1968 Sea Scape III

 Hamilton offered all sorts of dial options over the years.  It's probably an interesting rabbit hole to go down and to explore the myriad dial patterns that were available in both the pocket watch and the wrist watch lines. 

You could even special order custom dial with your name, etc. as the markers - sort of like you can get vanity license plates today.  However, the figures would have been solid gold and riveted onto sterling silver dials.

One of the commercially available dial genres that you'll see fairly often, especially in the 1950s and 60's were masonic dial patterns.  The various figures represent various moral, ethical and spiritual principles that are important to the fraternity.

Typically a masonic dial was an option for certain models but in 1968 the Sea Scape III was introduced and it was cataloged to offer only a masonic dial.  This little asterisk in the catalog refers to waterproofness.

The Sea Scape III only shows up in the 1968 catalog so it was a short lived model.  Priced at $69.50 with the bracelet or $59.50 on a strap, it was an entry level model.  However, that's still well over $550 in today's currency - so it wasn't a "cheap watch".

My project watch arrived looking like it has seen better days. In fact, it appears to have been through the ringer... there is no crown, no crystal, no second or minute hands, and it's not working.

The dial and movement seem to fit okay in the case but there's no movement ring present - I don't know if that's because there wasn't one originally or if it's been lost along with the other parts.  The inside of the case back is unremarkable.  I think there is one prior watchmaker service mark inside.  The 923584 number is the model number, at least for the case, and the other number is a unique serial number for this watch.

Behind the dial is a Hamilton 688 movement.  I can't tell if it's corroded or just super dusty.  Either way it's going to get a trip to the spa.

While all the parts are getting cleaned, I'll prep a new crown and male stem hub.  The male side will snap into the female side that is retained in the movement.

This is a best guess at the length that is needed.  

I happened to have a set of hands for the 688 and I relumed them with modern lume will all the parts finish cleaning.

I found the escape wheel had a broken pivot but a donor movement saved the day.  Now I can reassemble the movement and see how well it runs.

With all the parts back together and lubricated, the watch is now ticking away.  Time to see what the timer thinks of the ticking.

Who-wee!  This is a brisk pace of 6 minutes fast per day.  Looking at the position of the regulator (above), I can see there's plenty of room to adjust it and slow the beat rate down.

Getting warmer....

There... I'll leave it running just a smidgeon fast for now.   Freshly serviced watches tend to settle down after a while.

The new hands, crystal and crown return this almost 60 year old watch to wrist-worthy condition.  I don't know how many Sea Scape III's there still are out there in the wild but I'm happy to put this one back into service.