1940 Kane - 917 Pocket Watch

One of the things I've enjoyed doing in the past is pocket watch conversions.  I say "enjoyed" because it was interesting to do, but it's not a task I particularly find enjoyable.  It's more along the lines of finding satisfaction by utilizing a fine movement in a manner in which it was not originally intended and would not have probably been used much otherwise.

My first interest in Hamilton watches was piqued by pocket watches.  I inherited by grandfather's railroad watch (apparently he worked on a railroad in his younger years).  According to my mom, he was very proud of the watch, although he never talked with me about it.  He was a pretty private guy, but I'm sure he'd be happy to know that I still have it.

There's something about the confidently loud ticking of an accurate pocket watch - like the closing segment of CBS's 60 Minutes news show.  I first learned to work on watches by tinkering with pocket watches.

Pocket watches come in all sorts of varieties and you could spend a lot of time and money trying to find good examples of all of the models that Hamilton offered.  Unlike other American brands of the era, Hamilton only produced high quality movements and up.  The entry-level Hamilton movement is far superior to what other brands offered, although other brands offered high end movements too.

The basic metric to use to establish "quality" is the jewel count.  The jewels are just that, rubies or sapphire stones used as the bearing surfaces inside the watch.  A movement is considered "fully jeweled" at 15 jewels. From there you can start adding jewels but most of them will be cap jewels that cover the end surfaces of other jewels.

Other than some very early movements, the Hamilton line up started at 17 jewels.  That meant that every wheel was supported by jeweled bearings.  So that's the center wheel, third wheel, fourth wheel, escape wheel and balance wheel - accounting for 10 jewels (one on each end).  The balance wheel has two cap jewels covering the balance staff pivots, bringing the count up to 12.  The balance also has an impulse pin or jewel - so that's 13.  The remaining four jewels are in the pallet fork and the jewels that support it... that's 17.  

A 15 jewel movement will often drop the jewels at the center wheel.  A 19 jewel movement will add cap jewels for the escape wheel.  A 21 jewel movement adds cap jewels for the pallet fork. A 23 jewel movement will add jewels to support the barrel.  Of course, that's generally what Hamilton did, other makers could do things differently.

As you can imagine, the more jewels added, the higher quality the movement.  In addition, Hamilton would add other attributes to high jeweled movements - like the wheels could be solid gold!  The quality of the machined damascening and plating could also be add-ons.

The sky is really the limit and a super high grade caliber like a 950 Railroad grade is truly a beauty to behold.

Eventually and unsurprisingly, I quickly realized Hamilton made a ton of wrist watches too - so my collecting interests rapidly evolved to watches I could wear and enjoy more often.  After that, I went deep down the rabbit hole, as this blog will attest.

Anyway, I still have a soft place in my heart for pocket watches and I will take them on from time to time.  I was recently asked to help with a watch that was an heirloom but not working.

Looking at it I was a little suspicious... does this dial look legit to you?

Hamilton offered all sorts of dials in varying degree of quality, but never anything "cheap".  I'm not saying this dial looks cheap, it just looks like you'd expect to see real applied gold numerals, as opposed to gold leaf.

Once I had the watch in hand, I was able to date it and it turns out it's 100% legitimate (or close to it).

It's a 1940 Kane.  Based on the catalog, I'd expect the hands to be blue spear style, instead of gold pointex, but maybe that was changed at some point.

Inside the case is a 17 jewel 917 movement.  This caliber was introduced in 1935 and made for a LONG time, well into the 60's.  The Kane was offered in 1935 as well and the catalog calls out the dial as a number E-5.

I know my project watch is from 1940 based on the movement serial number.

The case back has a little lip you can see protruding at about 1:00 in the photo below.  I can slip my case knife in there and pop the cover off.  The catalog states "without inside cap" as part of the description - that simply means there's no dust cover over the movement - just the case back.  Other 917 cases often have a dust cover under the case back and the dust cover will often have a presentation, if it was given for Christmas or graduation, etc.

This cover shows some wear but it's in good shape and I can probably improve it with a little simichrome polish.

As expected, inside is a 17 jewel 917 movement.  The next step up would be the 921, then then 923, and eventually there would be a 945 but in that case, the 45 doesn't indicate the number of jewels... for the other three movements it does.

This watch is not running for at least one obvious reason - the balance wobbles and that means the balance staff pivots are gone.  The crack in the crystal could be a clue to what happened - this watch was probably dropped.  That's the main reason I don't covert pocket watches to wrist watches any longer - they are not intended for the use and abuse that a wrist can deliver.  They are much better suited to the protection offered by a vest pocket or that little pocket in your blue jeans, inside the right front pocket.

The inside of the case back is ornately engraved Hamilton Watch Co with a serial number unique to this case.  That serial number is meaningless though, the movement serial number is used to date the watch.

The mainspring inside the barrel is old blue steel and likely has "set" into a coil and lost most of it's energy.

Yup, you can tell that I've seen this situation a few hundred times before.

A fresh Dynavar mainspring will provide a "lifetime" of service - as long as the watch doesn't get dropped again.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  I had a donor movement with a good balance so with any luck I can use that.  My stash of donor movements is almost depleted.  I have found getting replacement movements has gotten to be very expensive.  It's not unusual to see a loose 917 movement sell on eBay for well north of $150.  I guess more people are into wrist watch conversions. 

The first parts back on are the train wheels and once the bridges are in place, all of the wheels should spin freely.  Then I can carefully install the pallet fork.

The pallet fork is in place and I've installed the winding and ratchet wheels.  Now I can wind the watch and, with any luck, the balance will start ticking when I get it in place.

Success!  The balance is spinning briskly and even my camera can't freeze it in time.

It's running a smidgeon slow and there is a little extraneous noise.  I'll reclean the hairspring and that will clear that up.

A new crystal completes the restoration of the 86 year old Kane.  This was a really fun and interesting project - I'm glad I was able to save it so it can continue to be a treasured heirloom for it's owner's family.

1941 Lexington

One of my favorite models is the 1941 Lexington.  I suppose that's for a few reasons.  

First, as a former naval officer, the name reminds me of the USS Lexington(s), of WWII.  The original USS Lexington (CV-2) was the second aircraft carrier built by the US Navy.  It was sunk in the battle of the Coral Sea.  Another carrier was already being built (the Cabot) CV-16 and was renamed the USS Lexington while under construction and served during WWII, then off and on until it was finally decommissioned in 1991, while I was in the Navy.  I remember seeing it the fleet, it was the training ship for naval aviators.  It's a museum now in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Second, the watch was intended for use with service members.  The Endicott and Sentinel were similarly marketed and those are personal favorites too.  I find that very interesting, since WWII didn't actually begin for the United States until the very end of 1941, after the watches came out.  So it gives you some insight into the political climate prior to WWII with war on the horizon.

The 1941 Lexington is also a milestone model for Hamilton.  It was the first model to utilize stainless steel.  Up until 1941, Hamilton never used stainless steel for any wrist watch model.  It also never used rolled gold plated cases.  So that's a great insight to know if you see a Hamilton wrist watch with a 987 movement in a case with a stainless steel back or a RGP bezel... it's not an authentic model.

The code price of 12 equated to $42.50.   That's the equivalent of about $940 in today's currency - so it was not an inexpensive watch.

The Lexington is very distinctive looking with a black dial (uncommon prior to 1941) and slender white baton hands.  It's not luminous but the black dial with white letters is very easy to read.  The stainless steel case is solidly built and although the watch is very small by modern standards, it feels substantial in the hand.

My project watch looks like it's never been altered in the past 85 years.  The glass crystal has plenty of bumps and bruises.  Stainless steel can take a beating and this case shows some wear but a thorough cleaning will do it some good.  The baton hands look exactly as they should.  This is a model where the hands are really important.  Any other style of hands would look out of place, in my opinion.  The scale of the hands seems to match the font size of the numerals and width of the hour 5 minute indices, don't you think?

The back of the case is nicely engraved with the initials (I presume) of the original owner.

The black dial seems to have a dusty-looking patina.  I'm going to let sleeping dogs lie though.  Black dials are very hard to clean as they seem to turn grey if attempt even a gentle cleaning.  That said, they will often look better if you get them wet, so sometimes I will spritz them with a light spray of clear lacquer and make a faded dial look much better.  This one is perfect, I wouldn't change (or risk) a thing.

Tucked behind the dial is a 14/0 sized, 17 jewel 980 movement - exactly what you'd expect to see.  

Check out the crown... it has a prominent long post.  This crown design accommodates the shape of the case opening (or stem tube).  One of the most common questions I receive is "what crown do I need" and that's a surprisingly complicated question to answer.  

How would you describe this crown?  There's the material of construction, the diameter of the head, the length of the post, the diameter of the post, the thread for the stem, etc. etc. etc.   It's really one of those "you know it when you see it" things.  Sometimes the Hamilton parts manual specifies the crown for specific models, but often times it doesn't and in those situations you really have to give it your best guess.

Once the dial is lifted out of the way, I can see that the arm on the set bridge / yoke has broken off.  This little arm is the detent that keeps the stem in either the winding or the setting position.  I'll need to replace this part to keep the watch from accidentally going in to the setting position while it's being worn.

The watch was not working when I received it and here's one of the reasons... the mainspring is broken.  It's also fairly "set" and would have needed to be replaced anyway.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  This can be a challenging movement for beginners to reassemble thanks to the train bridge design but after 1,000 attempts you get the hang of it.  When I first started working on watches this design, the 982, and the 748 movement would almost drive me to tears.

The reassembled movement is ticking away with a nice motion.  Even the balance is blurred by the camera.

It's running a little fast but that should be easy to adjust.

Okay - that should do the trick.

My posts may make it look like every watch goes perfectly.  That's not always the situation though.  In full disclosure, this movement ran great... until you moved it crown down, then it locked up.  Obviously watches need to run in all positions but they may run differently in certain positions.  Wrist watches were typically adjusted to three positions... dial up, dial down, and pendant (crown) up.  If you look at railroad watches, they're adjusted to the other positions that you might find a watch in your pocket... pendant to the left, pendant right, etc.

So what would make a watch stop in a certain position? Great question... really it could be anything.  Every wheel (and the pallet fork) rides on two pivots.  Dial up or dial down they're riding on only one, depending on the orientation.  However, rotate the movement on it's side and both pivots are in use and if any of them have an issue, it could stop the watch.

My experience has been it's either the pallet fork or the balance.  Usually it's the balance.  It could be the pivots or it could be something else that gravity effects only in a certain direction.

Anyway, I ended up taking the movement apart and checking everything very closely, ultimately resolving the issue after replacing the balance assembly.  Now it runs great in all positions.

I replaced the beat up crystal with a fresh glass crystal and now the watch looks as good as it runs.  This is a great watch and easy to see why it's a personal favorite.

1955 Automatic K-403

The first automatics in Hamilton's lineup were originally branded as Illinois watches.  Interestingly, they used ETA movements.  

Within a year or two Hamilton-branded automatics were introduced.  The earliest models used Eterna movements but those were rapidly replaced by Kirth Freres (Certina).  The model line was aptly named the Automatic K-series.  Although the K-series continued to be made in the 1960s, by the end of the 1950s two additional automatic model lines were introduced... the Accumatic series and the Thin-o-matic series.

The K-series is probably my favorite of the three.  That's mainly because they are big and chunky and each one is a little different.

A good example is the 1955 Automatic K-403.  It was produced for three years. 

As you can see the catalog depiction, the K-403 was available on a bracelet or a strap.  It features a 10K yellow gold filled case.  The dial is embossed with numerals and markers with a pearled track.  It's "waterproof" but I wouldn't put that to the test.

My project watch is in very good condition.  The dial is a little toned from the luminous paint on the hands but nothing too distracting.  The bracelet is nice but it's not original, so I could take it or leave it.  Personally, I'm a strap man.

The case back is engraved with a somewhat cryptic presentation from 1956.

The inside of the case back makes identifying the model easy - it's stamped right inside the case back.  The movement is in excellent condition.  

Everything is cleaned and readied for reassembly.  There are a lot of parts to an automatic but this movement is very straightforward to put back together.

The basic movement, sans the automatic bits, is back together and running nicely.  Let's see what the timer has to say about it.

It's running a little fast but it won't take much of an adjustment to slow it down a smidgeon.

There... a tweak here, a tweak there, a tweak here again, eventually I get it in the ballpark.  I'll leave it a little fast for now.

The finished watch looks fantastic, partly due to having a fresh crystal.  This is a sharp watch with an interesting design.  I like the shape of the lugs and the accents around the perimeter.