1948 Milton

When it comes to describing classic men's watches I think it really depends on the decade in question.  The 1960's was all about stylish round watches like featured in the TV series "Mad Men".  However, the generation that stormed the beaches of Anzio, Normandy, and Iwo Jima wore much smaller watches and often a tank style.

One of my favorite 1940s watches is the 1948 Milton.  It was produced through 1952 and it's design is timeless.  If you didn't know better you might think it was from the 1930s or made into the 1950s.

As introduced in 1948, the Milton was offered in a 14K natural gold filled case with solid 18K applied gold numerals and dots on the dial.  It was priced at $71.50... that's almost $1,000 in today's currency.

By 1952, nothing had changed with the Milton, even the price was the same.

The 19 jewel movement listed in the catalog was the 14/0 sized 982 movement.  At this time the 982M was used in the solid gold models and the 982 was used in 14K gold filled cases.

As I said, I like the Milton.  It has a very simple but elegant design and it's a decent sized watch, even by today's standards... it's not too big and it's not too small.

I've had my project watch waiting in the wings for a while now.  It came on a vintage metal strap with a clasp, not an expansion bracelet.  The crystal on the watch is plastic and a cylinder design with high walls.  I think that has protected the case from wear but this watch looks like its had very little, if any wear at all.

With the bezel removed I can take a closer look at the dial.  As far as I can tell this is the original dial.  The finish on it is perfect.

The inside of the case back has the model name inside - this is probably one of the earliest models to get the name inside the case back.  That's very much a 1950's thing.

The mainspring inside the barrel has set into a tight coil and will have to be replaced.  I find that is the situation with the majority of movements I overhaul from this era.

Everything is cleaned and inspected.  I need to replace the pallet fork, it's missing the lower pivot.  Other than that, this movement is in excellent shape.

The reassembled movement is ticking away thanks to a new pallet fork and white alloy mainspring.  Let's see what the timer thinks.  Based on the serial number, this movement dates the watch to 1950.

Nothing wrong with this movement - it's perfect and I'll leave it right like this.

This watch turned out fantastic.  Even Santa's little helper agrees that this Milton is a keeper.  It's too big for his wrist though, this may have to be a pocket watch for him.

1959 Prudence - Ladies model

I've never counted but I'd wager there are well over 1,000 ladies models - maybe even closer to 2,000 when you consider all the diamond versions. 

The problem with ladies models is they are so small that they all tend to look alike.  That's being a little too critical but, for the most part, it's not too far from the truth.  If you haven't already, I invite you to check out the catalogs posted to this blog and peruse the ladies models.  Once you get to the 1950s it becomes a little out of hand, in my opinion.

There are some notable exceptions, like the ladies models that were designed to compliment the men's model such as the Robert and the Roberta.  I have to admit that those are pretty cool.

One of the criticisms that I have with the ladies cocktail watches is they are so small that it's a challenge to actually tell the time.  I know I'm not alone in that viewpoint as ladies watches do not have a lot of collectors appeal compared to the men's line up unless they are really unique or unusual.

So if you're a lady with a keen eye for value and quality, you can usually have the pick of the litter when it comes to collecting Hamilton ladies models.

What I find interesting is out of the thousand plus ladies models, only a handful actually have a second hand.  The earliest ladies models did but by the 1930s the second hand was gone.  In fact, a second hand didn't show up again until 1948 with the introduction of the Todd, which was also in the men's line up.

Eventually in the late 1950s when Hamilton adopted Swiss-made movements, a few more ladies models with second hands appeared.  One of them is the 1959 Prudence.  It would be produced through 1965.

In 1960 the dial was changed to an all-numeral design.  I don't know if both dials were options, the catalog doesn't say.

In 1963 the bracelet changed and the numeral / marker dial returned.  The price decreased as well.   This was still a $700 watch by today's currency.

And of course, by 1965 the all numeral dial returned and the bracelet price increased .

As you can see in the advertisements, the Prudence was available in 10K gold filled with a stainless steel back.  If you see it in a stainless steel case it's likely the Constance II - they are very similar.

I bought my project watch on a whim simply because it has a second hand and those are so uncommon.  I thought it would be interesting to show.  As received it was missing a crown but I had something I could use and I attached it while the watch waited it's turn in the queue.

The stainless case back unscrews but I'm not sure my tool will go this small.  This case back is about the size of a dime.

To give you the idea of what I'm dealing with, this watch could fit inside the perimeter of a 14/0 size 982 movement.

Opening up the back, you can see the Hamilton 603 movement tucked safely inside.  The HYL on the balance cock is Hamilton's import code for Swiss-made calibers.  Seeing as how small the watch case is and how much room the spacer ring takes up, you can see this is a tiny movement.

Like the larger men's movements, the dial is held on by dial feet secured with screws on the side of the movement.

I can tell this is an ETA movement - the set bridge yoke broke... great.

Piece by piece, I strip all of the parts from the front of the movement.  Everything is the same as with the men's movements, just way smaller.  The balance jewels look huge by comparison.

Now it starts to get interesting.  The order of operations is important here.  First I'll remove the balance jewels and the balance assembly.

The train bridge comes off next.  It secures the 3rd, 4th, and escape wheels.  The 3rd and 4th wheels just lift up and away but the escape wheel must slide out the side.

Another bridge holds the center wheel in place.  I have to remove the barrel bridge too in order to get to the center wheel.  I'll have to remember this sequence when I put it all back together.

Almost there... a few more screws to go.

The last part off is the pallet fork.  Now I can put it all in the cleaner for a while.  My cleaning cycle takes about 25 minutes to complete.

As luck would have it, I actually have a set bridge for a 603 movement in a stash of ladies parts.  That was a fortunate find!   Looking at the logo on the package this would appear to be an FHF or Fabrique d'Horlogerie Fontainemelon movement and not an ETA as I suspected.

Finally, all the parts are cleaned and accounted for - some of these things are tiny and easy to lose.

Well, if you've mastered assembling a Hamilton 748 movement you may want to try your skills (and luck) with getting this movement back together.  Since you can't even see the escape wheel, getting the train bridge back in place is a lesson in patience and tenacity.  Finally, it fell into place and the train wheels spin freely without the pallet in place.  That goes on next.

Well, this watch is now ticking away with a nice motion, let's see what the timer has to say.  The two remaining screws are for the set bridge.  I'll put that on once I confirm the watch is running well.

Not too shabby.  It's running a little fast but I can tweak that.

I'm going to call this good enough.  This movement has a fixed hairspring stud so adjusting the beat error would be a roll of the dice and I think I've used up all of my good luck so far.  As Shrek would say, "That'll do donkey, that'll do".

I removed the old lume and redid the hands and dial so it will glow again.  The second hand has a red arrow tip too - that's very cool.  I put a new baby blue strap on it and it's ready for wrist time - at least for someone with a daintier wrist than mine.

1935 Fairchild Gun Camera, aka "Bomb Timer"

 When is a wrist watch not a wrist watch? 

Maybe when it's in your pocket, assuming it's not a pocket watch.  Some pocket watches get converted to wrist watches but you don't see it go the other way around.

No, the answer I'm looking for is when it's used for something that's not worn on your wrist.  The only example that comes to mind is the Fairfield Camera Machine Gun.  Taking photos and comparing them to elapsed time was an accurate way of determining if you could hit what you were aiming at.

In 1935 Hamilton provided a variety of 14/0 sized movements for use within the US Navy's training program.  These watches are sometimes mislabeled as "bomb timers" but they actually have nothing to do with dropping bombs or detonating them at a precise time.

Instead, the watch was used in conjunction with a camera to take photos and reveal the elapsed time.  Using the images along with some math, instructors could train naval gunners to hit moving targets while they were also moving - at several hundred miles an hour.

I posted about this unique timepiece in 2018 and you can read about it here.  I recently had the opportunity to work on another, and it's a little different so I wanted to share this one too.

First off, let me say that these were not intended to be worn on a strap.  You will sometimes see them with a strap, like my project, but that just means the case has been modified to accommodate a strap.

My project watch arrived dead on arrival, fully wound but not ticking.  There are quite a few different dial options for this watch and you can see my project has the same configuration as what's shown in the advertisement above.  Unlike the Seckron doctor's watch, this dial has the 12 at the stem side of the dial so it's a little tricky to tell the time when you first look at it.

The case is not fully shut, so I'm definitely walking in someone's footsteps here.  Hopefully nothing is damaged.  You need to be very careful opening a watch... one false move and you can break something important.

Did I mention this watch is not intended to be worn?  One of the reasons is the case was outfitted with a lever that would hack the watch, or stop it, and then start it again when the lever was moved.  That lever extended through the case and you can see the hole for in the picture below.  It's an open hole now and that means moisture and dirt can get inside the case and go directly to the movement.

Popping the bezel away from the case back, you can clearly see how the 14/0 sized movement fits into the case.  The large open space on the left was for the lever that would hack the balance wheel and stop it.  That piece is no longer present.

This dial is the D23 version intended for the 980A movement that you'll see in a moment.  The difference between the 980 and the 980A is the added complication to move the hour and minute hands upward in order to create two zones - one for the hour and minute and the other for the prominent second hand.  If you want to see all the other versions, check out my 2018 post.

One piece of advice I always offer is to check the inside of the case back to verify if a watch is legitimately made by Hamilton.  It should say Hamilton Watch Co.   The one exception to that advice is in the 1930s when often you will see just the case maker's information.  So for watches from this period you definitely want to consult the catalogs before buying an unknown model.  It wasn't unusual for a Hamilton movement to outlast it's case and jewelers would simply recase the movement in an aftermarket case and give the movement additional life.  Every watch collector has been fooled by this practice... the trick is to not be fooled twice.

There are two versions of the offset hour hand 14/0 movements - the earlier one is the 980A and the later version is the 980B.  They are very similar but the B version has some improvements.  I have found that the 980A often has a serial number that starts with G, just like the regular 980.  The 980B has a serial number that starts with A, go figure.

Anyway, based on this serial number, this watch dates to 1935, just as you'd expect.  It's wound tight, hopefully it's just gummed up.

The 980A and 980B have an extra layer of parts on top of the main plate so the movement and dial assembly is thicker than usual.  I suspect this case is thicker than my other version I posted in 2018.

With the dial and hands removed, you can see the business end of the movement and the additional parts needed to relocated the hour and minute hands.  This is very different than the 980B.

Without the spacer plate you get an uncluttered view of the main plate.  Starting in the center, there's a much shorter cannon pinion where the hour and minute hand traditionally attach.  The cannon pinion drives two minute wheels, one above and one below to the left.  The upper minute wheel drives another cannon pinion for the minute hand and the hour wheel for the hour hand.  The other, traditional, minute wheel, is simply used as part of the keyless works to set the time. Pull out and turn the crown and all of these wheels will rotate.

Just for comparison, check out this photo from a 980B used in the second version of the Seckron.  It's quite different.

Getting back to my project, the next step is to remove all the wheels, one at a time.  Notice the setting yoke is two parts versus the single piece used in later 14/0 movements (like above).  All of the early 980 and 982 movements have this unique setup.

Getting the special cannon pinion off is a job for my Bergeon levers.

The mainspring in the barrel is an old blue steel design and has likely set into a tight coil.  I'll replace it with a white alloy spring.

This watch arrived without a crystal and I have three potential options.  The dimensions of all three are the same,  27.3mm x 15.4mm, but that's only part of the story.  Crystals can be complicated.

The Federal crystal is actually contoured a little.   This might be appropriate for the later Seckron.

The WC crystal is flat on all four sides.

Comparing the crystal to the bezel, it looks like the bezel is flat on all four sides so the WC is the better option to go with.  The Perfit would work too.  This bezel has almost no ledge to glue the crystal to - it will have to be a precise fit.  Glass crystals have to be shaped by hand so I have a good 30 minutes ahead of me to get a new crystal in place and glued.

Here's my fresh mainspring - ready to be installed in the barrel.

Apparently I forgot to take a photo of all the parts after being cleaned and dried but they all got reassembled with fresh lubricants and the ticking movement is now sitting on the timer.  It's running a bit fast but the rest looks great.

The regulator was already set to slow and I didn't have much room for adjustment but I was able to get it within 30 seconds fast per day.  It should settle down a little bit too.  That's not too shabby for a 90 year old watch!

Everything goes back onto the main plate, including a little spring arm to keep the minute wheel down.  That was eliminated in the 980B.

The trick to putting the hands back on is to be sure to align them at 12:00.

The finished watch is now ticking away safely in it's case and protected by a new glass crystal.  The strap on this watch is permanently attached to the case so I wasn't able to do much to clean the case but it looks fine.  I don't think it should be worn too often anyway seeing as how there's a hole in the side.  It's a pretty good conversation piece though, don't you think?