1927 Barrel - Before and After

I have a few personal favorite models... I guess that is to be expected, right?   One of them is the 1927 Barrel.  It was introduced in 1927 and produced through 1930.

The Barrel came in green and white gold and gold filled originally and then in yellow gold / gold fill later on.  The models come as a Barrel Plain or Barrel Engraved depending upon the design of the bezel.  The center case in both models is engraved.

Dials are predominantly luminous although I've seen a few black enamel dials - but they are quite rare.

I have wanted a white example for a long time and I always seem to wind up on the losing side of eBay auctions.  Of course, Barrels in great condition are very desirable and I'm not the only one out there who likes them.

Last month I purchased a white Barrel Plain that apparently no one else wanted, as I got it for $55.  As you can see in the photo below, it was in need of some serious TLC.

Well, it came to the right place.  I overhauled the 17 jewel 987 movement, installed a new glass crystal, and had the dial and hands professionally refinished.  With a new black lizard strap, this Barrel Plain is a welcome addition to the Hamilton fleet.

Here's a nice shot of the engraving of the center case.

Restoring a vintage watch is very rewarding.  This was a very desirable watch when it was first purchased in the late 1920's.   Obviously it had a long and arduous life but now it's ready for more wrist-time as a faithful timekeeper.

1956 Essex

The 1956 Essex is the second Hamilton model to feature the Essex name.  The original Essex came out in 1940.  The 1956 Essex is considerably different though - it's a round watch while the original was rectangular.

Although it was introduced in 1956 and produced for two years, the Essex looks an awful lot like an Illinois model from earlier in the 1950s... specifically the 1953 Model E which was renamed the Debonair E in 1954 and 1955.

The Essex dial changed slightly in 1957 to have bolder numerals on the embossed (stamped) dial.

Behind the dial you should find a Hamilton 671 movement which is a Swiss-made movement produced by ETA and is equivalent to the 17 jewel 1080 movement.

I recently purchased an Essex in a local shop and the second hand was missing and it was not running.  Like the Sea-Scape I recently overhauled, this 671 gave me fits!  Then I realized the hairspring cleaner I was using must have been too dirty... as when I changed it everything went back to normal and ran as it should... go figure!

So here's a couple of shots of my Essex.  I replaced the Fourth Wheel - it's what drives the second hand, as the second hand bit (the part the second hand is supposed to attach to) was missing.  I put a replacement hand on it and with a nice polish to the case and crystal, I'd say it looks great!

One thing that is interesting is the dial... it doesn't completely match the catalog image.  It has a track of pearlized dots inside the markers and there's nothing written on the dial above the 6.  I've never seen another Essex in the flesh before, other than the 1957 variety - so this is a very interesting mystery.

1940 Touraine - Overhaul

1940 was an interesting year in Hamilton's history.  It introduced several new models that were only produced for one year.  It also introduced the "new" 19 jewel 982M Medallion movement that would be used going forward for all solid gold models with 14/0 movements.

A great example of the 1940 "uniqueness" is the Hamilton Touraine.  It's a very uncommon watch for sure and was only made for one year.

The Touraine came in a solid 14K yellow gold case.  The two-tone sterling silver dial was accented with solid gold markers and black enamel numbers.  The hands were black to match the enamel and are "alpha" style.

And of course, being solid gold, the Touraine came with the 19 jewel 982M movement.

I recently overhauled a Touraine for a friend.  I had never seen one before so it was a real treat to get my hands on it... a little nerve wracking too though - as I didn't want to mess up his Medallion movement.

As received the watch was in pretty good shape overall but the crystal was pretty beat up.  The hands are a little rusty too - not much I can do about that though - although they can be restored.

The Medallion movement is pretty easy to identify... see the big gold medallion?  The lettering is also gild so it's a little hard to make out what it all says.  The serial number on this movement is M3578... so it was the 3578th movement Hamilton made in the 982M model line, confirming this is a 1940 movement.

The dial is an older refinish and it looks okay, certainly not bad enough to warrant redoing.  You can tell it's a refinish based on the printing but the little notch on the right side is a tell too.

Flipping the dial over, you can see a couple of sets of figures scratched into the back... so this dial has seen a refinisher a couple of times in the past 70 years.

The NOS glass crystal is pretty uniquely shaped.  I had to work it with 600 grit sandpaper for about 30 minutes to get it to fit just right in the freshly polished case.  You don't want to be too rough with installing glass crystals - as they crack easily.  You have to shape them so they fit easily in the bezel opening.

The cleaning and reassembly of the watch went smoothly and it felt good to redeem myself after my Sea-Scape debacle the other evening.  As you can see in the watch timer shot below, this watch is running just fine.  I adjusted it to run about 14 seconds fast per day, it will slow slightly as the mainspring unwinds.  It has a nice white-alloy mainspring too, so there's plenty of amplitude (energy).   The beat error is very low too, at 0.2ms.  The beat error indicates how far the balance swings to one side versus to the other side.  A beat error of zero would mean it swings equally in both directions.

And here it is all polished up and running like it should.   With a new crystal you can see that the dial doesn't look perfect but it's still not too bad.  Looks like a very nice 73 year old watch to me.  I'm sure my friend will be delighted with it.