1948 Glenn

I think no Hamilton collection is complete without a nice dress watch.  To me, round watches tend to be on the casual side.  Don't get me wrong, there are very nice round dress watches.   However, nothing is as elegant as a solid gold square or rectangular dress watch.

A great example is the 1948 Glenn.  It was introduced as one of the models that used Hamilton's "new" 8/0 size 747 movement.  The 747 replaced the 6/0 size 987A in 1947.  The Glenn was produced through 1953 - a very respectable run of six years.

One of the things that makes the Glenn a fine dress watch is it's size. The 8/0 movement is larger than the 14/0 movement that was used in most tank-style watches to date.  Watches in the 1940s were especially small.  Being even just a little larger,  it has a more prominent wrist presence.

The case is solid 14K yellow gold and you had an option of a diamond-set dial making it one of the earlier examples of authentic models to feature diamonds.  There aren't that many diamond-dialed Glenns out there though - as you can tell from the ad, it was almost 3X the cost for the diamond-set model!

I recently purchased a Glenn from a fellow collector.  It was running but definitely in need of a trip to the spa.  The glass crystal was scratched and the dial could stand to be redone.

Although the watch was running, it wasn't running very well.  Check out that beat error - 9.5ms... that's about as high as I've seen.  The low amplitude is mostly do to having only been wound a few times.

Oddly enough, someone had painted the solid 18K gold numerals black.  I guess they liked the look.  The paint is missing in a few places though so I'll do my best to remove it without screwing up the dial any more.

I don't see any obvious service marks inside the case.  Sort of makes you wonder how many times this watch saw a watchmaker in it's 60+ years of existence.

The 747 is a wonderful movement, in my opinion.  It's very easy to work on and forgiving if you're not really sure what you're doing - so it's a great movement for wannabe watchmakers who want to see what makes a watch tick.  It's way easier to work on than it's sibling, the 18 jewel 748.  The 748 is arguably the most challenging movement of them all... with the exception of a couple of automatics I know of.

I wasn't surprised at all to see some marks scratched into the back of the dial.  It was obviously already refinished at some point.

While the movement is being cleaned, I'll prep a new glass crystal for installation.

I'll also get a new white alloy mainspring ready to go into the barrel, once it comes out of the ultrasonic.

Now is a good time to check out the balance assembly.  The red impulse jewel on the roller table in the center of the balance should be about 90 degrees from the hairspring stud on the opposite side.  Once the balance is installed in the balance cock - the hairspring stud will be in a fixed location and the impulse jewel will rest wherever the hairspring puts it.  So if you want to adjust the beat error, you need to do it with the balance off the balance cock - like shown below - moving the hairspring relative to the impulse jewel.  It's very tricky business and takes a steady hand and excellent visibility.  This one looks to be pretty good now.

Here's a shot of the balance reinstalled in the balance cock.  The outermost coil of the hairspring needs to go through the two-pronged regulator fork - as that is what will adjust the timing of the watch once its running again.  If the hairspring doesn't go though those two prongs, moving the regulator won't do anything.

To check the beat error, you need to look at the impulse jewel through the two banking pins and see if the jewel is lined up with where the pallet fork will eventually go.  Below, you can see the little pink jewel in between the two silver posts (banking pins).  It looks very good at this point.  Now I can take the balance back off and reassemble the watch.

I put the watch back together with fresh lubrication and, after a full wind, the watch is running great.  Notice the excellent beat error of 0.3ms.  The high amplitude is thanks to the new mainspring and a little tweaking to the regulator gets the two parallel lines to level out at just a smidge fast.

My light tent is merciless.  It will reveal any flaws that the naked eye has difficulty picking up.  I did manage to get the black paint off the numerals though - and I didn't lose the dial printing in the process.  That was very lucky.  However, the "finished" watch isn't quite finished yet... I could probably live with the dial if it was original but since it has already been redone once I'm willing to do it again so that it will look as flawless as the rest of the case and crystal.

I think the hands are a little short for the watch - so I'll change those out too while I'm at it.  In fact, I can even put a better second hand on as well.  So stay tuned for a future update.

UPDATE November 6, 2014

I finally received my refinished dial back from the refinishers.  They did a nice job and it was worth the wait.  I also added a new set of correct length hands.   Note how the minute hand should line up with the minute track at the shortest distance from the center, in this case the 3 and 9.  Typically the hour hand will be long enough to reach the hour marker at the same locations.  A slightly longer hour hand and minute hand is a nice improvement, don't you think?

1960 Mystery Accumatic

There are a number of legitimate reasons why it's hard to identify a vintage Hamilton.  Hamilton was known to use "what fit" in times of great demand and short supply.  Hands and dials didn't always match what was originally defined for the model.  In addition, Hamilton had an awards division that assembled watches for companies to use as presentation watches and the customers didn't want their recipients to find the exact same watch in their local jewelry store.

Of course, it's also possible that the watch in question is a "franken" and assembled from parts or it was recased at sometime in it's life.  Hamilton's movements were so well-made they often out-lasted their original case.

In any event, regardless of the cause, sometimes you come across a very legitimate watch that is not shown in the catalogs.  I recently received such a watch.

This watch came to me from a fellow collector... it is a family piece so there's no reason to suspect it was jury-rigged from spare parts.  I've also seen other identical examples so I'm 99%+ confident that it's legit.  The watch was not running and it rattled a little more than an automatic usually should.  Auto's always make a little noise when you shake them, but they shouldn't rattle.

When I try to identify a watch, I look at the case material, dial pattern and shape of the lugs.  The type of hands is a good attribute to match too.

The best I could do with this watch is match it to a 1960 Automatic K-304.  There's a couple of problems with my match... first of which is the K-304 is solid 10K gold.  But the dial layout and hands are a good match.

My mystery watch has an original dial and it is has silver embossed numerals and markers - so it's not a recased K-304 either.  It looks a lot like Accumatics from the early 1960's so I suspect it's in that family.

When I opened the watch I found both of the dial foot screws had come out.  One was broken.  So the rattling was the movement coming away from the dial and hitting the case.  That will also stop the watch if the hands hit the dial.

Inside the watch is a Hamilton 689 - which would be consistent with a 1960 era watch as well.

The oscillating weight and it's carrier are held on with just two screws.  Once the rotor assembly is removed, the watch looks like your garden variety manual winder.

While everything is being cleaned, I'll prep a new crystal for installation.  This watch takes a 30.8mm diameter PHD crystal.

The cleaned and reassembled movement goes onto the timer to see how well it's running.  It's running just a little slow over 24 hours but the beat error is a smidge high.  Fortunately, this movement has a moveable hairspring stud so I can easily adjust the beat error as well as the beat rate.

First I adjust the beat error - that means I move the hair spring stud so that I can effectively rotate the balance and center the impulse jewel on the balance with the pallet fork.  That will allow the balance to swing the same distance in both directions.  With the beat error reduced to a very acceptable 0.3ms, I'll tweak the regulator to speed up the watch slightly.  The regulator adjusts the effective length of the hair spring... the shorter it is, the faster the watch will go.

A new crystal and a nice strap compliment the watch nicely and complete the overhaul.  The true identity of this family heirloom will remain a mystery but at least the current generation of caretakers will be able to use it again.

EDIT 2025 - I'm now 99% certain this is a 1960s M89-2.  The M89-1 is very similar but it has a 667 movement inside

1962 Rayburn

There are a LOT of round watches in Hamilton's line-up and I know some collectors who shy away from round watches because they border on being "boring".  I suppose that's true of Elgins or Bulovas, but Hamiltons?  Never!

Well, maybe that's a little true if you judge a book by it's cover.  You really have to look for the subtle differences between round models... maybe it's the movement, the shape of the lugs, or the dial configuration.  Sometimes even the bracelet is an important aspect of a model's design aesthetic.

Given all of that, it might still be hard to distinguish between models.  Take for example the 1962 Rayburn.  When I first saw it I thought is was a 1964 Thinline 2007.

           

The Rayburn was made from 1962 through 1969 and was part of the Hamilton's highest-end Masterpiece line.

Both models come in a 14K solid gold case and have stepped bezels.  Really, the only obvious difference to my eyes in the catalog images is the subtle difference in the shape of the lugs.  Ultimately, the easiest way to distinguish the models is the Rayburn has a 22 jewel 770 movement while the Thinline 2007 has a Swiss-made 17 jewel movement.

The Rayburn comes in a two-piece case but the design looks a lot like a one-piece design.  You need to look very closely for the seam.

As I alluded to above, I recently picked up a Rayburn and it took me a while to identify it - there are several very similar models.  The shape of the numbers is unique - especially the number 3 - so that helps to narrow the list.

As received, the watch was in very nice shape - the crystal is a little scratched but that's an easy fix.

The back is engraved with a presentation, from Coopers - one of the "big 8" accounting firms back in the day that is now part of Price Waterhouse Coopers, or PwC as they prefer to be known as today.

It took me a while to figure out if it was a two piece case or a one piece.  Once I got it separated I noticed the dial had two small scratches by the 1 and 12.  Other than that, it looks great.

The 22 jewel 770 movement is the best Hamilton made, and I'm always happy to see one of these under the dial as they are very easy to reassemble.

While everything is being cleaned in the ultrasonic, I'll prep a new crystal.  I like to use PK-style crystals on round watches with sub-second hands.  They have a lower profile than PHD-style.  PHD is my go-to choice for sweep second movements when a "special" crystal isn't called for (reflector rings, etc).

Everything is cleaned and ready to be reassembled.

The running movement goes onto the timer.

A little tweaking to the regulator leaves the movement running just a smidge fast.  I think they tend to slow down a little after everything settles.

A new crystal and nice lizard strap complete the overhaul.  My light tent and camera reveal every flaw and you can see the two scratches on the dial.  I was glad to see the scratches on my "before" shots, as I was afraid I might have done it but that was not the case.

Those folks who don't like round watches don't know what they're missing!