I think my favorite genre of Hamilton watches would have to be the WWII military models. I must be an old soul, I guess. I think the 1930s and 1940s would also be my favorite time period. I like the movies from the time as well. Maybe it's because I like to imagine my grandparents when they were young and just starting out their adult lives, finding each other and starting their families, which would eventually result in my being born twenty some-odd years later.
I think I also really appreciate the idea of our nation coming together, putting aside our individual preferences and rallying behind the common cause of fighting fascism. We are a nation of immigrants but we were all Americans and acted like it.
Of course, there was a lot of crappy things back then too - and we didn't treat all Americans equally. I wouldn't argue that it was the best of times... perhaps it was just a simpler time and we still had a lot of growing up to do as a nation. Still do, apparently.
Hamilton was not immune from the need to rally behind a common cause. Normal watch production was rededicated to military efforts and hundreds of thousands of time pieces were manufactured for our nations military and our allies. Hamilton even produced watches for Russian forces!
Some civilian watches still slipped through though, often using movements from excess inventory left over from the 1930s.
Back in 2013 I did a detailed post about understanding the various military models. Check that out if you haven't already seen it.
The first military watch Hamilton produced was the model 27013, aka, the "Tea Cup".
There were no catalogs, per se, that detailed the Hamilton lineup but there are military publications that Hamilton produced to detail the parts required and how to service the movements while in the field.
The 27013 is called the tea cup because the case back snapped into the bezel and was shaped like a bowl, or tea cup.
The 27013 used the 17 jewel 987A movement that was introduced in 1937. Other military models also used the 987A, and others used the sweep second version, the 17 jewel 987S. US Navy and Marine Corps models used a special 18 jewel version, called the 2987. I like the 2987 models the best, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
The Ord Dept examples are the most abundant - as I said, well over 100,000 examples were produced. Tea Cups are a little less common but still out there in the wild.
I was recently sent a Tea Cup in serious need of some TLC. The owner purchased it, where else, on eBay and the seller had a very detailed description but even so, left out certain issues they no doubt were aware of, but at least the did say it needed restoration.
The crystal is a deep shade of amber and that's something a collector should be on the look out for. Back in the day certain plastic crystals degraded over time, turning yellow and also outgassing a chemical that would corrode the metal it was exposed to.
The watch has the pop-off back and is properly engraved with the requisite markings for the Ord Dept specifications.
With the movement removed from behind the crystal, you can see the hour and minute hands are rusted solid. Fortunately, it appears the second hand was spared any corrosion. The dial and hands have what I would assume to be old radium lume. It's best to leave this material alone but as long as you don't eat it, there really isn't much to be worried about.
I suspect the eBay seller knew that this movement is missing the pallet fork and pallet bridge. They probably also knew the balance staff is broken. So basically this watch requires extensive repair or just a replacement movement.
I happen to have a 987A that I was saving for another project but I'll dedicate it to this project instead, it's a worthy cause.
Everything gets completely disassembled and cleaned. I'll install a fresh Dynavar mainspring to power the watch.
The reassembled movement is bright and shiny and ticking away with a nice motion so it's off to the timer to listen to the ticking.
Not too shabby... it's running a little fast but that's an easy tweak to slow it down. Everything else looks great.
A new old stock vintage canvas strap completes the final assembly. I was also saving this for a rainy day but I guess that day is today.
I was able to remove most of the offending rust on the hands and their rustic appearance matches the dial really well. A new crystal is a huge improvement over what I started with. With a functioning movement and vintage strap, this watch is ready to go into harm's way... and by harm's way, I mean dinner and a movie.
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