1960 Thin-o-matic T-403

When it comes to styling, it's a tough call which period is more dramatic, the 1930/40's or the 1950/60's.  

The former benefited from the art deco era and in addition to interesting case designs, models often featured different dial patterns to choose from.  The cases had a lot of style, with flairs, moveable lugs, stepped features, and long curves to fit the wrist.

20 years later, watches took on a futuristic look as if they were designed for the space age... with curved fins, flying saucer shapes, and the bracelets that were paired with the watch could echo the design aesthetic.

From a style standpoint, the most popular designs are the asymmetric models.  These are most often attributed to the late 1950s or early 1960s, but the earliest asymmetric model was actually introduced in 1928 as the Hamilton Spur.  A few years later, the Brooke was introduced.  So you might say the designers of 1950's models were really just getting back to their Hamilton roots.

Of course, a lot of things changed in the 1950s, including the introduction of the world's first electric watch.  Watches like the Pacer and the Ventura led the asymmetric revolution.  Hamilton introduced a few automatic models too.

In 1960 the first automatic asymmetric models hit the market.  One of them was the Thin-o-matic T-403.  This model was produced from 1960 through 1963.  Initially, the T-403 was cased in 10K yellow gold fill.  The dial had two colors, white and gold, with radiating black lines and the hour markers were embossed gold color.  The slender hands were black, although the catalog doesn't seem to show that detail.  However, catalog does accurately depict the lollipop hour hand.

In 1962 a white gold filled version of the T-403 joined the yellow gold filled version.  In addition to a white (silver-colored) case, the two tone dial featured a gray and white dial.  The dial still featured yellow gold embossed markers though, and the lollipop hands where changed to yellow gold.  So it's one of the few white gold models with yellow gold hand and markers.

Regardless of color, the model doesn't appear to have been paired with a bracelet, just a nice lizard strap.

Tucked inside the case is a pink micro-rotor movement, the 17 jewel 663 movement.

My project watch came paired with a vintage Kreisler bracelet.  I don't know if it's original to the watch but I bet I could peruse the catalogs and spot a few models that used it.

The dial has some bubbles on it and I assume it's from moisture getting inside.  When I turn the crown to wind the watch it's feels a little "crunchy" and I'm hoping I don't find a rusty mess inside.

The crystal lifted off way to easily, I think it's just large enough to stay put but it's not large enough to create a good seal.  You can see some moisture damage to the left side of the dial.  It's not repairable other than getting the dial refinished and I've never had luck getting an embossed dial refinished perfectly,  So this dial will have to do.  It's not that bad, really, but it's not perfect.

I can see a bunch of watchmaker's marks inside the case back so this watch has had a lot of care.  I actually recognize one of them!  That's a first for me (it's not my mark).

The 663 movement is in nice shape - thank goodness!  I've done several of these movements recently.  They take a bit of time.

The crunchiness of the winding could be any number of things.  The first hear involved is the clutch.  This part engages the stem and when the stem is turned the clutch either engages the winding pinion or the setting wheel, depending on if the stem is pulled out or pushed in.  The winding pinion is what transfers the winding motion of the stem to the back of the movement and the mainspring.  So the crunchiness could be between the clutch and the winding pinion.  However, there are several other wheels on the back of the movement that ultimately engage the mainspring.  Any of these gears could be the issue.  I have found that these movements, in general, are a little more crunchy than other non-micro rotor movements can be.

The inside of the case back shows the tell tale signs that there's a micro rotor movement inside.  The small oscillating weight can slide of it's arbor and rub the inside of the case.

Look how many parts have to be removed in order to get to the mainspring barrel.  You pretty much have to tear the movement down in order to address a mainspring issue.  The important thing to remember now is to put the barrel back in after the center wheel.  I've learned this the hard way in the past.  Normally the barrel goes in after the train wheels.  

Everything is cleaned and ready to be reassembled.  It's a lot more sparkly now.

The movement is almost fully reassembled but it's far enough along to test the time keeping.

That's not too bad at all!  I'll leave it as it is.

Everything goes back into the case and I installed a fresh crystal was was one size up from the last crystal - it's now providing a much tighter seal.  I also ended up changing the winding pinion and the winding is a lot smoother now.  It still has the typically rattle of a micro rotor when you wind it manually but it's much better than it was.