I couldn't find anything by search so I hought I would ask.

Having just recived a new Hamilton, pictures to follow soon, I notice there is also a repair history sratched into case. While being a little annoyed by them being sratched into the beautiful gold case, I wonder if here is a common code behnd he marks?

I would have imagined that these are a "secret code" between repairers to record the service history. Is there a common code? I would like to be able to understand it. I hope it is more than a date or service job number.

Cheers, Tony

First shot of new watch

Second

Movement

Inside case

Case

Last one

Now I have I have a new problem. I don't have a Gold chain.

Oh well, this is still a very nice watch that so far keeps time and i guess any 992 should.

I have a few watches with a terrible "scrawl" on them. I also have a few that are so tiny and well done they are a art form themselves. I think each watchmaker had their own code. Some are easy to decipher some not. No universal code that I know of -Mike

Tony, doing a Search for "jeweler's marks" delivers quite a few hits.

There are at least a couple points of view on these service marks, ranging from a tapestry of the history of the watch to outright defacement.

I have to agree with Eric, some if the service is done by the same watch person all of the time you might be able makes some sense of them since many would mark the dates. In most case since there were tens of thousands or watch repair people and probably hundreds of thousands since the 1880's trying to know the code of each watch repair guy might be is near impossible since many watch repair guys had their own code that worked for them and not all were trained at the watchmaker schools that took place at most watch companies.

Some marks are discreet, other just in your face and nasty looking.

Only a few watch repair codes I have seen are sensible, usually with dates, and once with actual notes of the repairs (including a double time zone Hour Hand) and the Railroad; "LVRR" (Lehigh Valley)