Greetings all,
I trust everyone is enjoying their springtime holidays.
I recently did an impulse buy on a pendant watch, nun/nurse style, that I found intriguing. I took a chance that the staff would be intact but am paying the piper on that leap. Bad staff and buggered HS. Live and learn.
Anyway, the intriguing part of the watch was the Swiss-made Hampden movement. It is 17J and has very polished nickel plates. They're like the mirror field in a proof-like silver coin. My research, based on the set-bridge, tells me that the movement was made by Fontainemelon/FHF for Hampden. This suspected 10 1/2 ligne model 150-1/150.1, is probably a decent little movement, as it appears as if it was used by Rolex in some of their early watches. That said, I'd feel better about it if it was running, or at least with an intact hairspring. Oh well...I think this watch is from the forties.
Would the experts concur with the FHF 150.1 attribution? From my early searches, it doesn't seem like a lot of examples have the gold balance that this Hampden does, FWIW. Any comments are welcome. Cheers.
I trust everyone is enjoying their springtime holidays.
I recently did an impulse buy on a pendant watch, nun/nurse style, that I found intriguing. I took a chance that the staff would be intact but am paying the piper on that leap. Bad staff and buggered HS. Live and learn.
Anyway, the intriguing part of the watch was the Swiss-made Hampden movement. It is 17J and has very polished nickel plates. They're like the mirror field in a proof-like silver coin. My research, based on the set-bridge, tells me that the movement was made by Fontainemelon/FHF for Hampden. This suspected 10 1/2 ligne model 150-1/150.1, is probably a decent little movement, as it appears as if it was used by Rolex in some of their early watches. That said, I'd feel better about it if it was running, or at least with an intact hairspring. Oh well...I think this watch is from the forties.
Would the experts concur with the FHF 150.1 attribution? From my early searches, it doesn't seem like a lot of examples have the gold balance that this Hampden does, FWIW. Any comments are welcome. Cheers.

