Ham. 4992B?

[Eric Kroon]

I was at an antique show this weekend and a man had a 4992B in a silver case for sale for a lot of money! He told me the price was justified because they only made a few of these watches specificaly to be carried on the b-29's on account of the residule radiation from the possible nuclear payload! Any truth to this? how many were cased in silver compared to base metal? and Why? I would think the silver would have been for use on the ocean as it does not corrode like base metal. thanx!

[Eric Kroon]

I was at an antique show this weekend and a man had a 4992B in a silver case for sale for a lot of money! He told me the price was justified because they only made a few of these watches specificaly to be carried on the b-29's on account of the residule radiation from the possible nuclear payload! Any truth to this? how many were cased in silver compared to base metal? and Why? I would think the silver would have been for use on the ocean as it does not corrode like base metal. thanx!

[Julian Smith]

I have heard many tales about the silver cases made during WWII.The most belivable to me is that silver was not a metal needed for defense.They needed brass for shell casings and such.
I have a Bulova wrist watch in a silver case.
J Smith

[Kent]

butlercreek:

Ed and I have enough of these listed in our data base as having silver cases to indicate that they are less common than the ones in base metal cases, but not particularly rare.

Perhaps the high price was justified by specific case markings traceable to use on B29's. Or, maybe the dealer believed that the watch would sell at a high price in that venue.

Kent :smile:

[GandalfPC]

It is my understanding from a previous post that the movement should be marked US Govt. if it were made for the military.

Doesn't mean that it was specifically for the B-29's or nukes though...

[This message has been edited by GandalfPC (edited 11-05-2002).]

[terry hall]

That post was concerning a 992B marked US GOV'T , not a 4992B there is a difference!!

[Lindell V. Riddle]

A couple minor points, the 4992-B also came in marked "U.S. GOVT." versions. What makes the movements so-marked interesting is that not all carried that marking, and that is true for both 992B and 4992B movements. For that reason the mark commands a premium in many a collector's mind.

Chris is right on the radiation stuff, perhaps that "Silver vs. the Bomb" story involved The Lone Ranger! The common belief is that the silver cases were intended for officers, but I side with Julian in that seemingly lesser metals were actually in shorter supply than silver during the war. A lot of the history is difficult for us to comprehend today.

Strictly from production numbers it would appear that less than 10% of 4992B Hamiltons will be found in silver cases. And right there is the higher value.

Lindell V. Riddle

[Greg Davis]

Yesterday I picked up a 22 jewel 4992B in a base metal case. Neither the movement nor the case has any markings suggesting it was ever intended for government use. Since I am away from home and unable to post images, the best I can do is provide a link to a similar 4992B (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=585&item=4104616850&rd=1).

So the questions I have are:
1) What percentage of 4992B watches were made for non-government use?

2) How likely is it that the base metal case could be original to the watch? The case I have is identical to the one pictured (except for the engravings) and I have seen another auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3939&item=4106677612&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW) with the same case (also unengraved). This leads me to wonder whether this might be a common casing (or recasing, as the case may be).

3) The dial I have is identical to the one shown, except that it does not say Hamilton. How likely is this to be the original dial?

- Greg

[Harvey Mintz]

I'm going to have to disagree with the people who think that silver wasn't in short supply during the war. It was in such short supply that the Manhattan Project had to "borrow" a large amount of silver from the U.S. Mint to make electrical bus bars for the uranium enrichment facility at Oak Ridge.

They would have used copper bus bars, but copper was in even SHORTER supply. Besides, silver is a better conductor!

It was my impression that the silver cases for the 4992Bs were made in the (fairly short) period between the introduction of the movement and the start of the war. Once we were on a war footing, niceties like a silver case just weren't that important any more, and they went with base metal.

[terry hall]

greg,

the nomenclature on the back of the case is seen very worn, or even removed from many examples.......

the dial...... got me.... it does not say hamilton... is the watch a 12 or 24 hour version?

is it possible some of the conversions from 24 to 12 had an unmarked dial..... or the dial is repro?

pics of your would of course help....

[Tom Huber]

As for Lindell's remark about the silver cases were made for officers--the watch was a navigation watch used by the navigators on bombers. The navigator was a commissioned officer position. Therefore all of the watches were carried by officers.

Tom

[Greg Davis]

Mine is a 12 hour example with black arabic numbers, including the smaller numbers in the minute chapter. I'll post pix when I get home. For the time being I will assume the case is original (and badly damaged).

- Greg

[Don Dahlberg]

I have also heard that the silver cases were for officers although I have seen nothing official.

The first records of the silver cases I have found is in 1943. The following are from the Hamilton records dealing with the filling of 4992B orders from the military in 1944. I also saw silver cases in the 1943 records.

http://home.comcast.net/~dbdahlberg/4992b/silver4992b.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~dbdahlberg/4992b/silver4992b1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~dbdahlberg/4992b/silver4992b3.jpg


On a related subject. I have recently seen a 4992b with a grey dial that is numbered 1-12 down to "6 o'clock" and 1-12 to "12 o'clock". I have seen the record of this contract in Hamilton papers like the ones posted above, but I have no idea what this version was for. Any ideas?


Don

[Greg Davis]

Follow-up... now that I am home again I find that my scanner and digital camera are not talking to my new computer. Familiar paroblem for some...

Anyway, I'll be a bit delayed posting pictures.

- Greg