1958 Automatic K-409

I was born at the end of the 1960's and unlike a lot collectors I know, I don't have personal memories from the period that Hamlton was making watches in Lancaster, PA.   Maybe I'm an "old soul" but when I think about this era I have to rely on the movies and TV shows I've seen and old family pictures.  In short, I have to rely on my imagination.

So when I think about the 1950's I think about cars with big fenders, cowboy movies, and a fascination with "outer space".   I don't know about the Wild West, but you can often see design themes in Hamilton's watches that are reminiscent of big fenders and of space.

Take for example the 1958 Automatic K-409.  It was produced for only two years.  It reminds me of outer space for some reason - especially with the black dial.

The most noteworthy feature of the K-409 is the "exploding dial".  The watch came with either a white dial or a black dial and both featured solid gold numerals and hour markers.

The K-409 is very similar to another model, the 1957 Lincrest.  The Lincrest isn't an automatic and although it's similar, it has a couple of key differences... most notably numbers at 3, 6 and 9 instead of marker and a one-piece dial design.  Although you can't really tell from the catalog that the K-409 has a two-piece dial.

The K-409 comes in a 10K yellow gold filled case.

I recently picked up a K-409 project watch and it was probably one of the roughest projects that I've taken on to date.  It arrived without a crystal and with a serious case of "dial rash" as a result.  The finish on the dial has crackled to an alligator skin effect.

Even without a crystal, the watch is thick.  One of the key external differences between the K-series of watches and the Accumatic line is the thickness of the case.

This project watch came from a seller who was liquidating "a watchmaker's estate".   I see that term used a lot with watch sales but in this case I think it's probably true.  The movement grade is written on the case back in black sharpie.  No, it's not a 199 grade, it's a 17 jewel Hamilton 661.

There are a couple of issues I can see right away with the movement.  First, it's missing the clutch that transfers the motion of the rotor to the winding wheel.  Normally it's in the space where my screwdriver is pointing.  Without the clutch, the rotor will spin but not wind the watch.

Just to left of the screwdriver is a hole and in that hole should be the set lever screw.  The screw is missing so there's nothing to hold the stem and crown inside the movement.  You can see the crown, by the way, tucked into the side of the movement.  This is a tricky watch to wind manually.  There is not a lot of access to the crown.

I couldn't pull the stem out of the watch and that's required in order to get the movement out.  So I had to disassemble the movement while it's still inside the case.  Once the rotor was taken off, I then had to take the train bridge off.  I took out the third and fourth wheels and that gave me access to the rusty stem.

Now that the stem is out there are two case screws to remove so that the movement can be freed from the case and come out the back.

Now you can see the two-piece dial design that the K-409 uses.  There's a small dial mounted to the movement and a dial ring that is mounted to the bezel.

With the dial out of the way, you can see the movement has lost a lot of it's nickel finish.  There's a bit of rust too but none of the parts appear to be compromised.

The rusty stem may be solid but it's safer to replace it.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the crown off without breaking the stem off inside of it.  The best way to hold a stem for this type of work is with a tool called a "pin vice".

Wow, look at all these parts!  They don't all go to the same movement.  I had a parts movement on hand to donate the missing parts but then I realized that the parts movement might be better than the movement that came with the watch.  So I cleaned them both in the hopes that I'll get one good movement out of the two.

The nickel finish on my spare movement is much nicer.  After cleaning, it's bright and shiny.  The hardest part of reassembling this movement is to get the large train bridge back on.  You need to align three wheel pivots and then the bridge will drop into place.  There's no forcing it... it drops into place or the pivots aren't aligned - it's that simple (but it's not easy).

The rest of the parts go on and now the movement is running briskly.  Next stop is the watch timer.

Initially running a little fast, a quick tweak to the regulator slows it down to a respectable 11 seconds fast per day.

Next stop is the other movement.  I might as well put that back together as well.  You can see the backside of the main plate has lost some of it's nickel finish too.

This movement is now reassembled and running too.  You can see the train bridge also has some brass showing though.   It's interesting that the nickel finish is so worn but the rest of the watch is uncompromised.

This move is running great too.  So now I have my choice of two working 661's.  That's "a good problem to have"... as they say.

Well, it's a pretty easy decision to make as I'd rather have the movement with all of it's nickel plating.  The next stop is to put the rotor carrier back on the movement.  This is almost as tricky as the train bridge.  Getting everything lined up can be a real challenge.  Once it's back on, I can reassemble the front of the movement so that it can go back into the case.  I'll put the rotor, aka oscillating weight, back on once the movement is reinstalled in the case.

A new, uncut stem goes into the keyless works, along with a small dose of microgliss lubricant.  Next on are the cannon pinion, minute wheel, setting wheel and hour wheel before the dial gets reattached.

Everything is reinstalled in the case and the stem is cut to the proper length to inset the crown in the right place.  I can screw the case back onto the watch and seal her back up.

I gave the dial a "poor man's refinish" which means I cleaned the dial as best I could and then sprayed a very light coating of gloss lacquer on it.  It's still a little cracked but it looks more than presentable under a new crystal - don't you think?

A fresh black lizard strap completes the restoration and this K-409 is restored to new life.  If I had one criticism of this watch it would be that it's a little hard to see the second hand.  The gold lines on the dial blend right into the hands.

1956 Accumatic

Hamilton's first automatics arrived on scene in 1953 as part of the newly introduced Hamilton Illinois line.  This was also Hamilton's first foray into Swiss-made grades.

In 1954 Hamilton introduced the Automatic K-series line with additional Hamilton-branded models.

By 1956 the Hamilton-Illinois line was discontinued and a new model line called the Accumatic was introduced.  The A-series of watches were produced well into the 1970s with over 65 different models.

The first Accumatic model was produced through 1958.  It came in a stainless steel case with a choice of three different dials.

Tucked inside the case is a 17 jewel Hamilton 672 movement.  This ETA-based movement was also used inside the Hamilton Illinois models.  The 672 is based on an ETA 1256.

The K-series watches used a K. Freres movements while the Accumatics used ETA grades.

My Accumatic project watch arrived in filthy condition.  In fact, it's probably the dirtiest watch I've ever laid hands on.  The odd thing about this Accumatic is the case lugs don't match the catalog image.  I've see Accumatics that do match and I've also seen them with this case design.  So I'm of the opinion that both styles are legitimate Accumatic models.

This style of case back has a pan-shaped cover that is secured with a threaded ring.  I'm not a big fan of the design as they can be a challenge to open since the slots in the ring are fairly small and don't accommodate my case wrench too well.

The movement inside could stand a good cleaning but it doesn't have any rust.  It ticks too - so a thorough cleaning will do this watch a lot of good.

Normally when you remove a nasty old crystal you find the watch looks lot better... not in this case.  I'm tempted to put the crystal back on!  Maybe I'll be able to clean it up but I suspect that this dial will not look "new" without being refinished.

While all the parts are being cleaned I'll pick out a new crystal.

Well, the dial cleaned up to leave what looks like a leather texture.  I'll treat it to a "poor man's refinish" with a quick spray of lacquer to give it a wet-looking sheen.

All the parts are cleaned and dried.  Everything looks great at this point.

The movement is reassembled to the point that all I need now is the balance.  Without the oscillating weight it looks like your basic manual-winding movement.

The balance goes back into place and we're off to the races, as they say.

It's running a little slow but that's nothing that the regulator can't accommodate.

I won't have to move the regulator too far to make of the 90 or so needed seconds per day.

There... I moved it too far initially so the slope of the two lines increased too much but then I backed off just enough for the two lines to approach horizontal.

With the movement back to running order, the dial and hands go back on and then the works go back into the case.  A new crystal and a fresh black strap are excellent finishing touches.  The dial isn't perfect but, to be honest, it doesn't look bad enough to require be refinished either.

UPDATE  Oct 28, 2015:

Well I managed to snag another Accumatic project watch and this one has it's proper case (note the shape of the lugs) and it has the all-numeral dial shown in the catalog image.  It arrived in very dirty condition but it was working, which is always good.

And here it is after it's trip to the spa.  My camera makes it look a little rougher than it really appears in person.  It's actually a nice looking watch.

1961 M69-1

I appear to be on a role... it seems like the majority of my projects lately have been mystery models.  My latest one is no exception.  It could be another M-series watch but it also looks a lot like a Sea-something.

Back in February I posted a thread on the 1962 Sea Skip.

My mystery watch came to me from a "HandyDan Fan".  It looks a little like a Sea Skip but it's not - there are a number of similarities but also some key differences.

UPDATE:

Thanks to a fellow collector, I now know that this watch is a 1961 M69-1.  Conventional wisdom believes the the M-series was a special line that was sold through a national chain of some sort.  It's not clear what chain but think along the lines of a Sears or Service Merchandise.  I any event, M watches were identified by their price and the order of arrival.  The line began in 1961 and run through 1967.

This M69-1 was the first watch to have a price of $69.  $69 may not seem like but today but that's the equivalent of over $750 adjusted for inflation.  So this was not an inexpensive watch.

As received, it arrived without a crown and it was quite dirty.  I apologize for the blurry photo but it's too late to take a new one.

Although the crown is missing, the male stem is still there so all I need it a new crown of the proper size to fit the stem tube and the recess in the case.

Without the crystal in the way, you can see that this dial is very dirty with a green funk around the perimeter.  The dial is different from the Sea Skip... from a texture standpoint as well as the presence of a 3 and 9.  The watch is also a front-loader while the Sea Skip has a screw-off back.

Like the Sea Skip, this watch has a 17 jewel ETA-based 688 movement under the hood.  This grade is also used in the various M-series watches I've done as well.

Based on the case markings, there's no doubt this is a legitimate  Hamilton model.

While everything is being cleaned, I'll clean and polish the bracelet and case.  I like watches with a personal inscription like this one... the watch was clearly a special gift 50 years ago.

Everything is cleaned and dried before being reassembled.  I was able to get the dial to look a lot better but it took careful elbow grease.  I was very mindful to not lose the printing of the Hamilton logo.

The reassembled movement is happily purring away so the next stop is the timer.

Running 34 seconds fast per day with great amplitude and a non-existant beat error.

A quick tweak of the regulator slows the timing down to just 9 seconds fast per day.  I'll leave it there.

The dial and hands can go back on now and I've also installed a new crown on the existing stem.  All I need now is a new crystal to seal it back up.

A fresh GS PHD high dome crystal in 30.4mm is the perfect replacement for this watch.

And here's the finished M69-1 project.  The bracelet is a Kreisler, known to be one of the makers of Hamilton's bracelets. The catalog image isn't very clear but it's hard to say if this is original or not.  It obviously fits the watch just fine.  The cleaned up dial isn't perfect but it looks loads better than what I started with.

This watch is ready for another 50 years of faithful service.