1961 Viking II

One of the things I like about 1950's and 1960's watches as they often have really unique dials.  You have to see them in person.  The catalog images just don't do them justice.

Take for example, the 1961 Viking II.  It was produced through 1963.  It's catalog image is pretty plain jane.

The Viking II was part of the entry-level line of Hamilton watches.  It came in a one-piece case with a 10K rolled gold plate bezel and stainless steel back.

Tucked inside is a Swiss-made Hamilton 688 movement, made by ETA.

I recently purchased Viking II project watch.  It was missing the crown and not running but I was hopeful that I could resurrect it.  Check out the funky patterned dial though - that's not evident in the catalog snip.

The one-piece case opens through the crystal so you need a special tool to get inside.  If the crystal is in good shape and the gaskets in the crown are new, then the watch was considered "waterproof".

Since there's no crown and stem in place, the movement just drops right out once the crystal is out of the way.  If the 688 looks familiar, it's made by ETA, who also made several of the automatics used by Hamilton during the 1960's. Once the rotor on an automatic is removed, it looks just like this manual winding 688.

While everything is being cleaned, I'll prep a new crown and male stem to go onto the case.  The male stem is what allows the movement to be loaded from the front.  It will need to be shortened so that it's in just the right spot to engage the female portion of the stem that's in the movement.

The newly cleaned and oiled movement goes onto the timer to see how it's running.  This one's not too bad, right out of the chute.  However, this type of movement is very easy to adjust the beat rate (speed) as well as the beat error.

My picture is a little out of focus but you can see that I was able to tune the beat error down significantly as well as slow the watch down so it runs just 4 seconds fast per day.

A new crystal and new strap completes the restoration.  The dial has a swirl pattern that looks almost like a scallop shell.  The reflections change as the angle of the watch changes.  Unfortunately, a little moisture go into the case over time and compromised the lacquer on the right side near the 2 and 3 hour markers but otherwise this watch really turned out great.

1957 Aqualine

When I first started collecting Hamiltons I turned up my nose at the Swiss-made models before I really understood what was going on in Hamilton's history.  Most collectors focus on pre-1969 when Hamilton manufacturing was still going on in Lancaster PA.  So it seemed logical to me that the US-made models would be the ones collectors should focus on.

Of course, if that was true then you'd never collect any Hamilton Automatics and even some of the cool asymmetric watches like the Thor II would be off limits.  I eventually realized that Hamilton introduced Swiss movements to compete at lower prices points with other American and European watch brands.  Swiss movements enabled Hamilton to have a robust line up with something for everyone's price range.

That said, the US-made watches tended to be used in higher end models and usually came in solid gold or at least gold filled cases.  Take for example the 1957 Aqualine - it was produced for four years.

The Aqualine comes in a 10K gold filled case with a snap-on stainless steel back.  The sterling silver dial has 14K gold markers and numerals with matching luminous hands.

Tucked inside is a 17 jewel shock-protected 730 movement - made in Lancaster PA.

I recently received an Aqualine in need of some attention.  Overall it was in very nice shape but it had stopped running.  While checking it over, I noticed the second hand was rubbing the dial.  I popped it off  and it started running. (It's tucked under the minute hand in the photo below)

These pop-off backs have a gasket in between the bezel and the back. They can be a bear to open.  In addition, if the gasket is in bad shape they won't close up tightly either.  I much prefer a screw-on back, to be honest.

With considerable effort and a little WD-40 I was able to break this one loose.

The 730 is a shock-jeweled upgrade to the 8/0 sized 747 introduced in 1947.  This one is a little dirty and apparently lost the enamel in the lettering during a prior cleaning - just HAM is left with enamel.

This watch has a very strange movement ring.  It's sort of spring loaded and was pushing on the dial - that's what made the second hand rub the dial and stop the watch.  This ring also made it hard to remove the stem… I wonder if it's original to the watch?

The dial appears to be original and is in good shape - just some minor spotting here and there and a very faint radium burn from the lume in the hands.  I'll remove the lume and redo the hands and dial with modern luminous material.

Everything is cleaned and dried before being reassembled with fresh lubrication.

The reassembled movement is purring like a kitten and ready to go onto the timer.  After doing this for a few years I think I've gotten to the point where I can gauge whether or the movement is running well just by looking at the balance.  I can definitely tell if it has an issue - that's for sure.  This one looks great.

Of course, the best way to tell how a watch is doing is to use a timer and based on the shot below, this watch is doing just fine.

With the movement doing it's thing, I'll get to work reluming the hands and hour markers on the dial.  These little kits can be rather expensive but they will do a lot of watches if you don't waste it.  There's a clear lacquer (like nail polish), luminous powder, thinner, a bowl and an applicator.

Applying lume is fairly easy - you just mix it to the consistency of paint and then sweep it on the hand from behind and let it dry.  It reminds me of putting soap on a ring when blowing bubbles - the lume spreads like a thin film and fills the open space in the hands.  I stick them into a piece of pith wood until they dry.

The hour markers are little gold cups and each cup gets a dollop of lume.

Finally, here's the finished project, all polished up and with the new lume it looks much cleaner.  This style of hands is called an "open leaf" and when set at 10:12 (the usual display time Hamilton used) they always remind me of the Cheshire Cat.

When they're glowing they are even more cat-like… no?

"A Tale of Two Winslows"

"It was the best of models, it was the worst of models…."

I'm not too proud to admit when I am wrong and one of the things that makes collecting Hamiltons fun and interesting is to occasionally get thrown a curve ball.  It doesn't happen too often, thanks to the amount of information that's available on the web.  I bet 15 years ago it was a LOT harder.

I think my favorite genre of Hamilton watches is the 1930's.  I must be an "old soul", as they say.  A lot happened with Hamilton during the years prior to WWII… new advances to materials and newly introduced movements enabled Hamilton to firmly establish itself as the pre-eminent American watch company.

I recently snagged a 1930's watch that is very uncommon - so uncommon it was set up as a ladies watch… which is sort of understandable once you see what it is.

It obviously needed some love and was missing it's crown but the price was right and you very rarely see a Winslow in the wild.  It was only produced for two years, 1935 and 1936 and it originally came on a cord strap.  The cord strap isn't very masculine so it wasn't a very popular model.

I received the watch and noticed it came in a three-piece case that was marked 10kt gold filled and didn't say Hamilton… un oh!  Then I looked more closely and the lugs on my project watch have a groove in the middle while the Winslow lugs are sort of T-shaped and flat in the middle.   Did I buy a franken?  Oh well - at least the 987E movement inside was working.



Then, while strolling through the catalogs I noticed the 1935 Ellsworth - that's an even more rare watch - only made one year.  Look familiar?  I thought so too - that's my project watch, only part of the lugs are missing.  They must have gotten damaged and have been lost to time.

Well, as fate would have it, I saw a beat up Winslow for sale and it was so ugly that no one else wanted it.   I bought it and thought I'd try my luck again.  As you can see, it's had a hard life thus far.

Now you can see side by side the differences between a Winslow (left) and an Ellsworth.

The back of my watch is engraved but it's so dirty and scratched up that I'll have to clean it in order to read it more clearly.

Unlike the Elsworth, the Winslow comes in a two-piece case.  It's very similar to another mid-1930's model, the 1935 Prescott.  In fact, the Winslow and Prescott share the same applied gold marker dial.  The Winslow also has and applied gold numeral dial (like the Ellsworth) and a two-tone gilt dial.

My watch has the original marker dial - you can tell it's original by the bright metal area in the seconds register.

The serial number on the 987F dates this watch to 1935.

The inside of this case back is marked Hamilton and 14K gold filled, just as it should be.

987's are notorious for having set mainsprings.  This one is about the size of a Quarter.  Anytime you purchase a project watch with a 987 you should expect to have install a new mainspring too.

While everything is in the ultrasonic, cleaning away, I will turn my attention to the case and taking off the ladies cord bracelet.  It's way too short for me.

Hopefully I'll be able to reuse the hardware when I install a new cord.  Now I can clean the case and replace the crystal.

Leather used for bolo ties is a great solution for replacing the bracelet on a watch like this.  This is 3mm braided cord in dark brown.

Turns out the crystal is the same one I used on the Piping Rock I recently restored.

Everything is cleaned and ready to be reassembled.  The dial cleaned up fairly well, considering what I started with.  It's a little worn in the center field area though.  I think I'll used the AGN dial from the Ellsworth instead.

The hardest part of this project so far is getting the 3mm cord through the 2.9mm hole in the bezel.

The newly serviced movement is running fine… I slowed it down a little from where it started out.  But the amplitude is good and the beat error is acceptable.

Everything goes back together and here's the almost finished watch.  I think it turned out really well!

Now that the back has been polished, I can see the engraving better.  It says Robert B Lee.

The buckle end on the ladies bracelet is just too small for this heavier cord so now I need to figure out how to secure it to my wrist.  I left the cord long enough I can actually tie it but I'd rather have a more practical solution.

If anyone has a good idea for how to secure the other ends of the bracelet, please let me know.


UPDATE:

A trip to the local "bead shop" resulted in some guidance on how to secure the clasp-end of the straps.  It involves some brass wire, two decorative grommets, and a lobster claw clasp.  There are other clasp styles but I wouldn't want to risk an 80 year old Hamilton dropping to the ground because the "pretty clasp" separated.

The grommets cover the cord ends and have a hole to pass trough the wire.

First, I measure the watch to set the length of the watch strap - 7" is my target, a standard length for bracelets.

Next, the two cord ends are bound together by wrapping them with the wire.

Once the ends are wrapped, I'll trim the leather flush and leave the remained of the wire pointing outward.

Both ends are now neatly wrapped.

The leather and wire will be further bound using special glue.  Apparently it's not something you want to sniff.  I can do about 10,000 more bracelets with this tube, I think.

Once the glue dried a good bit, the decorative grommet goes on top and dresses up the ends.

Now a loop is formed in both ends and the excess is wrapped around the loop.

One end gets a ring...

… and the other end get's the clasp.

And here's the finished product on my rather svelte wrist.  Unlike most wrist shots, I don't clutter mine up with excess arm hair - so it's always a pleasing shot… ha ha!

and here's the business-end of the clasp.  It took me a little while to get it on, to be honest, but I don't wear bracelets so I'm not really practiced at it either.

UPDATE to my UPDATE -

My lobster claw solution worked but it was really a bugger to fasten.  You need to use one hand to put the strap on your arm, a second hand to hold the strap steady and a third hand to open the lobster claw.  Unfortunately, I only have two hands, so I continued my search to find a better solution.

Ultimately I found a more appropriate clasp.  In order to use the clasp I had to switch to a slightly thinner cord.  Since this watch is rather feminine, the thinner cord isn't really a concern.

I think it looks just as nice and now it's much easier to fasten with just on hand.