Internet Horology Club 185
Hamilton 978

This topic can be found at:
https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1086047761/m/1661051323

October 16, 2008, 22:18
Tom Brown
Hamilton 978
This is no high dollar watch but I thought I would post a few photos anyway. Picked this up on Ebay for $30.00, I mainly bought it for the Montgomery dial.

It ran when I got it but was very dirty, it cleaned up well but did have a chip missing from the dial.

It is lever set, 17 jewels & was made around 1915. As you can see from the wear on the case it was carried for many a year.

Tom

Ham 978

October 16, 2008, 22:20
Tom Brown
I was also wondering if there was a reason watch owners would have their name engraved inside the watch case. I have seen a few this way & it seems like an expense that no one ever would see.

This watch at some time belonged to George P. Johnson

Engraving

October 16, 2008, 22:26
Steve Middlesworth
Tom,

Ineresting set of hands. I have a 23 jewel 18 size Bunn Special with the same style of hands. You don't see them like that often.

Steve
October 16, 2008, 23:51
Tom Brown
Hi Steve

That is one of my many short comings, I can not tell any orginal hand from an incorrect one. So I have no idea if these are correct or not but they do look nice on it. From the way this watch looked when I got it I think after George Johnson passed this watch laid around in a box some where for a number of years. It did have one of thos plastic crystals that had yellowed over the years but didn't appear to hurt the hands.

Tom
October 17, 2008, 01:15
David Abbe
Tom that is a beaut. The Hands, the dial, the movement condition all tell much about the owner, not to mention its new caretaker!. The dial is eminently fixable. I found some of the stuff lindell uses, but not eh duico, I think that Loctite killed that product. I wish we could gat a step by step from Lin that is updated to what we can get now to repair these dials.
October 17, 2008, 08:15
Tom Brown
David
I agree, I have tried it with some old junk dials but they did not come out well enough for me to try it on something nice.

Tom
October 17, 2008, 12:59
Larry Buchan
Tom:

Railroad watches were stolen, and many railroaders had their names engraved in the back in case their watch showed up in a pawn shop. I know of the incident back in the 1980s where an engineer lost his watch and almost his life in a rock slide on the west side of the Continental divide near Field British Columbia. A track worker cleaning up slide area found his watch and pawned it In Medicine Hat Alberta 300 miles east of the slide site, a railroader saw the watch in the pawnshop he knew the engineer and the watch was returned to him

Larry Buchan
October 17, 2008, 13:20
Tom Brown
Hi Larry

Thanks for the info, I was wondering if that wasn't the case with these I have seen. I thought maybe it would help them make sure they got their watch back after it was serviced, etc.

Tom