1964 Dateline A-577

The Accumatic line of automatics introduced calendar models in 1963.  They were called Dateline models but they carried forward the A-series model numbers.  One of the longest produced models was the 1964 Dateline A-577.  It was produced through 1972... a very long run by Hamilton standards.

The Dateline A-577 came in a one-piece stainless steel case with your choice of a strap or a stainless steel bracelet.  Tucked inside the case is a 17 jewel 694A movement.  I know that's true for the earlier models but I'm not sure if the 694A was used for the entire time or if the later models used a 64A, which is basically the same movement with 4 extra jewels in the reversing wheels.

I recently had someone contact me about a family watch they received.  Since I hadn't shown it on the blog I agreed to take it on.  As you can see in the photo below, it was missing it's crown. 

Now I don't know what kind of watch Forrest Gump would have worn but I bet it was a Hamilton, especially after he was a "gazillionaire".   However, I heard that his daddy was a watchmaker and he once told him, "Forrest, life is like a Hamilton watch without a crown... you never know what you're going to get".  Forrest was a little puzzled, but what his daddy meant was when you get a watch without a crown, you really don't know what you will find when you open it up.

My project watch is a little banged up but stainless steel can take a real beating.  A little polishing and this watch case will look much better.

One-piece cases open through the crystal and with the crystal out of the way you can see the dial is a little dirty but not too bad.  The finish on the dial, especially near the crown, looks good so that's a good sign.  If the finish is compromised, that's a sure sign water got into the case.

Yikes!  The bad news is water did get into the case.  The two-piece stem is very rusted.  The male section looks good but the female side is shot.  What's more, part of the barrel bridge, crown wheel and balance cock are rusty too.

With the oscillating weight out of the way, you can see the damage a little more clearly.  I can barely make out the screws for the balance cock and the barrel bridge.  The set lever screw is all but invisible.  I have no way of easily removing the damaged stem - at least without breaking the screw or set lever.  I'm going to soak this part of the movement with penetrating oil (overnight) in the hopes that I can break the screws loose.  Ideally I'd like to save the balance, as it appears to be okay.

It took some doing but I was able to get the movement apart.  That was good news.  However, the rust took it's toll and I still can't get the stem out.  This movement will need several parts in order to be restored.

Situations like this call for a donor movement and I was able to purchase a non-running 694A with all the parts I need.  It was very dirty... about the dirtiest I've seen in this grade, but there's no rust.  It looked like someone dunked it in WD-40 or something, as it was very greasy... it's no wonder it wasn't running.

While everything is in the ultrasonic I can turn my attention to the case.  It just needs a good polishing on the buffing wheel.

Everything is nice and clean now.  Time for a little reassembly.

The movement is running nicely... hooray!  Let's see what the watch timer thinks of that.

Well, 403 seconds fast per day is little on the fast side... fortunately a tweak to the regulator can probably fix that.

My tweezers are pointing to the regulator.  The two gold dots are the pins of the regulator fork that holds the hairspring.  I can move this back towards the hairspring stud and effectively lengthen the hairspring.  That will slow the watch down.

Alright, now that the watch is running just a smidgen fast, I can tweak the hairspring stud location and lower the beat error a little.  I'd be happy with 0.7ms on any other watch but since this model is so easy to adjust, I'd feel guilty if I didn't try to improve it.

Moving the hair spring stud just a tiny bit counter-clockwise puts the balance a little more "in beat".

There... 7 seconds fast per day with a beat error of 0.3ms.  Not too shabby.

Now I can work on the dial-side of the movement.  There are a lot of parts on this side of the main plate but slow and steady gets the job done.

You probably haven't noticed that the two-piece stem in my donor movement is actually shorter than what was in the project watch originally.  Not all two-piece stems are the same.  There is a short version and long version for this movement.  This watch model needs the longer version.

As you can see below, the longer stem is quite a bit longer than the shorter version.

I happened to have a new Hamilton crown that was a perfect fit for the stainless steel case.  So my finished project watch looks no worse for all the wear that it has received.  The owner asked me to not replace the crystal.. so it's a little yellower than a new crystal would be but it doesn't look too bad as is.

1968 Dateline A-586

Calendar models were first introduced to Hamilton's line in 1954 but they really became main stream in the 1960's.  They only offered the day of the month though... the first day and date models didn't arrive until the 1970s.  So if you see a day and a date on a watch, you'll immediately know it's a 1970's model (or later).

One of the last calendar models to be introduced in the 1960's was the 1968 Dateline A-586.  It was only shown in the 1968 and 69 catalog.

The Dateline A-586 came in a stainless steel case.  It's hard to tell from the catalog image but it appears to have black highlights on the markers and the hands.  It also has a black ring outside the crystal.

I recently purchased an A-586 and it arrived on a bracelet but it wasn't the original bracelet.  As you can see in the photo below, it was pretty beat up and very dirty.  The black ring is gone but I suspect it is just worn away and not missing.

The case back is engraved with 64027-3. The -3 means it's a stainless steel case and the 64, I assume, means that there's a Hamilton 64A inside.  Oddly, the case is also engraved with a presentation from January 1966 - which begs the question was this watch introduced before the catalogs depicted it?  Could be, or maybe it says 68 and the engraving just isn't very clear.  One thing is for sure... it needs to spend a good while in the ultrasonic to get rid of the "old man funk" that is encrusted on the back.

The Hamilton 64A is a 21 jewel variant of the same ETA movement that the 694A was based on - although the 694A is a 17 jewel grade.  The extra 4 jewels are in the reversing wheels of the rotor assembly - otherwise I think the two movements are largely the same.

With the dial removed, the movement looks just like a 694A that was used in the earlier Dateline A-series models.

While the movement is being cleaned, I will polish the case to get rid of all the scratches.  Then I'll re-enamel the black ring before installing a fresh crystal.  Notice the inside of the case back doesn't say Lancaster PA... that's odd but not unheard of.  The H logo confirms this is a Hamilton case.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  Now to put it all back together.

The movement is reassembled and running nicely - now it's off to the timer.

Everything looks pretty good - although the beat error is a tad high at 2.8ms.  I should be able to reduce it to near zero without too much difficulty.

A few tweaks to the location of the hairspring stud centers the impulse jewel in the pallet fork such that the balance is now almost perfectly "in beat" - meaning the balance swings equally to each side.  You can see how the two lines move closer together from the center of the screen, to the right and then wrapping over to the left side, where the lines collapsed onto each other.

A new GS Evr-Tite ET crystal in 30.1mm will be a nice improvement.  The ET line comes with either a white (silver) reflector ring or a yellow reflector ring.  This watch requires an ET30.1W crystal.

You really can't use "the claw" with this style of crystal because the reflector ring prevents the crystal from compressing.  Instead you have to use a crystal press to push it into the bezel... preferably without cracking it.

With the movement reinstalled in the case and a new black lizard strap installed, this A-586 project watch looks fantastic, if I do say so myself.  What a huge difference a new crystal and fresh enamel in the bezel made... don't you think?

1965 Accumatic A-605

You would never know that the end of the 1960's would bring the end of US-production of Hamilton watches.  The company appeared to be going as strong as ever as more and more new models were introduced every year.  Hamilton didn't close up shop entirely in 1969.  It just formally declared that manufacturing would be centered in Switzerland.  In fact, a number of 1960s models continued to be produced into the 1970s.

Anyway, one of the new models in 1965 was the Accumatic A-605.  It was produced through 1969.

The A-605 came in a 10K rolled gold case, as you might guess since it's 600 series model.   The Accumatic line had a variety of classic 1960's designs with case materials ranging from solid gold to stainless steel and all sorts of unique dial designs in white, gold, silver, and black.

The A-605 came with a radial finished white dial with golden rectangular markers.  Like most models at the time, it was paired with a special bracelet.

Tucked inside the case is an ETA-based Hamilton 689A automatic movement.

My project watch came to me from a follower of the blog.  It was a family piece and even though it looked pretty beat up, it had great sentimental value.  It's definitely worth restoring.

A lot of the Accumatics open through the crystal and the A-605 is no exception.  It's a one-piece case design so the only way water can get is in through the stem tube or around the crystal.

With the beat up crystal out of the way, you can see that the dial is in good shape overall but there's a little discoloration around the 5 marker where moisture got past the crystal.  There's nothing I can do about that now though - other than treat it very carefully so I don't make it worse.

The movement looks pretty good too but there is a little evidence of rust.  It's definitely very dirty and time for a thorough cleaning.

Everything is taken apart and thoroughly cleaned and dried.  I only saw one watchmaker's mark inside the case back... so I know I'm not the first person to take this watch apart..

The balance is now swinging away, as evidenced by the blur of balance as captured by the camera.

Let's see... it's running a little fast, the beat error is a little high and the amplitude of 181 degrees is a little low.  The amplitude could be caused by the fact that I didn't wind the watch very much.   First I'll tackle the beat error, then the beat rate and finally, I'll wind the watch more fully and see what the amplitude looks like.

A tweak to the position of the hairspring stud lowers the beat error to 0.6ms.  Anything less than 1.0 is great, in my opinion but I can probably tighten it up a little more.

There... 0.1ms beat error, 7 seconds fast per day, and an amplitude of 233 degrees.  There's nothing to complain about with this performance.  I like to leave watches running a little fast.  They slow a little bit over time.

This crystal has seen better days.  The preponderance of scratches, the fact that moisture has gotten past it, and the yellowish colors are all good reasons to replace it.

A 29.5mm high dome crystal will do the trick nicely.

And here's the finished project, paired with a nice genuine lizard strap.  You can still see the spotting on the dial by the 5 but hey, lets face it, most people from 1965 have a few spots too by now.

One thing that's interesting about the case is the shape of the lugs.  You can't tell from the front but they have an interesting "claw-foot" like shape to them from the sides.