1935 Nelson

Every Hamilton collector probably has a decade that they tend to gravitate towards.  It may take some reflection to get to, but it's there somewhere.

For example, the 1960s offers literally hundreds of watches to choose from... automatics, electrics, date models, and funky designs worthy of "Mad Men" appearances.  

Then you have the 1950s, with space-themed models and futuristic designs that exemplify Hamilton's prominence  watch industry innovation.

For me, I think the 1930s is my sweet spot.  It offers larger models that utilized the 6/0 movements, as well as the 14/0 movements introduced in 1935.  If there was a golden age of Hamilton manufacturing, you could make a compelling argument that it was the 1930s.  The 1940s would be a close second.

Advancements in the 1930s came fast a furious.  The 987 movement introduced in 1927 quickly became the 19 jewel 979.  Then the 987 and 979 became the 987F and 979F, with the F indicating the jewel settings were friction fit, as opposed to being held in place with screws.  Then in 1934 the Elinvar hairspring was introduced and the 987F and 979F were replaced by the 987E, E being for Elinvar.  In 1937 the 987A was introduced.  It shares the same gear train as the earlier 987 movements but for all intents and purposes it was an entirely new design.

In 1935, the new 14/0 movements were introduced.  The narrower caliber allowed model designs to become longer and curved to fit the wrist.  The 17 jewel 980 movement was used in gold filled models and the 19 jewel 982 was used in sold gold models.  1935 ushered in an entirely new direction for Hamilton models and they never looked back.  

One of the new models introduced in 1935 was the Nelson.  Cased in 14K gold filled, it was available with three different dials... an all numeral or all marker dial, with solid gold figures, or an inlaid enamel dial with black figures.

Priced at $52.50, the Nelson was not a cheap watch.  That's about $1,200 when adjusted for inflation.  You could save $2.50 by going the inlaid enamel dial route, that's about to $60 in today's value.

I like the design of the Nelson.  The stepped case has a lot of Art Deco inspiration.  It's not a large watch, especially by today's standards, but it was definitely a departure from the 6/0 models made previously.

The Nelson was made for only two years but some of it's features would be echoed in generations of watch models to come later.

My project watch presents with decades of grime and "old man funk" around the crystal and trapped in the basket-weave bracelet.  The bracelet is not orginal but it's definitely very old and I think it matches the Nelson design really well.

The Nelson shares the dial pattern with the solid gold Sherwood of the time.  I happen to have the inlaid enamel dial and now would be a good time to make a dial swap, if I wanted too.  The hands on the Nelson are solid diamond pattern, which is a nice detail that adds to the design, in my opinion.

The movement is a 17 jewel 980 caliber, just as you'd expect.  The serial number dates to 1936, making this an example from the second year of it's production run.

The 14/0 movements were made through 1952 but that's not to say that they remained unchanged throughout that time.  For example, the first couple of years of 14/0 production, the set bridge was a two-piece design.  Eventually these parts were combined into a single set bridge. 

The mainspring inside the barrel is an older blue steel design.  I find this to be situation in 90% of the 14/0 models I work on.  I'm sure it's "set" into a tight coil and lost most of it's potential energy.

Yup... I've seen this a time or two.  I'll replace it with a white alloy Dynavar spring.

Everything goes through the cleaning and rinse process - taking almost 30 minutes before all is said and done.  Once it's dried, I can reassemble all of the parts with fresh lubricants in all the proper places.

Getting the train bridge to fall in place can be a challenge but it's easier if you do it without the pallet fork in place.  Once the train bridge and barrel bridge are in place, the wheels should spin freely.  At that point, I can now install the pallet fork and it's bridge.

The reassembled movement is ticking away.  The motion is there but it doesn't look quite right to my eye.  Let's see what the timer says...

Well... maybe it's running a little fast but the timer is a little confused and can't land on specifics.  I'll reclean the hairspring and make sure there isn't any dust or debris in the escapement.  It doesn't take much to through off the timing of a balance.

Cleaning the hairspring did the trick... now it's running with a good amplitude.  The beat error is about as high as I allow.  Arguably, I could attempt to reduce it but I have two reasons not too.  First, it's a tricky operation and I risk damaging a 90 year old hairspring.  Second, it's hot as hades in my workshop right now.  Even with. my portable AC going full blast, I still have beads of sweat falling off my forehead.  Focusing on the precision of the hairspring will only make it worse.  I can at least slow the beat rate down a little - that's easy enough.

My finished watch looks very good.  It will look better once I get a new crystal for it.  The dial has a little patina around the edges but not too bad, considering it's age.  I didn't see any evidence that this dial was refinished but even if it was, this type of dial can be refinished perfectly most of the time.

Here's a photo of the Nelson with the black numeral dial.  I think the font used for the design is really cool.  Which pattern do you prefer?

1968 Dateline S-577

Wow!  It's been 10 years since I posted on today's model.  I bet I have had this watch in my to-do stash for at least half that time.

It's a 1968 Dateline S-577.  It's one of six different Dateline models that are manual winding with a date complication.  The Dateline S-577 was made for only two years.  

The Dateline S-577 came in a stainless steel case with an all-marker dial.  To me the most noteworthy attribute of the design is the hour hand is significantly fatter than the minute hand.  So much so that it always reminds me of a Fiddler Crab.

My project watch has stayed in the to-do bin because it's in rough shape and not running.  The crystal is a bit beat and the dial has what appears to be a layer of dust on it.

The case back has an abundance of scratches from someone trying to pry open the case.  I'm sure they got pretty frustrated, because this is a one-piece case design that opens through the crystal.

Once the crystal is off, the reflector ring can lifted off to reveal the dial and movement secured in the case.

The two-pice stem is separated by using a special tool to pull the crown away from the case.  Now the movement can be lifted up and away.

Well, I can see why the movement isn't running... it's missing the jewels in the balance cock.  It's also missing one of the dial foot screws.  A donor ETA movement will provide the needed parts - hopefully the balance is still in good order.

One of the challenges with Dateline models is the date index spring.  It likes to disappear and I lost it twice while working on the watch.  The first time it vanished, I found it hiding on my work mat.  It's about 11x17 and super-soft silicone-like.  If a part bounces it doesn't often go far, but it always takes time to search for it.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  All parts are present and accounted for.

Pretty much all sweep second ETA movements made today have the same layout as these 1960's calibers.  If you can work on these, you can work on any of them.  At this point I've got everything back together and all that's needed is the balance and the replacement jewels.

And just like that... it's back to running with a nice motion.  Only the timer will say for sure how well it's running.

Not too bad.  The amplitude is low because I haven't fully wound it yet.  The beat error is high but I can easily tweak that in line.

A lower beat error has the benefit of bringing the amplitude up a little.  It doesn't take much of an adjustment.

A new crystal is definitely an improvement.  The "dust" on the dial is actually inclusions on the finish and cannot be removed.  It doesn't look like a new watch but it is almost 60, after all.  With a nice strap, this will be a nice looking dress watch.

1956 Hamilton Essex

I find it interesting that Hamilton "tested the waters" with Swiss-made calibers using the Illinois brand in the early 1950s.  Hamilton purchased the Illinois Watch Company in 1928 and the Great Depression necessitated closing the factory.  Most of the Illinois machinery found it's way to Lancaster and Hamilton made a few models using an Illinois designed movement.

However, for 20 odd years the Illinois brand was an asset owned by Hamilton Watch Company but providing no return.  So it was an innovative idea to reintroduce the Illinois brand, which people would still recall, and they used Swiss-made ebauches (partially completed movements) as the basis for a new model line.  This would be like if GM reintroduced the Oldsmobile brand to market inexpensive cars finally assembled in the US but based on almost-complete imported automobiles. 

Fast forward a few short years and executives decided to drop the Illinois brand entirely by evolving into Hamilton Illinois and, ultimately, Hamilton branded models.  Why pay for the maintenance of two brands when only one is needed?

A great example of this transformation was the Hamilton Essex.  Introduced in 1956, it was the second model to bear that name... the earlier version being in 1940.  The two models are similar in name only though.

The 1956 Essex came in a 10K yellow RGP case with a stainless steel back.  The dial was embossed with diamond-shaped markers in the odd positions and numerals in the even hour spots.

It might look familiar because in 1953 the same design was presented as the Model E.  I wonder if that was the genesis of the name Essex?

In 1954 the Model E was renamed the Debonair E and the brand Hamilton Illinois added to the dial.  It continued in 1955.

In 1957 the dial was changed to a very interesting textured dial, sort of resembling a flower (as you'll see below) with numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9 and keystones at the other positions.  So based on the dial you find, you can determine if your example is a 1956 or 1957 version.

My project was is a flower that is long passed bloom.  It's pretty grungy looking and I'm hoping I can clean it up a bit.

The stainless steel back is a unique design that snaps into the bezel with a lot better force than the Deauville the just posted about.

With the front lifted away you can see the dial more clearly in the case.  It's a bit grungy but you may be able to see the textured pattern radiating out from the front to a curved ring at the hour positions.

Behind the dial is a Hamilton 671 movement.  This is an manual-wind version of the 672 automatic movements and the ETA 1256 caliber in the other Hamilton and Illinois models.

Everything is cleaned, including the dial.  I broke my cardinal rule of not cleaning a dial I'd be unwilling to get refinished.  This textured dial will more than likely get refinished with less than acceptable results.  Embossed textured dials often come back soft and ruined, in my opinion.  However, I decided to take a chance with a Q-tip and a little cleaning solution.

The reassembled movement is ticking away with a nice motion.  Time to see what the timer thinks.

Not too shabby, running a smidgeon fast but I can adjust that.  The beat error is within my specs and it's not easy to adjust on this model so I'll leave that as is.

A tweak here, a tweak there, here again... eventually I get it dialed in to just a little fast per day.

The reassembled watch looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I wasn't able to get all the spots off and I almost lost the H in Hamilton so I decided to quit while I was ahead.  You can see the interesting design of the dial now much better.  With the funky lug design, this is a really nice looking 1950s watch.