1954 Kenmore

Everybody loves puppies.  Who wouldn't? They're so cute and cuddly and they usually grow up to be man's best fried.  They say the reason a dog has so many friends is he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

But that doesn't mean there aren't any ugly dogs.   There are even competitions to find the ugliest dog, like the 2015 World's Ugliest Dog winner... Quasi Modo.   Good call, that is one ugly dog but I'm sure he's still lovable, and that's what really counts.

Well, it stands to reason that out of the 1,100+ Hamilton models there has to be one that would win the "least attractive" award.  Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so getting agreement of which model is the "top dog" could be a challenge.

The Hamilton lineup in the mid 1950's has a lot of uniquely designed cases.  It's almost as if the company was in it's "awkward teen years" with models with ears and teeth that were too big for their noses and foreheads.

If I had to vote it would be for the 1954 Kenmore.  To my eye, it looks like the Hamilton equivalent of a blowfish, but I think that's mostly because of the bracelet it was paired with.  It was produced for three years so a lot of people must have liked it.

Not much changed over the three years of production other than the price... it was increased by over 10%!

Being made from 1954 through 1956, the Kenmore spans the transition from the 8/0 sized 747 movement to the 730 movement with shock jewels.  So you'll find examples with either grade.  If there's a 747 under the hood then it's an earlier 1954 version.

Regardless of the movement, the Kenmore is a fine watch with a 10K gold filled case and a sterling silver dial with 18K numerals and markers.

You could get the Kenmore on a strap or with a bracelet and the bracelet really brought the model's cooky look to life.

My Kenmore project watch arrived in the typical "some attention required" condition.  The Speidel bracelet doesn't look too bad with the watch but it's not original.  Obviously the crystal will need to be replaced.  Once the layer of "old man funk" is removed, I bet the case will clean up great.  Time will tell - pun intended.

The case back and the back of the lugs are sharp and undamaged.

The sterling silver dial has a brushed butler finish that goes in different directions so it looks two-toned depending on how the light hits it.  This dial is very dirty but there are no obvious distractions.

The 730 movement is identical to the 747 movement with the exception of the incabloc shock jewels to protect the balance staff.  It's been a while since this movement has had a bath, that's for sure.

The inside of the case back makes identification of the model easy.  There are a few watchmakers' marks inside to indicate the previous owner took good care of this watch.

US-made movements had two different length cannon pinion and hour wheel options so that spherical dials or flat dials could be used.  Sometimes dials are flat and sometimes they are domed.  Domed dials require a longer cannon pinion and hour wheel to get the hands further from the main plate.  The Kenmore has the longer setup.

While everything is being cleaned, I will prep a new glass crystal for installation.

Everything is cleaned, dried and ready for reassembly.

The movement is back to running nicely and is installed in the timer to find out how well it's ticking.

Everything looks great except for the beat error.  The 4.9ms beat error means the balance swings further to one side than the other.  That's corrected by repositioning the hairspring on the balance, effectively centering the balance impulse jewel with the pallet fork.  It's a tricky exercise with this type of balance but 4.9ms is too high to let slide.  My target is less than zero but I usually will accept anything under 3.0 if it's this style of balance.  Every attempt at adjustment is also an opportunity to goof up the hairspring.  So I don't like to do it if I don't have to.

Success... this movement is now right on the money.

Such an odd-looking watch deserves an unusual strap - in this case ostrich skin.  As I predicted, the case turned out great.  The new crystal allows you to see the dial much better and although the dial isn't "new", it doesn't look too bad either.  Maybe this isn't Hamilton's least attractive model after all?

I restored a Kenmore a few years ago though, and this one had it's original bracelet.  Ugly watch or thing of beauty... You be the judge.

1964 Thin-o-matic T-412

Most Thin-o-matics use micro-rotor movements to achieve their "thin-ness".  In addition to being thin, micro-rotors tend to be larger too.  So Thin-o-matics can have a pleasing "wrist presence" as a dress watch, even by today's standards.

However, not all Thin-o-matic models used micro-rotors.  There are a few models that used an ETA-based movement with a traditional oscillating weight mechanism on top of the basic manual-winding movement.  One of the models is the 1964 T-412.  It was produced through 1967.

The T-412 came in a 10K yellow gold filled case - hence the 400-series number.  It's style harkens back to Hamilton's very first wrist watch, the Men's Cushion from 40 years earlier since it has a cushion shaped case with a round bezel opening.  Of course, that's where the similarities stopped.

Inside the T-412 you will find a Hamilton 623 movement with 17 jewels.  This movement was made by ETA, although I don't know the ETA calibre specifically.

I was able to snag a very nice T-412 project watch recently, and I was happy to get it since I haven't done one of these movements yet.  I try to show the overall process for each movement in a close to step-by-step fashion and put the posts in my "overhaul examples" folder on the right of the screen.  So I'll go into a little more detail than usual on this post.

As received the project watch is in great shape.  It could stand a new crystal and some polishing of the case but dial looks superb.

A non-micro-rotor Thin-o-matic is easy to spot since the back is not flat.  This pie-pan shape is a tell tale sign that there's a ETA movement under the hood.  This case is a one-piece design and opens through the crystal with a tool I call "the claw".

The 623 looks very familiar to the other 1960's ETA grades like the 689, 689A, 694, etc. but note the large teeth on the crown wheel (near the stem).  This type of wheel is still used today on ETA movements but it wasn't used on the 689, etc.

In the 1960s a lot of models got two numbers inside the case back.  One is unique to the specific watch and the other is unique to the model.  The number near the bottom of the case  is the model number for this watch and the last two digits (64) are the year of the model.  The upper number is unique to this specific watch and there's probably a T-412 ending with 33 and 34 out there somewhere too.

No, you're not seeing double.  Here's a shot of the 623 (left) next to a 689A on the right.  They're both 11.5 ligne movements and look very similar.

From another angle you can see the 623 is considerably thinner and a lot of the difference is in the rotor assembly.

Once the dial and hands are removed, the crown wheel lifts off and then the set bridge that covers the setting wheel and the larger minute wheel to the left of it.  Now the setting wheel, minute wheel and the cannon pinion can lift right off.  You can see how in this movement the 3rd wheel is what actually moves the hands... just like on the larger ETA automatics.

With the parts removed from the from, I can turn my attention to the back.  Two screws hold the rotor assembly in place.  Once they are removed the automatic portion of the watch can be lifted straight up and off.

One difference between the 689 and the 623 is the 623 has a screw that holds the carrier to the oscillating weight with a very large head than on the 689, et al.  All of the silver portion in the center of the assembly is the screw head.

With the rotor out of the way you get a good look at the corse-toothed crown wheel and the traditional toothed golden colored ratchet wheel.  The latter has finer teeth and engages one of the winding wheels from the rotor assembly.  Check out the size of the glucyur balance wheel.  Is it just me or is that thing huge? (relatively speaking)

With the mainspring relieved, I remove the three screws holding the barrel bridge on and then pull the mainspring barrel beneath it.

Two screws hold the train bridge on so that comes off next and provides access to the four train wheels.  Notice the "center wheel" is actually off to the side and, ironically, is the furthest wheel from the center.  This is why the 3rd wheel actually drives the cannon pinion.  The 4th wheel does go through the center though - and it drives the second hand.

Next off is the balance and the pallet fork below it.

Typically the ebauche calibre is stamped on the main plate under the balance.  In the shot below, all I see is H and Cal 73.  So this is a Hamilton calibre 73... for what that's worth.  There may be a 21 jewel version of the 623 that uses the same main plate - like the Hamilton 64 and the 694A.

Everything is ready to be reassembled with fresh lubricants.

The four train wheels go in first, with oil in all the jewels.  The the train bridge goes on top and I carefully tweak each wheel until the bridge falls into place and the four wheels spin with no resistance.

With the train bridge installed, the next part on is the pallet fork.  Each jewel and pallet stones get a tiny amount of oil and the pallet bridge goes into place.

Now I can install the mainspring barrel and put the barrel bridge back on.

With a few turns to the mainspring, the watch is energized and I can put the balance back on.  If everything is lined up correctly, the watch will start running and I can secure the balance cock.

There - so far so good.  It's off to the timer to find out how it's performing.

Well... that's not so good.  The two lines are far apart and a little bumpy.  I'll reclean the hairspring and run it past the demagnetizer.

Getting warmer but still looking a little bumpy.  Once more into the cleaner.

There, much better.  The amplitude of 233 is fine.  I haven't wound the watch up very much yet.

Now I can put the crown, minute wheel and setting wheel back on... each gets a dollop of oil.  Then I'll flip the watch over and put the oscillating weight back on.

The dial and hands go back on next.  I need to put the hands on with the assembly in the case so I can use the crown to set the hour hand to midnight and then put the minute hand on top.

The last thing to go on is a fresh PHD high dome crystal in 28.1mm.

With a very nice genuine alligator strap, this T-412 is ready for some more wrist time.  A new crystal and gentle buffing of the case has returned this watch to showroom condition.  This is a very nice T-412 for sure.

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1960 Thinline 5000

"Thin was in" in the 1960's and Hamilton introduced a lot of "thin" models as either Thin-o-matics or Thinline manual winding models.  The models featured everything from solid gold cases to stainless steel.  So there was something for everyone if they wanted to be "thin".

Although the Thinline line was introduced in 1958, in 1960 the model line really took off.  One of the 1960 models was the Thinline 5000.  The model was produced for only two years and it came with your choice of a white or black dial.

The Thinline models followed the same nomenclature as the various automatic models with numbering models based on the case material.   The number 5 represents stainless steel and the Thinline 5000 was the first Thinline to have a stainless steel case.

A lot of Thinlines used Buren movements as Hamilton eventually acquired Buren in the 1960's.  But the Thinline 5000 used a Hamilton 676 movement.  You don't see the 676 very often and it was made by Aurore-Villeret, a Swiss ebauche maker and part of the ESA conglomerate that owned other makers like ETA and Valjoux.  Like other Swiss makers, AV movements were used in many other brands, including Breitling.

I recently landed a Thinline 5000 project watch and it took me a little while to identify it because it doesn't say Thinline on it.  I thought it might be a "sea something" and be one of the many sea models.  It's interesting that my project watch doesn't say Thinline on the dial.  Maybe this is an early model?  I've seen other examples without "Thinline" though and I've 99% sure this isn't a refinished dial.

My project watch was not running.  I could wind and wind and wind it without every getting any resistance so I was hopeful it just needed a mainspring - in addition to a bit of cleaning.

The case is a one-piece design and opens through the front by lifting off the crystal.

The dial appears to be original and the finish has some bubbles or bumps on the main field.  There are concentric rings around the perimeter that accentuate the embossed numerals and markers.  The hands are missing some luminous paint.  I'll redo them and the dial so the watch will glow in the dark again (when charged with light first).

The 17 jewel 676 is filthy but it should clean up well.

You can see why this is a Thinline model - check out how flat this movement is from the side.

I've removed the hour wheel, cannon pinion and one of the screws from the set bridge but figured I'd take a photo to show you the dial-sode of the movement.  I think this is my first 676.

The backside of the movement looks familiar to other Swiss-grades in Hamilton's line up but there are a few differences too - like very tiny incabloc shock jewels on the balance.

Three screws hold the barrel bridge on and with that out of the way I can get to the mainspring barrel.  It's possible the arbor has just come loose of the mainspring but I suspect the spring is broken.

Yup - white alloy mainsprings are sometimes called "lifetime" springs but they do occasionally break.

With most of the parts cleared away you can see the AV 4201 stamped into the main plate.  The AV is in a shield - typical of Swiss makers.  If I wanted to order parts for this movement I could just look for parts for an AV 4201 rather than a Hamilton 676.

Everything is cleaned and dried but first I need to find a mainspring.

I got lucky and happened to have a new mainspring on hand.  The 687 is a Buren movement and largely identical to the 676, except it has a glucydur balance.

The Swiss mainsprings typically have a tang-end that catches the sidewall of the barrel as opposed to a t-end.  One the shot below, the mainspring has been installed, along with the arbor and a little mainspring grease.  Now I just need to pop the cover back on.

All the wheels are in position and I'll but the train bridge on next.  It's best to put the train bridge on first as getting four pivots to all line up is tricky if there are other parts in the way.  I'll put the pallet fork on next.  It's tempting to put the pallet in first but it can interfere with the escape wheel when you're positioning the train bridge.  It's best to put the pallet fork in after the escape wheel is in place.

Now all I need to install is the balance assembly.

The movement is ticking away with good motion - it's off to the timer to listen to it's ticking.

That's not too shabby.  It's a little fast but I'll leave it for now as it should settle down after a while.

The old crystal was crazed and beat up so I'll replace it.  Since this is a Thinline, I'll try a PK style low profile crystal in 30.8mm diameter.

The PK crystal was a little too thin at the dial and it allowed the dial to move slightly.  I'll need a slightly thicker crystal so I'll switch to a PHD style in the same diameter.  It has a slightly higher dome but it will keep the dial from rattling inside.

This watch turned out pretty nice.  The new crystal, fresh lume on the hands and a nice lizard strap really make the watch pop.  There's not much I can do about the spotting on the dial - most people born in 1960 have a few spots too.  It comes with the territory.