I remember back in the 1980s, in the stone ages before the internet, shopping online meant shopping via catalogs. You would peruse a booklet of items and then had call to place an order, or mail an order form. How barbaric!
LL Bean was, and still is, one of the prominent sellers that marketed it's products in that channel. The only thing that's different today is you can order or view products online as well. However, the mailman still brings catalogs to help customers select comfy and cozy items for you and your loved ones.
I also remember seeing LL Bean's field watches listed in the catalogs, but to be honest, they were too rich for likes of a poor college student like me. I had no idea what the Hamilton Watch Co was at the time but it was important enough that it was listed in the LL Bean advertisements of the time.
The topic of LL Bean field watches brings up another interesting topic that I don't talk much about - quartz movements.
A watch, or clock, has to have several attributes in order to work. First, it needs a power source... typically a spring but in situations like grandfather clocks, it could be the potential energy of a hanging weight on a chain. Next, it needs a mechanism, or series of gears to transfer the power. Third, it needs a way to display the passage of time in a meaningful manner. Finally, it needs a way to accurately and consistently meter the flow of power. Even a sand filled hour glass has these four elements... the power source is the effect of gravity on the elevated sand. The shape of the glass dispenses the sand to the empty lower chamber. The lower chamber could have lines to display how much sand has passed through. Lastly, the size of the opening between the chambers, relative to the size of the sand, meters the rate the sand passes through... voila - a clock.
Mechanical watches use a spring as the power source. The various wheels (gears) transmit the power. The dial and hands show elapsed time. Lastly, the escapement and balance meters the flow of power. As the watch unwinds the force of the spring can change but the design of the balance accommodates the change in power.
A battery is the source of power in a quartz watch. The battery provides an electric current to a tuning-fork-shaped quartz crystal that causes it to vibrate at a very high frequency. The vibrations are converted into a single electrical pulse every second, and a series of gears moves the watch hands. You can spot a quartz watch by how the second hand moves... it clicks second to second. It's very different from a mechanical movement where the second hands indexes several small increments from second to second.
When it comes to accuracy and precision, nothing beats a quartz watch. The quartz crystal vibrates over 30,000 times per second, while the typical mechanical watch ticks between 5 and 10 times per second.
So why aren't quartz watches more popular?
I think the biggest reason is quartz watches weren't a thing until the 1970s and most Hamilton collectors prefer older watches prior to 1969.
Another reason is quartz movements can be very inexpensive and are often meant to be disposable. The level of craftsmanship required is unimpressive. The complexity and precision of a mechanical watch receives more respect.
Other factors could include the second hand indexing once a second is visually less appealing than the smooth micro-movements of a mechanical watch. Similarly, with a quartz watch you don't hear the pleasing tick, tick, tick of a mechanical watch. Instead all you hear, if anything, is a click once per second.
Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not all collectors turn up their noses at quartz watches.
I've restored lots of LL Bean field watches, especially the military looking versions. I recently was asked if I could do another and when it arrived I realized it was a quartz version. This is the watch offered in the catalog snip above (third from the left). It has a mineral glass crystal that looks frosted over. It's not working though, maybe it just needs a battery?
The case is marked 9931 and unscrews with a typical case opener.
To be completely honest, I don't work on quartz movements. Sometimes they are serviceable but it's not a genre of watchmaking that interests me. Looking closely at the circuitry, I see a lot of corrosion.
I contacted the owner and told them, "I'm sorry, I don't work on quartz movements" and that I'd send him back the watch.
One of my personality traits is "I ain't no quitter" and I felt bad that I couldn't do something. So I investigated just replacing the movement. The caliber is stamped next to the battery, it's an ESA 955.114.
Turns out, I was able to find a new old stock movement online. So I rolled the dice the decided to see if I could resurrect this watch after all.
The first step is to remove the crown and stem. The movement has a little arrow that points to the set lever release. My tweezers are pointing to it and I'll depress the button and pull the crown out.
With the movement and dial removed from the case, the next step is pull the dial. There are two J-shaped clamps that secure the dial feet. I just rotate the two opposing clamps and lift the dial off.
In this shot you can see the two clamps rotated out. Notice all the corrosion under where the battery was. I doubt this movement is serviceable but the cost of servicing it is higher than the cost of replacing it - assuming you can find another movement.
This is not the first quartz movement I've replaced. I don't do it often but I have learned a thing or two. For example, the came caliber could have a different day wheel. It could have or not have a second hand. So you have to be careful selecting a replacement movement to make sure everything matches.
A new battery is definitely called for. The SR920 in the old movement is replaceable with a 371/370 battery.
Now I can install the dial and advance the time until the date changes - now it's midnight and I can install the hands.
The new battery is installed so hopefully I'll see the second hand move.
Success - the watch is ticking once per second. Now I can put it back in the case.
Everything is back in the case and the previous stem and crown in installed.
I replaced the mineral crystal with a new acrylic crystal and the completed watch looks like it's brand new. A purist might prefer a glass crystal but this isn't a museum piece and another crystal could always be installed later. Now it's at least functional and I was able to bring it back to life.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment