hamilton 4992 fakes?

[Doug Davies]

I have heard that a lot of Hamilton watches have been fitted with replacement military dials to enhance their value to unknowing customers. Is there a similar problem with the air navigation pocket watches (24 hr GCT dials)? I see lots of these with pristine dials, but maybe they are common because so many were made. I have seen one obvious recase advertised as having the military markings "worn off" a case in otherwise fairly good shape. I am not opposed to replacements with the correct Hamilton part, but I don't want a fake.

Thanks for any help.

[hugh mayberry]

hello to doug from duncanville tx,i am rather new to pw collecting but im getting a pretty good size collection going who in the dallas area have you had good luck with pw repairs that you could reccomend

[Don Dahlberg]

Many 4992B watches had the military markings on the back polished off for civilian use. Sometimes they polished a bit too deep and went through the chrome.

Hamilton also sold conversion kits to convert the 24 hour movements into a 12 hour movements. This included new dial, hands, and minute and hour wheel. It also included a new back without the military markings. I suppose you could purchase the back without the rest, so that you could put it on a 24 hour version. I am sure that there are many "proper" 4992B that have been converted to some degree.

Don

[Tom McIntyre]

Don,

Do we have any idea how many 4992b's may have gone unclaimed by the military at the end of the contract and perhaps been sold directly for civilian use?

If there are any, I would expect them to not bear the ordnance markings.

[Don Dahlberg]

WWII production of 3992B and 4992B was:
2,000 Navy for Britain
312 Canadian Navy
73,285 Army
21,521 Navy

As of Dec 57 total production was:
3992B 2,495 (ending 1945)
4992B 119,739 and still under production.

So that is 94,806 produced for the Army and Navy during the war. (I assume the Canadian and British both used 3992B) That leaves about 24,933 4992B produced after WWII. Many of these were probably still for the military. They were still used for Korea and the cold war. I do not know how these post WWII watches would have been labeled.

Don