1963 Thin-o-Matic T-204

One of these days I'm going to have to count how many models I've captured for the blog.  There are just under 1,000 mechanical models and I've done at least 650 of them by now.  It's hard to believe I started this blog in 2012 and here it is 14 years later.  I've still got a ways to go to document all of them and I'm sure that I never will - as there are a quite a few "above my pay grade" as the saying goes.  Regardless, each new model is a fun accomplishment.

My latest new addition was only produced for a couple of years.  It's a 1963 Thin-o-matic T-204.  Originally offered in 1963, it was also marketed in the 1964 catalog for $160 - a real bargain, in my opinion.  Cased in solid 14K gold, it was priced at about $1,750 when adjusted for inflation.  Try finding a solid 14K gold watch in today's jewelers for anywhere near that price.

It's interesting to note that some models were intended to be worn solely on a strap.  Other times, a model could be presented on a bracelet that echoed or, at least, complemented the design, as well as the option of a strap.  The T-204 was offered with what appears to have been a large tile alligator (or croc) strap, and I'm sure it looked great.

The case is an interesting design.  I'm not sure how to best describe the shape.  Certainly the bezel opening is a circle and the knurled detail around the opening is also round.  The swooping lugs and flat portion for the strap seem to offer a barrel shape as well.  Usually I default to the bezel opening and I'd call this a round, or circular, design.

The case back is very flat, indicative of the type of movement you'll find inside.  The case back gives the impression this might be a two-piece design, where the case back might snap onto the bezel.  You'd be forgiven for thinking that, and based on a couple of prior case knife marks, it looks like someone has tried to open it a time or two.

Alas, this is a one-piece design and the movement is accessed through the crystal.  Interestingly, the watch has a presentation from October, 1962.  The new model year started in the Fall of the prior year so this watch was newly introduced in October of 1962.

The dial is an interesting textured, or linen design.  It's also not a luminous pattern.  You can see there's been some moisture intrusion that has compromised the finish.  Unfortunately, it's been my experience that these dial never get refinished as well as you'd like.  So there's not much I can do with this dial other than see if I can brighten up the solid gold hour markers.  

By the way, the hour marker at the 9 position is a a replacement... it doesn't match the other markers at 12, 3, and 6.  I'll have to look in my stash of old dials to see if I have a better match.

The inside of the case back shows the service marks of at least four prior watchmakers.  It also shows a the tell-tale rub mark of a micro-rotor movement.

Tucked inside the case is a 17 jewel 663 movement, along with a movement ring.  There does not appear to be any rust on the back - that's a promising sign.  However, the male stem sticking out of the movement is quite rusted.

The female side of the stem is retained in the crown.  It too is rusted and between the two halves, they've lost their grasp on each other.  When you pull the crown out to set the time, the crown will come completely out.  They are intended to separate, but not that easily - so I'll have to replace them.

And therein lies the rub... these movements use a special stem and the parts are getting very hard to find.  ETA movements are not as bad but these older Buren calibers are a different story.  Fortunately, I think I have the required parts on hand - otherwise this watch could have been unrepairable.

I this shot you can see the male-side of the stem.  Between this side, and the female fork-side, the two sections are meant to snap together and hold fast.

Here's s shot of a the new parts.  I'll have to trim the female side to the correct length.  I get one shot - If I screw it up, I won't be able to fix the watch.

Everything is disassembled and thoroughly cleaned.  So far, so good.  Now I just have to put it back together again.

Piece by piece, all the parts are reassembled and with a little tension applied to the mainspring, the watch ticks back to life.  Now to listen to the ticking to see how it's running.

Not too shabby - the mainspring isn't fully wound so the amplitude is a little low but everything is looking fine.  Adjusting the beat error on this watch is very tricky and the added juice is not worth the squeeze of trying to reduce it.  I could just as easily ruin the hairspring.  This beat error is well within my personal specs of 3.0ms... it may even improve after it runs a while.

I noticed during the cleaning that there's a rub mark on the automatic framework, caused by the motion of the oscillating weight.  When I went to reinstall the weight, I could see that it would hang up in this area.  That implies either the rotor is bent or there's been too much wear over the years.  I'll have to replace the framework and rotor arbor.

I saved the worst challenge for last - now I have to trim the new female stem hub to the correct length.

I left my first attempt a little long, just to make sure I didn't overshoot the mark.  Now I can whittle my way to (hopefully) a perfect fit.

The finished watch looks fantastic after a trip to the spa.  A new crystal helps complete the restored look and the best part is the crown won't easily fall off like it did before.  This watch is now ready for another few years of confident wrist time.

1968 Sea Scape III

 Hamilton offered all sorts of dial options over the years.  It's probably an interesting rabbit hole to go down and to explore the myriad dial patterns that were available in both the pocket watch and the wrist watch lines. 

You could even special order custom dial with your name, etc. as the markers - sort of like you can get vanity license plates today.  However, the figures would have been solid gold and riveted onto sterling silver dials.

One of the commercially available dial genres that you'll see fairly often, especially in the 1950s and 60's were masonic dial patterns.  The various figures represent various moral, ethical and spiritual principles that are important to the fraternity.

Typically a masonic dial was an option for certain models but in 1968 the Sea Scape III was introduced and it was cataloged to offer only a masonic dial.  This little asterisk in the catalog refers to waterproofness.

The Sea Scape III only shows up in the 1968 catalog so it was a short lived model.  Priced at $69.50 with the bracelet or $59.50 on a strap, it was an entry level model.  However, that's still well over $550 in today's currency - so it wasn't a "cheap watch".

My project watch arrived looking like it has seen better days. In fact, it appears to have been through the ringer... there is no crown, no crystal, no second or minute hands, and it's not working.

The dial and movement seem to fit okay in the case but there's no movement ring present - I don't know if that's because there wasn't one originally or if it's been lost along with the other parts.  The inside of the case back is unremarkable.  I think there is one prior watchmaker service mark inside.  The 923584 number is the model number, at least for the case, and the other number is a unique serial number for this watch.

Behind the dial is a Hamilton 688 movement.  I can't tell if it's corroded or just super dusty.  Either way it's going to get a trip to the spa.

While all the parts are getting cleaned, I'll prep a new crown and male stem hub.  The male side will snap into the female side that is retained in the movement.

This is a best guess at the length that is needed.  

I happened to have a set of hands for the 688 and I relumed them with modern lume will all the parts finish cleaning.

I found the escape wheel had a broken pivot but a donor movement saved the day.  Now I can reassemble the movement and see how well it runs.

With all the parts back together and lubricated, the watch is now ticking away.  Time to see what the timer thinks of the ticking.

Who-wee!  This is a brisk pace of 6 minutes fast per day.  Looking at the position of the regulator (above), I can see there's plenty of room to adjust it and slow the beat rate down.

Getting warmer....

There... I'll leave it running just a smidgeon fast for now.   Freshly serviced watches tend to settle down after a while.

The new hands, crystal and crown return this almost 60 year old watch to wrist-worthy condition.  I don't know how many Sea Scape III's there still are out there in the wild but I'm happy to put this one back into service.

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.