1968 Sea Skip II

"The end is nigh..." is a term that is popular for describing a situation of looming doom.  I wonder if the graphic artists behind the 1968 / 69 model catalog had a sense of what the future held and that US production would be discontinued in the near future?  

The graphic chosen does seem to present an image of biblical proportion - almost like it was inspired by Ben Hur... but I doubt it.

Hamilton continued to introduce new models so I doubt the environment was completely desperate.  In fact, by the end of the 1960's Hamilton had other interests beyond just watches.  The Hamilton Watch Company owned other divisions like Military Products, Precision Metals, and an Instruments Division, among other things.

One of the models introduced in 1968 was the Sea Skip II.  It was produced through 1971.

The Sea Skip II was one of the many Sea-somethings and it's an interesting looking stainless steel model with a "diamond-edge" faceted acrylic crystal.  You could get it on a matching bracelet or on a strap.

I recently came upon a Sea Skip II for sale and when it arrived I was almost sure it was close to new old stock.  It was in great shape and the bracelet it came with seemed to be an excellent choice.

Of course, upon close examination I realized it was a Speidel bracelet and that meant it was quite likely not the original bracelet.  Comparing it to the catalog removed all doubt, but the bracelet was still a very complementary design nonetheless.

Like most Sea-somethings, the Sea Skip II opens through the crystal and once the crystal is lifted out of the way, the movement can be carefully pivoted out of the case and separated from the crown.

Looking inside the case there are no service marks inside.  The lower of the two numbers is the model number and the last two digits (68) indicate this model was introduced in 1968.  The number above is a unique serial number for this case.

Inside the case is a 17 jewel Hamilton 688  movement.  This movement is very similar to the ETA-based automatic movements used in the 1960's but it's a manual movement and missing the automatic framework takes onto the back.

Everything is cleaned and dried before being reassembled with fresh lubricants.

The freshly cleaned movement is sparkly clean and ticking away with good motion.  Off to the timer to see how well it's performing.

Well... something is going on inside.  Could be a piece of lint or dust in the wrong place.

It took some tweaking and recleaning but eventually the signature on the timer looks great.

With all of the other parts reinstalled, the finished watch looks even better than when it arrived.  The black and white hands and hour markers change colors with how the light reflects.  From this angle the hands look black.

From the side the hands show off their chrome and black design.  The faceted crystal adds and extra bit of bling to an already blingy watch.

Mystery 1969 Dateline S-6-something

The last catalog for the 1960's that I'm aware of is for 1968 and 1969.  For any model that was introduced in 1969 but not continued into the 1970's, there is no catalog depiction.  There are some well known US-made uncatalogued models from this year - like the Hamilton Liberty Coin.  But how would you know it's a 1969 model if it's not in a catalog?

Some non-cataloged models showed up in Hamilton advertisements.  The Hamilton Oval comes to mind - it wasn't shown in the 1928 catalog but it was advertised.  Of course the serial number of the movement helps to date watches from that era.

In the mid 1950's Hamilton stopped putting serial numbers on movements but in the 1960s they started adding model numbers to cases.  When applicable, the last two digits of the model number represents the first year of production.  So a model with a number that ends with 69 would be a 1969 model.

Mystery solved - sort of.  The model number doesn't tell you the model name, if it had one.

I recently had someone contact me about a watch that they were given by their grandfather and they wanted to know more about.  As you can see in the photo, it was in need of some help since the date complication wouldn't work.

I pulled the crown on the project watch out in order to pull the movement out the front.  In this shot of the case back you can see the model number is 920669, making this a 1969 model.

The movement inside the watch is a Hamilton 674.  This movement is based on an ETA 2408 and was used in the 1960s.  In the 1970s it was changed to a Hamilton 62 and it basically the same.

As you can see on the inside of the case, there is a serial number that is unique to this watch.  This numbers doesn't signify anything.  Presumably another watch was 040 and another was 042.  Based on the 10K RGP bezel and stainless steel back, I would presume this is a Dateline S-67-something... maybe a 677 since there was a S-676 in 1966.

The owner of this watch said his grandfather had a friend who worked on watches and he lost a part that made the date function work.  With the dial removed, I'd say he lost at least three parts.  First the driving gear for the date drive wheel is missing.  So there's nothing connecting the hour wheel in the center to the large golden wheel in the upper left.  There's also a screw missing for the set bridge.  Finally, based on the date being stuck between 30 and 31, I suspect the date jumper spring is also missing.

Yup - there's no U-shaped spring pushing the date jumper against the date wheel.  The date jumper centers the date wheel in between teeth when the drive wheel rotates the wheel clockwise.  I should be able to scavenge all of the missing parts from a donor movement.

I don't really like to work on watches that someone else has already buggered up.  I know I'm not alone in that preference - most professional watchmakers feel the same way.  It can take a lot of time to find and fix things that aren't right.  However, it's not usual to lose a part - tweezers can send a tiny part screw off into the stratosphere, never to be seen again.  What is unusual is to not replace it when you can't find it.  So I suspect the last guy to work on this watch wasn't a professional and that means this watch could have some other serious issues.

Everything gets taken apart, inspected and thoroughly cleaned.

The hands were missing most of their luminous paint.  So I will reapply a fresh coat.

The reassembled movement is now ticking away but the motion doesn't look quite right to my eye.  I'll let the timer tell me what's going on inside.

The beat error is a bit high - another clue that the last guy who opened this watch wasn't a pro.  The amplitude of 133 is way too low.  That tells me either the mainspring isn't the correct one for this watch or there's a problem with the barrel.

First I'll tweak the hairspring stud index and reduce the beat error.  Anything less than 1.0ms is good in my book but the closer to zero the better.

Sure enough, when I reinstalled the mainspring the lid on the barrel didn't fully close, or it popped back up.  That's enough that a tiny amount of drag was introduced, robbing the watch of power and resulting in low amplitude.

Okay - now I'm up to over 200 degrees.  That's not too bad since I haven't fully wound the watch.  There's no crown on the stem so it's a little hard to wind.

All of the parts for the date complication are present and accounted for.  Now the date function should work.

With the movement reinstalled in the case, I can fully wind the watch.  Notice the amplitude has increased.  I'm happy with an amplitude over 250 degrees.

I reinstalled the hands at 12:00 midnight so the time will match when the date changes.  Notice how the date is now centered in the window - that's thanks to the date jumper spring that I installed.  The new luminous paint on the hands really stands out nicely.   This watch is ready for wrist time and will be a great memento of the owner's grandfather.

1957 Lincrest

There's an interesting bit of Hamilton trivia involving a few different models from the 1950's that shared the same cases.  One example is the Transcontinental A and the Automatic K-455.  Another is the Cross Country II and the 1957 Lincrest.

The 1957 Lincrest was produced for two years.

The Lincrest is a very unique-looking watch and has a complicated dial with radiating lines that look like a star-burst.  Two dial options were available, black or white.  Personally I think the dial makes reading the time a little difficult but it's still a very sharp looking model.  If it looks a little familiar, it might be because it looks a lot like a 1958 Automatic K-409.

Tucked inside the case is an 18 jewel Lancaster-made 735 movement.

I recently received a Lincrest from a friend and it was in need of a little TLC.  It would run and stop.  Black dialed watches are very popular.  One of the challenges of a black dialed watch is they show every little spec of dust and lint that falls on, or within, the crystal.

I like the red-tipped second hand, without that the second hand would get lost in all of the golden radiating lines.

The stainless steel back looks almost as if this was a one-piece case, but it's not.

If you look very closely at the rear cover you can see there's a slight lip between the lugs.  I can slip my case knife in there and pop back cover off.

Here's something you don't see every day - a Hamilton strap.  Is it original to the watch?  Possibly.

Here's one potential reason for the intermittent running.  Notice the second hand is flared upward.  It might be rubbing the inside of the crystal and stopping the watch.

The 735 is a shock jeweled version of the older 748 movement.  This one is in good shape but could stand to be cleaned.

Notice the inside of the case back is stamped "Cross Country II" and misguidedly makes identifying this model problematic.  Although the only difference between the Cross Country II and the Lincrest is the dial.

Speaking of the dial, this one has all the indications of being original.  There are no markings on the case back whatsoever.

The crystal that came on the watch is a bit beat up so I will replace it.  Looks like a 28.7mm diameter crystal will be required.

A GS PHD high dome crystal should do nicely.

Everything is cleaned and readied for reassembly.

The 735 and 748 can be challenging movements to reassemble but this one came together pretty easily and it's back to running smoothly.

Oops... I spoke too soon.  Something inside is making a lot of noise, relatively speaking.  I'll reclean the hairspring and try again.

There... that's much better.  I'll leave it running a smidgen fast for now.

This watch really came together nicely.  I was able to clean the dial, polish the case and with a new crystal this watch is ready for wrist time.