Unexpected find

[Tom Huber]

Great find. The watch is definitely restorable. Although it may look raggedy at this time, it sounds that it is all there and in repairable shape. You are right. You never know just when a treasure will be right in front of you. Your find is right up in there with my Elgin 16S 23J Veritas that I got two years ago at a yard sale for $5. Tom

[Steve Maddox]

Hey Bill -

Congratulations! You found a real "keeper" there, and I'm happy for your good fortune!

Your best bet for the dial might be to find a 940 with a nice one, and switch them. There is no difference between the dials used on the 940 and 946 models. As a matter of fact, if you should decide to buy a "donor" 940, I could use some internal parts from one myself to restore a Ball 999, and I'd be glad to share expenses with you to get the parts I need.

I don?t like having to scrap movements, regardless of how common they are, but when dealing with things that have been out of production for 50 or 100 years, there's usually no other way to get parts when you "really" need them! To my way of thinking, when I can rob some parts from a common movement to complete two better ones, that's not an entirely bad thing.


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Steve Maddox
President, NAWCC Chapter #62
North Little Rock, Arkansas

[Alan Walker]

This reminds me of one of my recent acquisitions. It was a little different in that it was from a dealer friend of mine. I was at his retail shop, sitting back and chatting with him when I saw a nice looking 18 size Hamilton sitting in the case and mentioned it to him. The watch was in a screw back gold filled case with moderate wear and some very faint hairlines on the dial.

He replied that it had come from a large collection that he had just bought and that all he remembered of it was that it was a 17 jewel railroad watch. Being that there were a number of high grade railroad watches in that collection. The Hamilton was in very fine condition, but only being a 17 jewel movement, it did not strike him as being anything noteworthy. I asked him what he wanted for it and he gave me a price that was below his sticker price and reasonable considering the overall condition of the watch. I agreed but wanted to find out more about the watch, since its serial number dates to the first year of Hamilton production.

My friend asked his wife to check the serial number of the movement against the known Hamilton production list. She checked the list and my friend's jaw literally hit the floor when we found out that the watch was a
930 that had been upjeweled from 16 to 17 jewels! He must have sat there in shock for at least a full minute reeling from the shock and realizing that at the price just agreed upon, he was practically giving the watch away! When he was finally able to speak, all he could say was "You got me!" Like many of us, he had and I almost made the assumption that being an unmarked 18 size, 17 jewel Hamilton, this watch was nothing more than a 924/926 grade piece when in fact it is a Hamilton that is relatively hard to find, being that fewer than 5000 were made and that roughly half of those watches were upjeweled.

If nothing else, it's a neat watch to have. Every railroad watch collector has heard of and seen a 940 but how many have ever seen or even heard of the 930?

[John Cote]

Bill

The great thing about 18 size Hamilton dials is that, physically, they will all fit any 18s Hamilton, hunter or open face. Chronologically and stylistically, they differ. Earlier dials said "Hamilton Watch Co." in a sort of script, then came dials that just said "Hamilton" in the same script, then came dials that said "Hamilton" in block letters. There was certainly some overlap in when these dials were sold and would be correct. The dial on a 946 would almost certainly be double sunk.

I guess I would probably just look for a dial in the same style as the one you have. I would guess that if you have a marked movement, it is late enough so it doesn't have a dial marked "Hamilton Watch Co."

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JohnCote
President, Indiana Chapter 18 - NAWCC
Member Chapter 149 (Member #105)
http://www.interstatetime.com

[Barry G]

Alan: I had the same experience a couple of years ago. I'm not a huge Hamilton collector, but when I saw a nice old Hamilton 930 [serial number in the low 40,xxx range] for around $100 at a show I snapped it up. It was only later that I looked it up and saw that it was "supposed" to have 16 jewels, despite being marked "17 jewels". I pulled the dial to make sure that it did, indeed, have 17 jewels as marked.

I eventually ended up selling it at auction for a significant profit, but now I wish I had kept it. Of course, at the time I really needed the money, so I guess there's no use crying about it now...

Barry

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My Online Pocket Watch Collection (http://barrygoldberg.net/watches.htm)

[Rick White]

Wow! I am jealous, all I seem to find at garage sales are certified "railroad watches" with 7 jewels in em for a few hundred, in "solid gold" 15 year cases. I did pick up a 1935 Swarthchild catalog and a Chicago School of Watchmaking course book (very nice book) for 5 bucks a piece tho. I didn't know you got rid o that 930 Barry, wish I knew you were.Looks like Tom has gotten the best deal so far but from what I read he has a sharp eye for the good deals with more than a few good garage sale finds!

Rick White

[terry hall]

My reference material shows there were about 10,692 946 movements produced.

Your watch came from a run that started at serial # 549001 and ended at 551000 for a total of 2000 movements. My reference material shows this run is dated from 1908 to 1913. The serial number does not indicate when the watch was actually sold, it could have been in a jewler's inventory or factory inventory for some time before being sold. Only an original sales receipt can verifiy the actual date.

The main factor in desirability in this movement is that it was the highest grade 18 size movement. It is also the quality of the movement, the look of it, etc.

The dial configuration seems correct for this vintage watch. You should be able to find a replacement. Take your time.

[Barry G]

Well, I can't say how many were made, but I really like the one I have:

http://barrygoldberg.net/watch60.htm

:wink:

Barry

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My Online Pocket Watch Collection (http://barrygoldberg.net/watches.htm)