If you're into Hamilton military watches, perhaps your holy grail would be the 1970 FAPD 5101.
This watch is unique in a variety of ways, and it's arguably the most sought after authentic military watch that Hamilton produced.
What makes it so special? Several things. First, it was only issued in September of 1970. It was specially designed for Air Force navigators and it was intentionally larger than other watches at the time. It also used a Hamilton caliber that was only used in this watch... no other civilian or military models used it.
It would be easy to confuse the FAPD 5101 with other military models like the GG-W-113 until you placed them side by side. The FAPD 5101 is considerably larger.
You'll see them for sale occasionally and, if you're lucky, you might be able to score one for a few hundred dollars. However, if you truly had your heart set on one, you'd probably want to develop a war chest of a couple of thousand, to make sure you could land one. They're pretty rare.
I recently had the opportunity to check one out for myself and see what all the fuss is about.
As received, the watch looks like it's seen some things. The crystal is very beat up but the parkerized case is built like a tank and looks ready for more action.
The case back screws off with the assistance of a case wrench. They all have the same info stamped on the case back.
Under the cover is an antimagnetic dust cover and a rubber o-ring.
Lifting off the dust cover reveals the heart of the watch, the 17 jewel 684 movement. This movement looks like a garden variety 688 movement or the 649 movement used in the GG-W-113. However, it has a different hacking mechanism and the balance has a micro-adjustment screw. It also has a very long power reserve - like 47 hours long.
The only thing that catches my eye is one of the case screws isn't catching the movement ring.
The movement is running fairly well but it's unknown when it was last serviced.
I was recently chatting with a friend at Hamilton in Switzerland about the second hand on military models... were they painted or were they lumed? This one is clearly just painted, but often you will see other models with lume on the second hand, either the arrow tip or the whole arm.
This is a first for me... the dial actually has a backer plate, presumably to stiffen it up.
The dial feet are heavy duty and extend through the backer plate. They hold the dial onto the main plate using two equally heavy duty screws.
I'll replace the beat up crystal with a GS Evr-Tite sized at 31.5mm. It has a silver reflector ring and will be pressed in place.
In this shot you can see the hack mechanism is activated by the tip of the stem and a spring. Pull the crown out to set the time and the hack lever will swing over and stop the balance from moving. Notice the main plate is stamped with 684.
All the parts are laid out to dry and are ready to be reassembled.
The reassembled movement is ticking away with a smooth motion. Let's see what the timer has to say.
Looks about the same as what I started with. The amplitude is a little low but I haven't wound it all the way yet. I'll see if I can reduce the beat error to zero and fine tune the timing.
Well, that's pretty good.
The movement is bright and shiny and goes back into the case. This time both case retainers are in place to secure the movement to the movement ring. I'll put some silicone on the o-ring, reinstall the dust cover, and close up the watch.
A new crystal makes this watch look brand new. The most challenging thing with black dialed watches is to make sure there's no dust inside the crystal. Even dust on the outside of the crystal is obvious on the black background. The case as integral bars for the lugs so a NATO strap is the obvious choice to pair with the watch.
And for comparison's sake, here's the FAPD 5101 in between the 1980s Mil-W-46374D (left) and a modern Hamilton Khaki Mechanical (right). The FAPD case is 36mm side to side and noticeably larger than a classic military watch but it's smaller than the modern Khaki.
I think for the money, the modern Khaki Mechanical offers the most bang for the buck. It's a nice size (by modern standards) and is 100% maintainable. The Mil-W-46374D or GG-W-113 are the only military watches that I would recommend. The 46374B is pretty much a disposable design, in my opinion. The FAPD 5101 is in a class by itself. Certainly on par with best of them and it's unique size and features would make it the crown jewel of any Hamilton military collection.
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