Hamilton Secometer

[Hoopty]

Sorry this is not as juicy as the stolen watch thread :smile:

I recently purchased a Hamilton Secometer.(3413488)It is a 12s 912 movm't. I have never seen a hamilton secometer(digital or rotating seconds hand) and have seen very few of the others (Waltham, Illinois). Can one of you Hamilton experts tell me how many of these were made. Seems like a rare watch (well to me anyway). Did all of the PW makers try this? Why is it we dont see a lot of these types of watches.. Just wondering :smile: Thanks for any insight or words of wisdom.. Bruce

[Hoopty]

Sorry this is not as juicy as the stolen watch thread :smile:

I recently purchased a Hamilton Secometer.(3413488)It is a 12s 912 movm't. I have never seen a hamilton secometer(digital or rotating seconds hand) and have seen very few of the others (Waltham, Illinois). Can one of you Hamilton experts tell me how many of these were made. Seems like a rare watch (well to me anyway). Did all of the PW makers try this? Why is it we dont see a lot of these types of watches.. Just wondering :smile: Thanks for any insight or words of wisdom.. Bruce

[Lindell V. Riddle]

Bruce,

What's this, no thefts or misrepresentations, just a really interesting old watch!

You are right Bruce, Hamilton called a watch so-equipped a "Secometer" where Waltham called it "rotating seconds" and probably the Illinois you mentioned were built after the Hamilton takeover since they too were called "Secometer" just like the Hamilton.

These dials are actually quite simple in operation. A small disc is positioned in place of the regular second hand just above the number 6 and it is imprinted 0 through 60 in 5 second increments with each individual second also denoted as a hash mark. Those numbers then show through a window on the specially designed dial.

On Hamilton, as on Waltham watches that kind of dial was usually fitted by the factory to a 17 jewel movement, although it could certainly be fitted to any movement for a nominal charge by the retail selling jeweler.

For example, Hamilton advertising from 1930 offers the "Secometer Dial" their number 55, for an extra charge of $5.00 at retail.

They represent an early attempt at digital timekeeping and more than 70 years later remain an interesting curiosity. Most collectors will gladly pay an extra premium for a watch so-equipped. I find them fascinating.

The "Secometer" in my collection is also a Hamilton 912 like yours, mine is numbered 3434408 and carries an inscription which reads "To my dear good Jimmie with Love -- Grace Nov. 3, 1931" on the inner dust cover. Sounds like Jimmie found a great gal in Grace! Just as Grace did, any watch buyer back then could have chosen this dial, but perhaps the extra $5.00 slowed a lot of people down, that was a big amount to add to a $40.00 watch at the depths of the depression!

As a footnote, right at the end of South-Bend watch production an outside company in New Jersey used a number of S-B movements and cases to produce a watch with rotating wheels for the hours and minutes as well as seconds. There were few made and they are quite desirable when found in tact and working properly.

Hope you find this helpful, and for what it's worth, I believe we will see increased interest in 12-size watches as they represent an almost undiscovered area for most serious collectors.


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Lindell V. Riddle
NAWCC Life Member# 253-150074
Member Chapters 10, 28, 37 and NAWCC-***

<southbend@adelphia.net>


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[Jerry Treiman]

Each company had their own name for the feature. Waltham had the "Seconds Indicator", "Secometer" was Hamilton's, and Illinois called it a "Rotor-Second"

[Spike]

?Digital model,? ?rotating seconds,? ?Secometer,? ?revolving seconds,? "seconds indicator,? ?Rotor-Second" or whatever, most if not all were 12 size.

Lindell notes above that ?They represent an early attempt at digital timekeeping and more than 70 years later remain an interesting curiosity. Most collectors will gladly pay an extra premium for a watch so-equipped.? Like Lindell, many find them fascinating. Why, then, was this feature not added more often to 16s or 18s watches?


[This message has been edited by Annie (edited 08-29-2002).]