1935 Ramsey Pocket Watch with 918 - Ask the Man Who Owns One...

Hamilton made all sorts of awards watches for organizations or companies.  You could even personalize your own watch by putting your name on the dial in place of numerals for hour markers!

One of the most prolific companies to use Hamilton watches for awards was the Packard Motor Car Company.  Packard was well known for creating luxury cars, especially before WWII.  During the war, Packard made lots of military-related products, including the Liberty V-12 engine used by the US Navy in PT boats.

After the war, Packard struggled to compete with the Big 3 automakers... GM, Ford, and Chrysler.  Eventually Packard merged with Studebaker to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation.  After several years of declining sales, the Packard brand ended in 1959.

You will find a variety of Packard awards watches out in the wild and they're easy to spot because they all have the Pakard slogan "Ask the man who owns one" on the dial.  This slogan came from the advertising jingle that promoted the brand...

"Ride ride ride ride ride along
in your Packard, in your Packard.
In a Packard you've got the world on a string.
In a Packard car you feel like a king.
Ride ride ride ride ride along
in your Packard, what fun!
And ask the man, just ask the man
the lucky man who owns one!"

As an awards watch, they're usually cased in solid gold so I've come across plenty of movements with dials after their case was scrapped but I haven't had a complete watch until now.

It's a pocket watch model called the Ramsey from 1935.

The Ramsey was cased in solid 14K gold, either in white or natural gold (yellow).  You could choose the dial you wanted as well as one of three movements, the 922 with 23 jewels, the 904 with 21 jewels or the 918 with 19 jewels.  These movements would all be replaced in a year or two with the soon to be released 917, 921 and 923 movements.

All the physical dimensions of the 918, 904 and 922 are the same, the construction of the movements improved along with the jewel count.  The 918 movement was a fine movement with nickel plating, 19 extra-fine ruby and sapphire jewels, solid gold chatons (jewel settings), micrometric regulator and it was adjusted to temperature as well as three positions (dial up, dial down, pendant up).  The 904 and the 922 included white gold plating on the movement, solid gold train wheels, and were adjusted to five positions.  The 922 is an especially attractive movement.

My project watch arrived courtesy of it's current owner.  It's a family heirloom and way overdue for restoration,  It's not mine, but I'm grateful it's being saved for future generations, as the solid gold case is quite valuable.  The Ramsey was priced at $100 in 1935... that's $2400 in today's dollars but with gold over $4,000 an ounce, this watch is probably worth that or more in gold alone! 

The case back snaps on and you just need a fingernail to get it to open.

Under the rear cover is a dust cover that bears the presentation to the recipient from 1935 for 10 years of service.  Boy, those days are gone for sure.  Name a company that treats their loyal employees to a gold watch after 10 years!

The inside of the dust cover shows the 14K solid gold mark hallmark.  The inside of the rear cover shows all the Hamilton Watch Co information.

The movement appears to be in decent condition at first blush, but close inspection shows rust in a few areas, including the hairspring, which is not good.  The movement is not running but nothing appears to be broken.

The tip of the second hand appears to be black - I'm not sure if that's rust or if it was purposely painted black.  This dial is the No. 50 pattern with solid 18K numerals and features the Packard logo.

There are three dial foot screws on the side of the movement.  I'll loosen all three and will lift the dial off the main plate.

Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get the dial off.  One of the dial feet is stuck solid.  So I had to remove the balance (for safety) and then the barrel bridge so I could have access to the dial foot from the opposite side.  I placed a dot of penetrating oil on the foot and was able to push it out from behind.

With the dial of the way, I can remove the hour wheel and cannon pinion.  The rest of the dial-side of the main plate looks pretty good, other than a little rust on the screw heads.

While the parts are in the cleaner I will turn to my go-to polish for the case.  The initial photo doesn't really show the extent of black grime that covers the case.  I don't think it's dirt, per se, but the result. of years and years of exposure to a humid environment - perhaps inside a safe somewhere.

Everything is cleaned and ready to be reassembled.

First one are the escape and 4th wheels and their bridge.  Once they spin freely I can install the third and center wheel, barrel, and install the barrel bridge.

A little bit of trivia for you... during this period of time, the balance cock screw had a smaller head that the rest of the train bridge screws.  You can see the screw to the right (below) is intended for the balance cock.  The other two support the barrel or train bridges.

Once all the train wheels are installed and spin effortlessly, I install the pallet fork.  After this point I can wind the watch and then install the balance.

The movement ticked with the balance installed but there is a big difference between ticking and actually keeping time.  This balance is making a lot of noise as it moves.

Rust is really bad for watches and especially on the hairspring or the mainspring.  Just a tiny amount of rust on the mainspring will cause it to break.  The hairspring will move with a little rust but it's ability is compromised.  This is why you want to always keep vintage watches away from water - even if you think they are waterproof.

The watch's balance is on the left below.  I happened to have a 918 donor balance and you can compare the two below.  Notice the difference in rust!

My donor balance is ticking away with a nice motion.  Time to see what the timer thinks of it.

Not too shabby but the beat error is way too high at 5.6ms.  I will have to remove the balance and try to reduce the beat error by improving how well the impulse jewel is centered.  The beat error is a measure of how far the balance swings from one side to the other.  When the impulse jewel is centered, the beat error is zero.

After a couple of attempts, I was able to get the beat error reduced to an acceptable 1.7ms, well within my personal specs of 3.0ms or less.

The dial and hands go back onto the movement and the assembly goes back into the freshly polished case.  This watch now looks like the family heirloom it is intended to be.

I'm a little Tea Cup...

I think my favorite genre of Hamilton watches would have to be the WWII military models.  I must be an old soul, I guess.  I think the 1930s and 1940s would also be my favorite time period.  I like the movies from the time as well.  Maybe it's because I like to imagine my grandparents when they were young and just starting out their adult lives, finding each other and starting their families, which would eventually result in my being born twenty some-odd years later.

I think I also really appreciate the idea of our nation coming together, putting aside our individual preferences and rallying behind the common cause of fighting fascism.  We are a nation of immigrants but we were all Americans and acted like it.

Of course, there was a lot of crappy things back then too - and we didn't treat all Americans equally.  I wouldn't argue that it was the best of times... perhaps it was just a simpler time and we still had a lot of growing up to do as a nation.  Still do, apparently.

Hamilton was not immune from the need to rally behind a common cause.  Normal watch production was rededicated to military efforts and hundreds of thousands of time pieces were manufactured for our nations military and our allies.  Hamilton even produced watches for Russian forces!

Some civilian watches still slipped through though, often using movements from excess inventory left over from the 1930s.

Back in 2013 I did a detailed post about understanding the various military models.  Check that out if you haven't already seen it.

The first military watch Hamilton produced was the model 27013, aka, the "Tea Cup".

There were no catalogs, per se, that detailed the Hamilton lineup but there are military publications that Hamilton produced to detail the parts required and how to service the movements while in the field.

The 27013 is called the tea cup because the case back snapped into the bezel and was shaped like a bowl, or tea cup.

The 27013 used the 17 jewel 987A movement that was introduced in 1937.  Other military models also used the 987A, and others used the sweep second version, the 17 jewel 987S.  US Navy and Marine Corps models used a special 18 jewel version, called the 2987.  I like the 2987 models the best, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

The Ord Dept examples are the most abundant - as I said, well over 100,000 examples were produced.  Tea Cups are a little less common but still out there in the wild.

I was recently sent a Tea Cup in serious need of some TLC.  The owner purchased it, where else, on eBay and the seller had a very detailed description but even so, left out certain issues they no doubt were aware of, but at least the did say it needed restoration.  

The crystal is a deep shade of amber and that's something a collector should be on the look out for.  Back in the day certain plastic crystals degraded over time, turning yellow and also outgassing a chemical that would corrode the metal it was exposed to.

The watch has the pop-off back and is properly engraved with the requisite markings for the Ord Dept specifications.

With the movement removed from behind the crystal, you can see the hour and minute hands are rusted solid.  Fortunately, it appears the second hand was spared any corrosion.  The dial and hands have what I would assume to be old radium lume.  It's best to leave this material alone but as long as you don't eat it, there really isn't much to be worried about.

I suspect the eBay seller knew that this movement is missing the pallet fork and pallet bridge.  They probably also knew the balance staff is broken.  So basically this watch requires extensive repair or just a replacement movement.

I happen to have a 987A that I was saving for another project but I'll dedicate it to this project instead, it's a worthy cause.

Everything gets completely disassembled and cleaned.  I'll install a fresh Dynavar mainspring to power the watch.

The reassembled movement is bright and shiny and ticking away with a nice motion so it's off to the timer to listen to the ticking.

Not too shabby... it's running a little fast but that's an easy tweak to slow it down.  Everything else looks great.

A new old stock vintage canvas strap completes the final assembly.  I was also saving this for a rainy day but I guess that day is today.

I was able to remove most of the offending rust on the hands and their rustic appearance matches the dial really well.  A new crystal is a huge improvement over what I started with.  With a functioning movement and vintage strap, this watch is ready to go into harm's way... and by harm's way, I mean dinner and a movie.

1970 Pan Europ I

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but imitation is also just a form of fashion and style of the day.  So it's interesting to see how Hamilton's watch designs evolved over the years and one could debate "who did it first" and who were fast followers.

For example, Hamilton had a line of rose gold models in the early 1940s, but so did other brands at the same time.  Everyone seemed to drop the trend after WWII so if you see a rose gold watch, regardless of brand, it's probably from the late 1930s or early 40s.

Today, Hamilton is owned by the same company that owns Omega, along with several other highly regarded watch brands... the Swatch Group.  I find that interesting because back in the 1980s Swatch watches were very popular but they were also pretty disposable quartz watches.  It's almost as if Yugo owned General Motors today... that would be crazy!  I think the story is a lot more complicated than just that.  The Swatch Group is more like a conglomerate of brands, acquired over the last 50 years, perhaps with a somewhat humble origin, but certainly now part of a premier family.

Hamilton and Omegas connection goes back quite a ways, certainly to the early 1970s.  In 1971, after production in Lancaster was shut down, the Hamilton brand was purchased by SSIH (Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère), a Swiss holding company that was originally formed by a merger between Omega and Tissot in 1930.  In 1984, SSIH merged with ASUAG (another major Swiss watch industry group) to form what is known today as The Swatch Group. 

I find it interesting that some Hamilton models remind me of Omega models from the same timeframe.   Is it just a result of the fashion of the times or was there more to it?

A good example is the 1970 Pan Europ I.  It was produced through 1974.  There was also a Pan Europ II, which was similar but cased in yellow gold electroplate.

Originally priced at $100 on a leather strap, in later years the price increased and the opportunity for a bracelet was added.   Its the equivalent of about $850 in today's dollars.

There are several models with Pan Europ on the dial, but only a Pan Europ I and II share the name.  Some Pan Europ models were introduced in the 1960s, so I suspect the line was partly intended for international markets.

My project watch is in decent condition and looks good good overall.  Stainless cases can take a beating, which is a nice feature.

The case back is where I see a similarity to Omega.  Other Pan Europ models have a similar pegasus rendition on the back cover and it always reminds me of the Seamaster logo you'll see on the back of Omegas from the same period.  Coincidence?

Behind the dial you will find the 21 jewel 64A movement.  This ETA based caliber is essentially the same as what was used in the Accumatic Dateline A-series of movements but with four additional jewels in the reversing wheels of the automatic framework.

A couple of screws secure the movement to the inside of the case and then I can remove the dial and hands.  The dial is a complicated design and the chapter ring is integral to the dial.

The crystal is a bit crazed so I will replace it while the movement gets cleaned in the ultrasonic.

The most challenging part of this movement is removing and reinstalling the index lever and spring for the date wheel.  The little U-shaped spring loves to disappear into the ether and if it doesn't disappear, sometimes it sends the lever off instead.  In fact, the lever is missing from my photo and I found it on the back of the date wheel.

Everything gets cleaned and dried before reassembly.

Reassembling the basic movement is very straightforward.  This similar design is still used in modern Hamiltons today, albeit with some improvements here and there.  The balance is reinstalled and comes right back to life - time to see what the timer thinks.

Well, that's not bad at all.  However, I can easily fine tune it from here.

First I'll reduce the beat error - see how the two lines approach each other.

Then I will carefully tweak the regulator to slow the beat rate down to a pure 18,000 beats per hour.

After about 10 minutes for looking for that stupid index lever again, I got the dial back in place and advanced the time until the date wheel indexed.  Then I know it's midnight and can reinstall the hands.

A new crystal completes the restoration of the 50+ year old watch.  It now looks great again and is ready for more wrist time.