First pocket watch

[terry hall]

I see by the link source you are from the UK?
Welcome.

Of the three examples posted,

The second link shows a watch in a stainless steel case.
It appears to be an original watch. It is a later watch. The pics are too fuzzy to make a determination on condition beyond a certain point.

The first example is not in a Hamilton case, as, IMHO, it should be.

The third example is probably an original watch, but,IMHO, the condition of the case may be a factor.

The stainless steel cases are an excellent choice for daily wear.

The Elgin 571 is a "comparable" watch to the 992B. They are from about the same time frame. I won't discuss which is the 'best'. Historically, they seem to be priced less than the hamilton 992B

I know nothing about the last link, will leave that to others.

On the second example, you may want to ask about dial condition. This is a melamine dial and they had a history of developing small cracks in the dial as a part of normal aging. [this was one of hamiltons worst decisions]

You may want to ask ahead of time about the seller being willing/able to ship to the UK.

Do some homework and make the best educated 'guess' you can. As Sam said, a completed item search will show prices realized for like examples. Be sure you are comparing apples to apples. I hope it works out for you, good luck.

Semiel, I carried a Elgin Gr 478 BWR 21j for years and had good luck with it and found it to be a great watch. It was replaced recently with a 992b in a model 15 stainless case. Mine is very similar to the second link you posted and is also a very nice watch. As far as I am concerned you are looking for the right watch as a daily user and would be happy with either. The grade 571 Elgin is a great watch also and is a more modern version of the gr. 478. Just remember buy the best example you can afford and dont look back. You will end up with a very nice watch either way. Aaron

[terry hall]

Luxembourg.... Thanks for the correction.
You are still welcome! :biggrin:

The 992B watches sold in the USA were factory cased. Through using the available research material is one able to recognize the factory cases. I do not know of an on-line site that shows them all. The case style availability also changed over the production period, For example the Stainless Steel version did not show up until the late 40's early 50's watches.

The Shugart published Price guide does show the factory cases, and old issues of the bulletin will also show most of them. The Shugart book is available on line thru different websites.

Hamilton also exported watches to Canada, these were usually cased in Canada in Canadian manufactured cases. This was a result of import duties and issues like that.

The hour and minute numbering was a feature of the available dials. The styles did change during the production time frame. The choice of dials could usually be made at the time of purchase. The Canadian and Mexican RR systems required the watches used in service to have 24 hour numbers.

[mikeh]

Terry,

Admittedly, I am no collector of Hamilton stuff, but I try to stay up on things anyway just in case. Is the dial on number three original? Although it seems to have a real sunken seconds bit, I would have guessed reproduction, or possibly military. Maybe I have just never seen one. Teach me.

Regards,
Mike

[Kent]

Hi Alain:

Since the discussion has mentioned Hamilton's 992B and Elgin's B.W. Raymond 571, you might find this Comparison of Early 1950's Ads interesting. At that time, $71.50 was the magic price.

Good luck,
Kent

ill try to give you some tips on watch buying on ebay.. altho i know very little about watches..
first you want to ask if there is anything wrong with the watch that they knhow about.. ive asked every question imaginal and still miss the smallest stuff.. play close attention to the crown on older watches and see if it is square with the pendand or whatever its is called.. learning a particualar model is a good idea.
check serial numbers on the elgin page for elgins for price comparisons, this would make the 571 good choice becouse it is easily to determin its value thru this page..

it costs a little more for a watch that is in very good condition with good dial and keeps time, it will reward you when you go to get it reapaired.. check that the dial is orriginal, dont trust selller with this quiestion, it is an important thing for you to learn...
imediatly take the watch to a good repairman and ask what he thinks about the qualtity and originality of the watch, dont worry about the price if you are happy with it, watchmakers refuse to pay much for a watch, ant that is thier buisiness, and they may not like the watch you picked and that devalues it to them..even tho it is a good price to you...
the first person on your ebay watch list is an undesirable person to buy from.. she insulted the buyers in thier complaints and made no effort to make them happy.. if you reead the small print in her ad carefully she refuses to give refunds.. stay away from these sellers, they usually are quite shamless and will only list the best parts of the watch and leave out the problems..

if they dont give actual shipping charges they can charge large packageing fees, i dont care to buy from such sellers...

sellers usually dump problems on ebay, so leave your back door open to return items that really dont fit the price or description you expected.. be liberal on you return, pay the postage both ways, be polite and keep your record clean... this scares sellers to get in a shooting match with you if you have a clean record, and will generally cheerfylly refund even if they dont want to.. .................................

good luck dave, ffffgdave@yahoo.com.

[4thdimension]

Hello Alain,
For the record, I had a 992B in the steel
case for sale at the "National" show in
Anaheim last week. It was in great shape
including the melamine dial but it didn't
draw much attention and finally sold for
$200-. Maybe too cheap but that was all
the market could bear last week. Actually,
I was only hoping for $225-.
Perhaps a "want ad" in the "emart" and
an offer would help. If you can offer 250-, who knows how many responses you might get !
-Cort

------------------
<[';')>

A melamine dial is correct for this one and it appears to be that.

The case model 16 has the wrong bow IMHO