1932 Flintridge

It's been a while since I've worked on something unique and my latest project definitely qualifies.

It's a very interesting model called the Flintridge and it's a model that today's modern Hamilton reintroduced just a few years ago.  Originally introduced in 1932, it was produced for three years.

The major featyre that makes the model distinctive is a solid gold cover that is spring loaded to lift up to reveal the time when you activate the lever at the upper right lug.

The Flintridge is also a very unique model because it was available with either the 19 jewel 979 or the 17 jewel 987.  When you consider it was sold at the height of the Great Depression, the Flintridge was an extravagant purchase - $150 in today's currency is over $3,700 when adjusted for inflation!  Just the upgrade from the 987 to the 979 was a $600 option in today's dollars. 

Cooler heads prevailed in 1934 as the cost of the 979 version decreased $10 but it was still a LOT of money.  With today's price of gold, the Flintridge is still a very valuable watch - if you can even find one out in the wild.

The catalog shows that the cover for the watch was intended to be monogramed.  Most of the time they are engraved but there are plain examples out there.

From a production standpoint, more yellow Flintridges were prodcued than white, with about 365 yellow versions manufactured with the 987 movement and about 305 produced in white gold.  You can add another 191 yellow versions with the 979 movement and 142 white versions with the 979 movement.  If you do the math, somewhere in the 500 range Flintridges were produced in yellow gold and 450-ish in white gold - so either way, it's a pretty uncommon model, especially when you consider how many probably got scrapped over the past 90 years.

My project watch came via a collector who found it on ebay and decided to take the risk and purchase it.  If you're in the market for a Flintridge you probably need to be willing to buy and fix it versus waiting for the perfect one to come around.  According to the listing, the watch was running.

The upper right lug is actually a lever that releases the cover.  I think the "spring has sprung" as it kind of works but it's a little wonky and doesn't stay closed.  This is probably something a talented gold smith could address.

Looking at the dial and hands, it looks as it should with the exception of the gold second hand.  The original would have been black to match the hour and minute hands.

The case is a two-piece design, sort of, as the back snaps into the front.  The pop up cover is the "sort of" part.  It's definitely more complex than a standard two-piece case.  Regardless, the back holds the movement and when you pry it away from the front you get access to the dial.

The Flintridge was marketed as a "sportsman's" watch but it's not shock protected.  It is solidly cased though, so it's got as much protection as the early 1930s allowed.

The watch is fully wound and not running.  A quick examination of the wobbly balance reveals that that the balance staff is broken.  Looking at the corrosion on the jewel settings, it's clear that it's been many years since this watch had a trip to the spa.  

The movement is missing one of the three dial feet screws.  I'll rectify that once the movement has been cleaned.

The dial-side of the main plate is unremarkable other than it shows the movement serial number.  By the end of the 1930s this was no longer the norm.  Well, actually the other side would have the serial number, but in this movement all of the bridges have the same number - that tradition would end in a few years.

Hamilton did not make a distinction with calibers other than to call them 987 or 979.  By 1932 the 987 version being produced was the 987F and the 979 version was the 979F.  If a model was produced after 1935 it would have gotten whatever caliber was being produced at that time - so a 987E  or even a 987A.

If you look at the bottom of the balance cock, you'll see it has the last few digits of the movement serial number.  Even the pallet fork bridge will be stamped accordingly.

Looking closely at the balance wheel, the gap between the arm and outer wheel is bent (where my tweezers are pointing).  This means the wheel is no longer round and probably is why the balance staff is broken. If I had to guess, the movement was dropped and it landed on the balance wheel specifically.

Looking at the balance staff from the side, you can see that both pivots are missing.  I could replace the balance staff but since the wheel is damaged, even if I successfully replaced the staff, the balance would not run correctly.  So I'm going to have to replace the balance assembly in its entirety.

The mainspring in the barrel is an old blue steel design.  I guarantee that it's set into a tight coil and lost most of it's original energy.

Yup, no surprise here.  You could say I've seen this before.

The case has posts to accommodate the strap.  These male lugs required female spring bars and they can be very tricky to find.

Fortunately the ones that came with the watch are fine and can be reused.

Everything gets thoroughly cleaned and inspected to make sure nothing is cracked and the broken pivots are not still lurking inside the balance jewels.  I have a few candidates for the balance replacement - we'll see what I can come up with.

All of the 987 and 979 movements use the same balance... sort of.  There are some important differences.

First, hairsprings changed over the 20 years that the 6/0 movements were produced.  When the Elinvar hairspring was introduced in 1934, the 987F became the 987E and used the new hairspring, as did the 987A.  When the Elivar Extra hairspring came out, the 987A got that too so the 987A could use either spring.

A 987 or 987F could use a balance from a 987E with no issues.  You could even consider it an "upgrade".  You could also drop an balance from a 987 into a 987E but by doing so, the movement would technically become the 987F (only the balance defines the difference between a 987F and 987E).

If it wasn't confusing already, the shape of the hairspring stud on the 987 and 979 movement is a triangle.  However, in the 987A the triangle points inward while all the other movements the point of the triangle points outward.  So the 987A (and 987S and 2987) cannot use an earlier balance without changing the hairspring stud.

In the photo below is a perfectly good 987A balance without a hairspring (it was bent all wonky and unusable).  On the right is the original balance that has been bent out of shape.  Theoretically I could put the hairspring from the original balance on the 987A balance.  There's an important caveat though... the length of the hairspring is actually tuned to the mass of the balance.  So if the balance wheels have significantly different masses, the timing for the balance will be way off.  But, what do I have to lose?

Without a hairspring, once it's installed, the balance spins freely - that's a great sign.

I'll prep a new Dynavar mainspring to install in the barrel and power the watch.

Welp, the new balance assembly is ticking away but who knows what the timing is?  The timer sure doesn't.  Oh well, it was worth a shot.

Option two was a balance from a donor 987 but the hairspring is a little out of shape.  The timer can tell a little but not enough for me to fine tune.

I switched the hairspring from the original broken balance to the replacement 987 balance and now it's picking up the timing.  The beat error is way too high though, so I need to try to adjust it.

After quite a few attempts I finally got the balance to run cleanly and with a relatively decent beat error.  The two lines should ideally be straight and not wobbly.  That could be the result of other wheels in the movement though and I'm already four hours into what should be a one hour project.  It's time to say "good enough".  After 90 years sometimes replacing the movement is the best option but this movement is now running and it runs in all positions - that's a success in my book.

The case is cleaned and I'll leave any polishing for a future goldsmith to address.  I don't know who DGW is but I hope they'd like to know their watch is running again (or is it DWG?).

I also replaced the second hand so the watch now looks like it would have in 1932... other than the aftermarket Speidel bracelet, of course.