A rare watch doesn't always mean an expensive watch.
Here is one example I found three years ago; an 18s Hamilton model 1 924 ser. no. 518015 marked "Roosevelt" on the dial and barrel bridge. The listing showed "
Movement is currently running, but has not been cleaned or serviced for timekeeping ". And also that the crystal needed replacement, the dial had a chip at 5:29 and the threads on the non-original base metal case needed attention.
For a Hamilton nerd like me this was a rare find as I'd never seen any Hamilton bearing the names Washington, Lincoln, or Roosevelt and missed it's mention in Halligan's notes.
I was surprised to see that even though the watch was far from mint, it still ran, the balance was free, and the dial chip area not bad, the auction drew little attention from anyone and I ended up paying $78.77 for the watch and can't remember for certain if there were even any other bidders. I was actually very surprised I won and a bit giddy about getting it!
The watch was pretty much as described except for the fact that about a pound of saw dust (OK, maybe less) penetrated the hole in the crystal, through the lever set cut out on the case ring, and in
under the dial. I was lucky that watch still had it's dust ring on and that had kept all but a few stray bits from entering between the plates.
After clearing away the sawdust, I cleaned and oiled the movement, cleaned the dial, and put it into a Hamilton 18s salesman display case. It had great motion and amplitude but poor timing keeping, as it ran quite fast. Even when the regulator was backed way down it still ran fast.
I made sure the HS guide pins on the regulator were in the proper position with the spring and many other other checks, but no results. Admitting defeat and realizing my ambition to become another George Daniels had taken a setback, I took the Roosevelt to my watchmaker who sorted it out. The last time I ran the watch was 2019 testing in all 5 positions and wearing also occasionally for 46 days. Overall the watch gained an average of 7.5 sec. per day, but with rates varying as much as +17 and -8 and sometimes more in between. This isn't bad considering the 924 was a step up from the 16j 930 it replaced and was never designed, finished, or adjusted to be a "
the watch of railroad accuracy" like a 938 or 936, but a solid decent timekeeper, which it is, and the 2nd most produced 18s Hamilton after the 940.
Here's the watch showing from sale to cleaning and assembly, dial, and final casing after all work was done along with Halligan's notes on the two various presidential special orders (Roosevelt and Washington only) through Hirsch & Co. of Chicago. With the additional $80.00 repairs the final cost was $178.77 . The display case leftover from a previous Hami. 18s re-case. All in all a low price for a marked watch I've yet to see again.
View attachment 645265
View attachment 645266
View attachment 645268
View attachment 645278