Watches I Sell - Hamilton

I have loosely limited the watches I sell to a few types from a few brands.  I say "loosely" because occasionally  you will see me breaking my own rule.  My focus is on watches sold by American companies with an emphasis on watches actually made in the United States.  Further, most of the watches with the exception of Bulova Accutrons and an occasional Accuquartz are mechanical watches.  Concerning brands and companies, I sell primarily Hamilton, Elgin and Bulova watches, but you will find some Timex, Waltham, and Benrus thrown in for good measure. On rare occasion I may even list a World War I era trench watch. Although I do not expect this to occur often, I may change my mind at some point since I have over twenty in my personal collection. As the title suggests this post focuses on Hamilton watches.

Hamilton

US-made Hamilton movements are the most robust and reliable I have come across.  To borrow a phrase from another US-maker, they truly take a licking and keep on ticking. At the top of the heap is the venerable 770 movement, the last movement the company made in the USA.   The other movements, such as the 982, are not far behind.  The movements in the watches I sell are 50-90 years old and yet the Hamilton movements keep soldiering on seemingly impervious to the passage of time.

Another nice touch of the Hamilton watches is their dials: most are sterling silver with either 14k or 18k solid gold raised markers.  Because the dials are silver and silver tends to tarnish, they are coated with varnish or paint.  Unfortunately,  overtime pin holes sometimes form in the protective varnish layer and provide a spot for moisture to coalesce resulting in tarnish spots.  Tarnish spots are not easily removed.  However, dirt and flaking varnish is easily cleaned from Hamilton dials as the ink used to imprint the minute track around the perimeter and the "Hamilton" name is very tenacious.  My go-to dial cleaning method is rather conservative, but on these dials I can remove a lot of dirt without effecting the printed indicia.  After cleaning, I will often coat the dials with a high quality satin polyurethane to protect the silver underneath and prevent further tarnishing.  This gives the dials a little pop while retaining the hard earned patina.

  

The cases on most Hamiltons I sell are either 10k or 14k gold filled and are generally very nice.  Hamilton was the premium US watch brand and as such their cases exhibit a premium level of workmanship with an appropriately thick layer of gold fill. Unlike Bulova, the styling of the cases tends to be a bit conservative and accordingly timeless.  They are not going to wow like some Bulova tank watches, but they are always going to be in vogue.  If I have any complaint about the Hamilton cases, especially the tank watches, it is that they are generally not water resistant.  You do not want one of these watches exposed during a down pour. Thankfully, the movements are so robust, a little moisture is not likely to destroy the watch if it is allowed to dry shortly after exposure.

Like most watches of the era, the crystal is plastic.  This might seem odd to some, but plastic crystals were not indicative of an inexpensive watch. Rather, they were considered fairly robust since they would not shatter and were often referred to as "unbreakable".  While they scratched more easily than glass, they could be easily polished to remove the scratches without the use of special equipment.  As a part of my refurbishment process, I do resurface and polish the crystals as necessary. Generally, I can remove all but remnants of the deepest scratches.  Thankfully, replacement crystals are still readily available for most Hamilton watches and can be purchased as necessary as well.

Of the brands I sell, I would recommend Hamilton (and perhaps the Bulova 23 models) over all others if the watch is to be worn regularly rather than only every once and a while in a rotation. These watches were built to last and they have.