A quick Hamilton 974 info question

April 07, 2006, 09:07

Mark Cross

I own a Hampton 974P watch, and have found two different 'build' dates on the movement. One location I looked in said it was built in 1932. In the REALLY small type print of the Hamilton records we have linked from here, I THINK I'm seeing a build date of 1927!

Would someone with a good record please give me the correct information on my watch build date?
Serial number 2455007.

Thank you for your time!

Regards! Mark

April 07, 2006, 11:34

Lindell V. Riddle

Mark,

There is only one readily available and authoritative Hamilton Serial Number Listing...

Hamilton Serial Number Listings compiled by John F. Gelson

Follow that link from our "Technical Library, Serial Numbers and Site Links" and if you have a few moments read some of the topic which includes a bit of background information including...

"If I might share a story about these numbers. One of my first serious purchases was a fully documented Hamilton watch with with both boxes and appropriate papers. It had been factory engraved and sold with 1932 shown as the date presented. However the watch guide I consulted listed it as being from 1938 in the serial number list.

So one day I put in a call to the author and found that list had been put together by dividing the approximate total production by the number of years in business with an artificial number assigned to each year. That essentially assumes the same number of movements every year, which of course is flawed reasoning at best.

About that time John Gelson's highly authoritative list became available and of course there was my watch shown as 1932 production. Nearly all the other watch lists you'll find were derived as I described above. Wayne Schlitt led the way with his interactive database and in time we will have the Hamilton listings in a similar format.

In the meantime the 'Gelson List' is here for reference, print your own copy if you like."

As you see, from checking our numbered page 20 the "Gelson List" is readily available and it is quite reliable particularly for watches such as yours. As you'll see, according to the highly authoritative listings compiled by the late John F. Gelson your movement 2455007 is from a run consisting of 2455001-2456000 in 1927 production. Sequentially yours is the seventh number blocked in that run. Such things are interesting and can only add to your enjoyment of the watch.

By the way, as you've I'm sure gleaned by now those "other locations" you mentioned feature "guesstimates" which as I explained and demonstrated above are not only confusing but very unreliable.

Hope this helps,

Lindell

April 07, 2006, 11:53

Mark Cross

Thank you, Lindell, but the Gelsen list IS one of the areas I mentioned in my post above, and the one I THOUGHT I could make out the 1927 date. I couldn't make out the information clearly on my monitor, and the print I tried didn't clear things up at all.

The other source was the Shugart book. Guesstimate material? Probably so.

You've provided what I needed, and I thank you very much, sir!!

Regards! Mark

April 07, 2006, 12:03

Lindell V. Riddle

My reference above...

"...the watch guide I consulted listed it as being from 1938 in the serial number list.

So one day I put in a call to the author and found that list had been put together by dividing the approximate total production by the number of years in business with an artificial number assigned to each year. That essentially assumes the same number of movements every year, which of course is flawed reasoning at best."

And that's the name of that tune my friend!