Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton

When I first started fixing pocket watches, I exclusively worked on American timepieces from the early 1900s - these watches were cheap and easily available on eBay. After six months to a year, I was able to afford European watches that were more interesting to me and seemed to offer the best value when flipping. For two years, I then worked exclusively on the Swiss and English watches I've been posting here (with the occasional Elgin). There has, however, been a lull during which I have not been able to find good deals on European watches. As such, I have found lots (and I mean lots) of opportunity in gold-filled Hamilton watches. 

The watches below are a small sampling of the fourteen or fifteen Hamilton watches I've fixed in the past two months. I still prefer my European movements, but these are quite nice! 

Hamilton 940

Hamilton 940 Movement

Hamilton 974

Hamilton 974 Movement

Hamilton 992

Hamilton 992 Movement

Hamilton 920

Hamilton 920 Movement

A Nice Surprise - Duplex Escapement

I bought an R.F. Cowderoy pocket watch movement a couple months ago for cheap - $25 (and free shipping). I hadn't thought much of it except that it would be an easy fix and a quick chance to double or triple my money.

Fast-forward to this week... I finally had a chance to take the movement apart. The moment I unscrewed the balance cock, I heard the whizzing of the gears as they turned to release the energy wound up in the mainspring. Uh oh... I thought for sure I had broken a piece. Normally, the pallet fork in lever escapements would prevent that fast release of energy - which is usually bad news as that puts unnecessary stress on the gears and pinions. I quickly unscrewed the balance, and much to my surprise, this movement didn't have a normal lever escapement at all.

I stumbled upon a rare gem.

A duplex escapement peeked through the movement, and I knew that this $25 movement was easily worth more than ten times that. The quality of the movement also showed through in that the pieces went together absolutely perfectly. Once I had the gear train all placed in the main plate, all the pinions fit into their respective jewels the moment I rested the top plate on the parts - made my life a whole lot easier.

I had been travelling for two months this summer, so unfortunately haven't had as much time to fix watches. But with about a month left till going back to college, hopefully I'll be able to restore a few more interesting pieces and post them here.

Spring Break Fixes

College has been the most fun and rewarding time in my life thus far. Whether it's meeting new (lifelong) friends or taking classes with phenomenal professors, my time here is certainly worth the heavy, heavy costs of tuition. When it comes to watch repairing, however, I didn't even bother bringing my tools to school with me. I have only found time to fix watches when I return home for break, which I finally did a few weeks back. I fixed close to ten watches, but the two I have pictured below are really the only ones worth sharing.

First up, we have a Henry Sandoz 5-minute repeater with chronograph. This was easily the most complicated movement I have ever come across, with well over a hundred pieces. The more complicated the more fun to fix! For those of you who aren't familiar with 5-minute repeaters, they function similarly to quarter repeaters. The primary difference is the center snail - quarter repeaters have four slots while five-minute repeaters have twelve. Because of the different center snail, 5-minute repeaters chime the hour and then the closest 5-minute interval. For example, if the time is 3:15, the watch will chime thrice for the hours and thrice for each 5 minutes past the hour.

Sandoz Family Crest with "sine dolo"

And second, an American fusee movement. I jumped on the opportunity to purchase this watch because the average American fusee movement is considerably rarer than the average European fusee movement. Why? Elgin, Waltham, Illinois, etc. all dominated to American pocket watch market, and the large majority of the movements they made were not fusee movements. Movements like the one here by J.W. Tucker & Co. were of higher quality and, as a result, lower in production quantity.

I have more watches waiting to be fixed, but those will be for another post.