1938 Linwood

Thin was in, in the 1930s as was long and lean - and that required a watch case that would curve to accommodate a curved wrist.

As a result, in the late 1930s Hamilton introduced several "curved to fit the wrist" models.  One of the most dramatic was the Linwood.  Introduced in 1938, the Linwood was produced for four years.

There are a lot of interesting trivia points about the Linwood.  One is that it has a spherical dial - which means that it curves in every direction, top to bottom, side to side, corner to corner.  As a result, it's actually thicker in the center than it is at the sides.

In addition, the Linwood is cased in 14K gold filled and spans the years before and after 1940.  That is when the 982M movement was introduced.  So in 1938 and 1939, the Linwood was powered by the 17 jewel 980 movement.  In 1940 and 1941 the Linwood received the 19 jewel 982 movement - as the 982M was devoted to the solid gold models.

Another interesting factoid is the Linwood is the only model to feature a solid gold star marker on the dial.

My project watch arrived after being stashed away and lost for almost four decades.  The owner sent it to me for repair after they located it.  It was his grandfather's and for many years it was presumed to be lost.

As received, it is missing it's crown and the stem appears to be snapped off.  The crystal is a little scratched but not too terrible.  The dial is an old refinish and it's close but not a perfect match to the original pattern.  The gold star is also missing, and has been replaced by the a gold dot instead.

The movement inside is a 980 caliber but the serial number dates to the early 1940s - so I suspect it's a replacement.  Perhaps the original movement suffered a fatality.  There's no crown to wind it but I was able to wind it using the arbor screw and it's not running.  Hopefully it just needs a good cleaning.

The hands are a mismatched pair of different styles... the minute hand is an alpha or pointex style and the hour hand is moderne.  I could replace them but the hands are part of the heirloom and only a purist would really care that they aren't original.

I removed the broken part of the stem.  Looking inside the barrel, the old blue mainspring will likely need to be replaced.

Sure enough, the mainspring is set into a tight coil and has lost most of it's potential energy.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  Time to reassemble it but with a new stem and replacement crown.

Success... it's running with a nice motion.

A slight adjustment will slow it down but the new white alloy mainspring is powering the watch with a great amplitude.  Unfortunately, when I move the movement around to different positions, it stops.  It stops only in one position - and it's an unusual angle, like if you had your hand on the steering wheel at 10:00.  After looking very closely at all the parts, I couldn't find anything amiss.  I ended up replacing the balance with a donor from another movement and it runs fine in all positions now.  It happens.

I replaced the crystal with a blemish-free new glass crystal and the finished project looks and runs fantastic.  In this photo you can see the dot marker at the 6 position.  Originally this would have been a gold star, but at least it has a marker - often there is just an empty hole.