1971 Dateline TM-5902

It's official... I have a new least favorite movement.  The Hamilton 629.  I've never worked on a 629 until now.  So I took extra photos to show you how it comes apart.

The 629 is a 17 jewel micro-rotor movement with a date complication.  It was used in Thin-o-matic models as part of the Dateline series.  One of the models is the 1971 Dateline TM-5902.  It was made for two years.

The TM-5902 came in a stainless steel case.  It clearly has 1970's styling with funky round hour markers and fat ol' hands.  It came with an integrated bracelet with lugs that were hidden by the bracelet and the snap-on bezel.

My project watch came courtesy of a fellow collector who found it at a jewelry story as left over inventory.  So it looks like it's brand new.

The bezel pops off with a case knife to reveal what looks like an ordinary round watch.  Now I can grab the crystal and open the watch.

"The claw" makes short work of opening the watch.  The next trick is to get the movement to separate from the two-piece stem.

The 629 movement looks to be in excellent condition - which you would expect from a showroom "case queen" that has never been used.

The dial foot screws are set at an angle on the sides.  Two screws hold the dial on.  Look how tall the hour markers are.

The dial-side of the main plate has instructions for assembling the front.  I'm not sure what step 1 is supposed to be though.  Step two is to add the hour wheel and step three is to slide the keeper down to hold the hour wheel in place.  Two screws hold the cover in place.  Once they are removed I can gently pry the cover up and out of the way.

This is interesting... I removed the canon pinion from the center.  It's actually not driven by the center wheel.  It's driven by the minute wheel to the right of center and the center wheel is under the set bridge.  This style movement has a friction set wheel on the center wheel post. So it is driven by the center wheel when the watch runs but it can be overcome when setting the time without jarring the gear train.

The back of the cover has a spring to hold the indexing arm against the date wheel.

Now I'll start to remove the wheels that drive the calendar complication.  The largest wheel and smallest wheels are lifted off but the golden wheel in the middle has a screw holding it down.

Now to remove the wheels under the set bridge on the right.

The white colored gear is the center wheel and it actually comes out the back.  The other gears can be lifted out now.

With all the parts removed from the front, I can turn my attention to the back of the movement.

First I'll take the balance off.  

Then I'll pull the pallet fork.  That will allow the gear train to unwind fully.  Two screws hold the oscillating weight in place.  I'll remove that to keep it from flopping around.

Next, I'll remove the large ratchet wheel and get ready to pull the barrel bridge.

With the barrel bridge and train bridge removed you can see the power train.  The second wheel drives the third wheel as well as a seconds pinion under it's own bridge in the center.

The gear train for the automatic winding complication can be removed now.  There's one arbor-less gear under the rose-colored jewel.  I'll slide that out once the other wheels are removed.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  So far I haven't lost any parts either - which is good, since I don't have a spare movement to steal from.

For reassembly, the first things I'll install are the setting parts.  That way I can use the set bridge to secure the center wheel when I install it from the other side.

Now I'll install the train wheels and the seconds pinion.

When I went to install the barrel bridge, I noticed the click spring was missing.  I eventually found it on my workbench.

Finally, the movement is ready to wind and reinstall the balance.

First the balance jewels have to be reinstalled under their Kif-style shock springs.

The watch is running without it's other balance jewel.  That's a good sign.  I'll install the jewel and put the movement on the timer.

Interesting... this movement has a 19800 beats per hour beat rate.  That's 5.5 beats per second, a little faster than the typical pre-1969 movement.

With a little tweaking I get the beat error to come in line.

And a little more tweaking gets the beat rate to level off too.  Not too shabby.

I'll install the original bracelet that my friend included with his watch.

Voila! You'd be hard-pressed to find a nicer looking TM-5902, I bet.  After a few minutes I realized the minute hand wasn't moving.  The second hand was fine but the other hands didn't move.  That meant the collar on the center wheel needed to be tightened.  So I had to take it apart again and use my staking set to tighten the friction-fit collar on the center wheel.  That's not fun - especially if you don't have a spare.  However, I was successful eventually and now the watch runs as nice as it looks.

I don't care much for the 629.  It took me the better part of three hours to complete this project.  There are a lot of obscure parts to the movement so having a donor movement on hand would be helpful.  There are several springs to be careful of and the date complication is a little wonky.

The large golden wheel that drives the date complication makes a complete revolution every four hours.  Each time it spins it gets a little closer to moving the date wheel. At 8:00PM it almost changes the date and the date wheel flutters but doesn't change.  When it reaches 12:00 AM it changes the date and then the wheel goes back to it's 4 hour cycle.

1972 Dateline A-593

Hamilton wasn't consistent with how it named calendar models in the 1970's.  Sometimes models are Auto Cal models and sometimes they carried over the Dateline A-series that began in the 1960's.

Go figure.

One of the Dateline models was the 1972 Dateline A-593.  It was produced for three years.

You can't tell from the black and white catalog image what the Dateline A-593 ought to look like.  The case is stainless steel and the dial is light gray - that's about all you know.  The watch also uses a Quick Change II movement.

I received my project watch from a friend of mine.  I happened to see this watch on eBay a while ago and I suspect my buddy had the bracelet for it.  He's one of those crazy people who hoards bracelets in the hopes he someday finds the watch to go with it.  As a result, he has a world-class collection of Hamiltons with their original bracelets.

Looking at the project watch, I can see it has an issue with the stem.  I thought initially it was just too long.  However, it doesn't wind the watch.  I can pull it out to set the date and time though - just not wind the watch.

This bracelet has a deployment style clasp that is still installed on new Hamiltons today.

The case has a screw-on case back - that tells me this is a one-piece stem - which is good.  Two-piece stems can be finicky to trim.

The 822 movement is based on an ETA 2783 movement - and you'll see why in a second.  Notice the screw that holding the rotor on.  It has something under it.

To get the movement out I need to remove the stem first.  I have to push the set lever indent in and pull the stem out at the same time.

The ETA 2783 uses a helicoid stem with a funny twist.  The ETA 2782 uses a straight stem.  So this watch has the wrong stem installed.  It will fit but it won't move the clutch wheel up against the winding pinion.  The twist of the helicoid stem is what works that magic and allows the watch to wind manually.

I noticed an odd washer-like thing on top of the 4th wheel pivot.  I also noticed the screw on the ratchet wheel isn't correct.  In fact, the screw that held the rotor on is for the ratchet wheel and the ratchet wheel is for the rotor.  Whoever reassembled this watch last time went through a lot of trouble to put the screws in the wrong spots - and had to add a washer to make it work.

The dial-side of the main plate looks to be in good shape.

Everything is taken fully apart and cleaned.  Time for reassembly.

The watch didn't want to run cleanly.  Ultimately, I realized the hairspring is bent.  The watch will tick but it won't keep time well.

I had to take the hairspring off in order to try to get it back in shape.  It's not perfect but hopefully it will work better now.  Hairsprings are REALLY hard to tweak - it takes a lot of patience and excellent No 5. Dumont tweezers.

Ultimately I had to resort to plan B - and use a replacement balance.  My tweaked hairspring was better but still not good enough.  I think I got it shaped well in the round but it wasn't exactly flat.  This type of balance is used in a lot of ETA grades from the 1970's and I happened to have a nice donor.

Looks like it's going to need a little tweaking ... the amplitude is great but the beat error and beat rate need to be adjusted.  Fortunately, this balance is very easy to adjust both metrics.

How's that for dialing the specs?  I'll leave it running a little fast for now and adjust it again after it settles in.

Everything looks great now that it's reinstalled in the case.  The orange hands definitely make a statement on the otherwise mono-chromatic background.  This watch surely fits in well with "big and chunky" theme I'll have going for the next few watches.

1973 Auto Cal Sovereign

Fans of the Madagascar movies might recall the scene where "Moto Moto" puts his moves on "Gloria".  He likes 'm big, he likes 'm chunky.

Moto Moto must have worked at Hamilton in the 1970's, as that's a great way to describe many of the models introduced in that decade.

I'll have a few of them to show soon but I'll start with the 1973 Auto Cal Sovereign.  The model was produced for four years.

The Auto Cal Sovereign, as you might guess, is an automatic with a calendar complication.  The Q/C II designation means that it's got a quick change setting ability that allows you to easily set the date.  Prior calendar models required you to advance in time to change the date.  With the Q/C function, you pull the crown out midway between the winding position and the time setting position and you can change the date by turning the crown.

The Sovereign came in a 14K yellow gold electroplated case with a stainless steel back.  The dial is blue and the second hand is white.  So it's very colorful model.

You didn't see colored dials on Hamiltons before 1969 other than the basics... white, silver, black, and occasionally gold.  The 1970's was a different story.

My Auto Cal Sovereign wasn't very attractive based on the seller's photo but the their description didn't sound too bad, "In good condition with minor surface scratches on case and crystal."  The dial appeared to have dust or something on it but it otherwise looked like it should clean up well.

One of the things that working on watches teaches you is patience.  It also gives you a healthy dose of humility, from time to time.  Having tenacity and a flair for persistence isn't a bad idea either.

So even though I'm in the 99th percentile of patience, tenacity, and persistence, I sometimes get a little eager to "tear into" a new project when the mailman drops one off.

That was the case with this watch.  I got into it without my camera handy and I just couldn't stop myself.  So I don't have my usual photos to describe my project.

Long story short, the seller's description wasn't entirely true...  the watch was good apparent condition with minor surface scratches on case and crystal.  However, what the seller seemed to miss was that the crown was frozen on and the watch could not be wound or set.

That's pretty much why I got carried away.  My initial inspection of the watch led me to realize it was a rusty mess in the keyless works area and it was totally seized up inside.  The watch would run if the automatic wound it - but there was no way the time or date could be set.

Grrr!

Taking apart a rusty watch is a real pain but I eventually got there and I used parts from a donor movement to get everything back in shape.

The movement inside my project watch is a caliber 821.  It's pretty darned similar to an 822 and, in fact, I have no idea what the difference could possibly be.  There must be something though. As you can see by the shape of the rotor - it's an ETA based grade.

I was able to clean the dial up very well.  It's not 100% but it's more than presentable.  I replaced the beat up old crystal with a GS Evr-Tite 29.6mm crystal with a yellow reflector ring.  I paired the watch with a nice leather strap with blue stitching.  It's a pretty sharp combination, if you like 'm big and chunky.

A lot of models from the 1970's later are also identified by the numbers on the case back.  So the Auto Cal Sovereign is identifiable by the number 840007-4.  The -4 indicates the bezel should be yellow.