Probably one of the most obscure Hamilton military watches is the Submarine Periscope Camera Watch, part number 39360-2-01. I couldn't find much about it online, but there are quite a few forum posts about it. The photos below are from a NAWCC discussion.
The Hamilton 735 is the 18 jewel, 8/0 sized sweep second caliber than Hamilton introduced in 1955 to replace the previously used 748 movement. The main difference is the introduction of shock jewels to protect the balance.
So what is the name 735A? I don't know. However, I recently was contacted by someone who was having a problem with theirs and it was the perfect opportunity to find out.
As you can see in the photos above, the periscope camera watch was presented in a hardened aluminum case with a waterproof crown, similar to the USN BUSHIPS Canteen. The dial is pretty similar too but it's not luminous and not powered by a 987S movement.
My project watch movement came presented in a aftermarket case that looks like a military case but it's not. It was dropped, hard, and the second hand came off. It's not running and when I try to set the time the hands don't move as expected. So something definitely is going on.
As I said, the case is an generic aftermarket case. A case wrench is needed to open it up.
Inside the case is the 735A movement surrounded by a generic movement ring. Once I loosen the set lever screw and pull the stem, the assembly will come out the back opening.
The dial is very worn. I wouldn't be surprised if it was refinished but the finish on the paint is very chalkboard-like. The white flecks appear to be missing paint chips.
I do not see the seconds hand pivot sticking out of the center of the movement. I also don't see any dial feet screws.
The lack of dial foot screws tells me the dial is held on by dial dots, or little double-sided stickers. Looking at the back of the dial, there are no dial feet. I can't even tell where there might have been dial feet before. The back of the dial is all scratched up.
Sure enough, you can see the remnants of the dial stickers.
The shaft of the center wheel is broken off inside the cannon pinion. You can see it's still sticking out. That's why I couldn't set the time, the cannon pinion and the hour wheel were just floating under the dial.
I can see the second hand pivot of the 4th wheel sticking out of the movement. So I couldn't see it before simply because the cannon pinion was blocking it.
I'll have to replace the center wheel and hopefully the movement will be good to go again.
I used a small broach to push the remnants of the broken center wheel out of the cannon pinion.
Everything has been cleaned and I replaced the crystal with a fresh one. Now it's ready to be reassembled.
It doesn't look like it but the movement is ticking away with a nice motion. I could not find anything different about this movement from the standard 735 movement. I wonder what justified making it a 735A?
It's running nicely, just a little slow. A tweak or two to the regulator will bring it right in line.
A tweak here, a tweak there, and it's running just a little fast - that's fine for now. It will probably settle down after a while.
I'm going to need some fresh dial dots to mount the dial again. You can see why they're called dots. The little tan discs are actually covers for the sticky part. You lift them off, stick them to the main plate and then pull the cover off to reveal the other sticky side.
Four ought to do the trick. Now I just need to center the dial in the right orientation.
With a fresh crystal this watch now looks a lot better. The dial is what it is, there's not much to do about it other than find a better example or custom refinish a dial from a Secometer B. That model used a 748 so the dial feet would match perfectly.
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