Merry Christmas to all, every one

Ah, the majesty of Christmas.

For over two millennia this day has been celebrated by countless generations.  It was anticipated by the prophet Isaiah eight centuries before that...

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given;

and the government will be upon his shoulder,

    and his name will be called

“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

There are many sentiments expressed by the celebration of Christmas and I think one that applies to all Hamilton collectors is "you are not alone".   Just as the angel told the shepherds, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" - they were effectively being told, rejoice - you are no longer alone, Isaiah's prophecy has been realized.  That was cause for such celebration that they dropped everything to go welcome the new baby and honor Him with their gifts.

There were two very busy seasons for the Hamilton Watch Company.  One was the period of graduations in May / June and the other was Christmas.   Presenting a Hamilton watch at Christmas was a great way to show how much you loved someone and it was sure to be a gift that would be treasured for many years, if not a lifetime.

My favorite watches are Christmas watches and I will almost always buy a Christmas watch in need of restoration, even if I've restored the model numerous times before.  So I thought on this Christmas day I would share with my fellow Hamilton fans a few recent acquisitions and one special watch from my personal collection.

I just finished this very nice 1940 Winthrop the other day.  I wish I kept a "before" shot, as it was a mess but I think it turned out great.

I showed this 1937 Ardmore back in 2015.  Ardmore is a town on the Main Line between Philadelphia and Lancaster.  I used to live in Ardmore when I was in college so it's a special model to me.

This 1935 Ellsworth is an interesting watch that was also recently completed.  It's a man's model but it's a little on the feminine side with a 13mm wide lug width.  Apparently "Bert" thought so too, as he gave this watch to his mother on Christmas day in 1935.

Lastly, here's a 1956 Automatic K-576 that I recently completed.  Check out this transformation!  It has a Christmas dedication from 1962.  That's a bit unusual since it was several years after it was discontinued but that doesn't mean it wasn't still in a jeweler's showroom.

Before:

After:

On behalf of the "HandyDan clan", I wish all of my Hamilton Chronicles fans and fellow collectors a holy and merry Christmas.  Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I hope you have a nice week and a joy-filled New Year.  

May God bless us, everyone.

1966 Thin-o-Matic T-416

One of the things I like about this hobby is there is always something new to learn.  A lot happened over the 50 or so years that Hamilton made wrist watches in Lancaster PA.  If you want to expand your knowledge of all-things-Hamilton you can include pocket watches and include a couple of more decades.

I recently came upon a watch on eBay that I couldn't identify.  It looked familiar but also very unique.  I thought it might have some serious issues though so I passed on it.

Then a fellow collector contacted me after he purchased the watch.  So it came my way after all.  Once I had it in my hands I was able to identify it as a 1966 Thin-o-matic T-416.  This model only shows up in the 1966/67 catalog so it's not a commonly found model.

The T-416 is unique because it doesn't say Automatic or Thin-o-matic on the dial.  It has a 10K yellow gold filled case and came with bold black hands and very subtle black dots and roman numeral hour markers.  It also has a faceted "diamond-edge" acrylic crystal.

The watch I received was very puzzling to me originally.  It thought it might be a "sea something" since it has a Swiss movement and generally has that "sea-something" look about it.   My very first impression was it looked to me like there were holes at the 2, 4, 5, etc. marker positions and maybe the dial was missing a bunch of hour markers.  I also noticed that the 1 and 8 positions appeared to be filled holes.  The dial itself is in poor condition and there's a lot of excess glue or something around the crystal.  Those were all the reasons I passed on this watch when I saw it for sale.

Looking very closely at the dial, it looks like the "holes" are just black dots.  The 1 and 8 positions are just missing the black part in the center of the circles.

With the crystal and the crown removed, the movement can be lifted out of the case.  This dial has definitely seen better days.  I will try to gently clean it and then give it a "poor man's refinish" with a light coat of clear lacquer.

Here was my first clue as to what model this could be... it has a Hamilton 623 movement.  That would indicate that this is a Thin-o-matic, even though dial doesn't say that.

The inside of the now-cleaned case back has two numbers... the lower one ends in 66 and that tells me this is a 1966 model.  Now I know it's a 1966 Thin-o-matic T-4-something, as the gold filled case would imply this is a 400-series model.   How's that for deductive reasoning?

The hour hand is pressed right up against the dial and looks like it has rubbed the center of the dial a bit over time.  It's also too close to the dial for me to get my hand remover under it.

Rather than risking scratching the dial, I just removed the dial from the movement and took the hour wheel and hour hand off in the process.

Now I can lift the hour wheel out and remove the hour hand in the process.

The old crystal will be tossed but first I can use it as a little dish for black paint while I fill the 1 and 8 hour positions.

The movement is cleaned and dried.  Time for reassembly.

The movement, sans-rotor, is ticking away with good motion.  Fortunately there was no rust at all on the stem, that can be the hardest part to replace.

Ticking with a beat rate that is just a smidgen fast at +22 seconds per day.  I'll leave it like this for now as it should slow slightly as everything settles back into place.

One of the distinguishing features of this model that the project watch was lacking was a faceted crystal.  A new replacement will correct that.

Well, this a totally different watch now, don't you think?  There's only so much I can do with a horrible dial but I think I made it a little less horrible.  My light tent is merciless.  The new crystal and polished case are definitely improvements.

Here's another shot of the watch in more flattering, and realistic, lighting conditions.  I think my friend will be happy he bought this watch now.  I almost regret not buying it myself, now that I know what it is.  I say "almost" because I got to see it and work on it anyway.  So this was a win-win if there ever was one.

1959 Thin-o-matic T-402

The first Thin-o-matic models were introduced in 1959 and one of the initial gold filled versions was the T-402.  It would be produced through 1961.

Although the model was shown in the 1961 catalog, it appears to have been "sold out".  It's interesting that the price was changed to be the same for the strap or bracelet.

The T-402 has a 10K yellow gold filled case and featured solid 14K gold numerals and markers along with a pearled track.

The first Thin-o-matics featured the newly introduced micro-rotor automatics that were made by Buren.  Hamilton would eventually acquire Buren in the 1960's.  The micro-rotors are arguably the most complicated movements in the Hamilton lineup.  There's a lot that can go wrong with them.

I recently came upon an interesting version of the T-402.  It features the Budweiser Beer logo on the dial.  I've seen this model before but this one was listed "in need of repair".   Just looking at it, I can tell that it's in need of a second hand as well as a new crystal.  Looking really closely I can see that there's no marker at the 8 position.  Is it in the case?  We'll find out.

Not all Thin-o-matics have micro-rotor movements but the flat case back is a good sign that this watch has one.

The crown came right off and did not appear to be in contact with anything.  Notice it has a female portion of the stem attached to it.  That implies the male side is in the movement.  Often it's the other way around and the male hub is in the crown.

With the crystal removed the dial appears to be in decent shape.  It's a little bent at the 10 marker but maybe I can smooth that out.  At least the finish is intact.  So a little cleaning might go a long way with this dial.

This may not be the dirtiest movement I've seen but it's arguably in the top 5.  Notice anything unusual?  There's a big empty space where the oscillating weight should be.  This is a 663 movement.

Here's a good reason for the crown coming off... there is no stem inside the movement.  All that can be seen is an empty hole.

There is evidence inside the case back that this watch had a rotor at one point... it must have gotten a little loose and rubbed the case.  Micro rotors make a lot of noise in general but I'm sure the rubbing oscillating weight didn't improve things.  Maybe it was removed to quiet things down.  You can still wind the watch manually and a lot of people are of the opinion that micro rotors are a bit underpowered anyway.

With the dial out of the way I can see that all of the necessary parts are still there.   Why the stem is missing is a bit of a mystery.

I happen to have a donor 663 movement and by coincidence it has a T-402 dial on it.  Notice the dial is actually textured with an interesting spiral detail.  You don't see that in the catalog depiction.

I've used this donor movement for other projects but it still has lots of useful parts.  I can use the oscillating weight for this project and also steal one of the hour markers to replace the missing one on the Budweiser dial.

My donor movement also has a male stem.  So I should have everything I need to get my project watch operational again.

The solid gold markers are actually riveted on.  To remove them you just push on the tiny circles where the rivets pass through the dial and then lift the marker off.

I put all of the parts into a baby food jar with fresh cleaning solution.  The jar then goes into my ultrasonic cleaner that is filled with water.  The ultrasonic waves pass through the water and into the jar.  You can actually see little bubbles form as the parts get cleaned.

After 6 minutes in the ultrasonic the fresh cleaning solution has turned into a hazy cloud.  Now I can remove the parts and put them in another baby food jar with rinse solution.  After that I put them into a second jar with rinse solution and then all the parts are thoroughly dried.

Everything looks bright and shiny now.  There are a LOT of parts to this movement and it can be a daunting task to take one of these apart for the first time.  Actually, the daunting part comes when you try to put it back together again.

The reassembled movement is now ticking away.  It's off to the timer to listen to the ticking.

Well, it's running a little fast but that's easy to adjust.  The amplitude is low but that's mainly because I haven't wound the watch yet.  I just wound it a little to get the balance to move.

Now that the watch is running I can install the replacement oscillating weight.  There are six wheels involved in getting the motion of the rotating weight transmitted to the mainspring barrel.

The crown on the watch is fairly worn and it's not a Hamilton crown.  It appears to have a logo with two J's... maybe a Jules Jurgensen?  Regardless, I will replace it with a new generic crown of similar size.

A new crystal and fresh lume go a long way to brighten up this tired old Budweiser watch.  Paired with a nice brown genuine lizard strap, this watch is ready for some well deserved wrist time.