, the recommendation was to have the watch serviced every year... of course, that was back when there was a watchmaker in every jewelry store.  Not so much today, but with modern lubricants, the recommendation is now every 3-5 years, or if you get moisture inside it.

I put the watch on my timer to see what I was starting with.  Normally I don't do that, it's going to be taken apart and cleaned anyway - if it has issues, I'll find it later.

Oddly enough, the timer wasn't even registering but after a while did get a screen that showed the shotgun pattern of noise... there's a big difference between a ticking watch and a watch that is keeping time.

The inside of the case back is unremarkable other than this is the first time I've seen a prior watchmaker's service mark on the wall of the case, there are a couple of others on the back surface.

The earlier 982M movements have a solid gold medallion on the train bridge.  I think that's an interesting touch, considering only a watchmaker would have been likely to see it.  Eventually in the later 1940s the medallion was removed in favor of an engraved circle with an H inside.  Not quite the same but still a 982M.

The serial number of this movement dates to 1941 - making this a first year example of the Gilbert.

Tucked inside the barrel is an old style blue mainspring.  It's more than likely set into a tight coil and has lost most of its potential energy.  That's not the cause of the running poorly issue though.  This spring will still power the watch but likely for less than a full day.  A fresh mainspring will power the watch for close to 40 hours on a full wind.

Yup - called it.  A fresh mainspring is definitely in order.

While everything is being cleaned I'll prep a new glass crystal for installation in the bezel.

Everything is cleaned and ready to be put back together.

You can tell by the blurred balance wheel that the watch is now ticking away with a brisk motion.  Time to see what the timer thinks after a cleaning.

Not too shabby, the beat error is at the high end of my specs but the little voice in my head is warning me to let sleeping dogs lie.  I could attempt to reduce the beat error but one false move and the balance could be ruined and I'd be back to a poorly running movement again.  I've learned over the years to pay attention to the little voice when it speaks up.

The finished watch looks great with a fresh crystal and it's now running as good as it looks... not bad for an 85 year old watch.

1959 Golden Tempus II

Hamilton had some pretty funky designs in the 1950s.  The asymmetric models are probably the best known examples, but there are other interesting designs too.  One of them is the 1959 Golden Tempus II.

The Golden Tempus II was made for two years and there's no easy way to identify which year a particular example is from, unless it has a presentation.  The model is cased in a 10K yellow gold filled case.  What makes it unique is the dial has two parts... the portion with the markers is a shiny textured gold ring and is integral to the bezel.  The other portion of the dial is a golden disc that is secured to the movement.

This is a design concept deployed on some other models too, like the Time Zone / Transcontinental, among others.

The crystal on the Golden Tempus II extends all the way to the edge of the case, appearing to almost have no boundary.  The lugs on the case are very slender and pin-like.  It appears to be a very delicate design, in my opinion.  

There's a Golden Tempus,  introduced in 1957 and made through 1959 that is similar, but cased in solid gold and is easily distinguished by it's hooded, bowtie-shaped lugs.

Both models utilize the 18 jewel 735 movement, which was the shock jeweled replacement for the 748 movement introduced in 1948.

My project watch appears to be in decent condition overall.  The hands are interesting, I've done one other Golden Tempus II in the past, and it has silver hands with a gold second hand, and this one does too.  That's seems unusual to me but maybe that's part of the design.  I'm not a huge fan of the "disc within a ring" design.  Anytime I see this concept, if the movement has any amount of play in the case back, the dial seems a little wobbly.  But, I guess that's just the nature of the beast. 

The strap on the watch is a Hamilton design, which is cool.  The case back has a lot of wear to the area by the crown but it otherwise looks solid.

There's a slightly worn gap between the case back and the bezel where I can apply my case knife to open the case.

In the photo below you can see the dial ring in the case and the disc is retained on the movement in the case back.  Now I can just lift the movement out of the case back.

The 735 movement is essentially the same as the 748 with the exception of the shock jewels supporting the balance.  Notice there's no serial number on the movement.  That practice ended in 1955.  It's also interesting to note that the barrel bridge is one piece.  Initially the 748 had a one piece barrel bridge.  That required taking the train bridge off to get to the mainspring barrel... basically disassembling the movement.  Hamilton changed the design after a year or so to split the barrel bridge into two parts, enabling access to the barrel without disassembling the movement.  Once white alloy Dynavar "lifetime" mainsprings were introduced, the two piece bridge was no longer needed and the design went back to a one piece design like below.

Everything get's disassembled and cleaned... it's now ready to be reassembled.

With the balance jewels reinstalled, the balance is now ticking away with a nice motion.  It's off to the timer.

Wow!  Not too shabby.  It's an easy adjustment to slow it down a smidgeon.

There... pretty much right on the money now.  It should settle down a little further after a while.

The finished watch looks great and runs as good as it looks.  I'm surprised that the lugs look so good considering all the wear to the case back.  However, although they are very skinny, they are thick when you look at the watch from the side - so they're sturdier than you think.