It has been well documented how in later years Waltham took the label "Premier", that was originally applied to their top-of-the-line Premier Maximus, and used it to imply quality for cheaper products. But Waltham was not the only one. Here is an eBay auction for a Hamilton - this unadjusted 17-jewel Swiss movement, sold by Hamilton in a 10K gold-filled case, is a far cry from the true 23-jewel Masterpiece that was adjusted to 5-positions and proudly cased in only 18K or platinum cases.

I took the liberty of making a composite of some of the key images from the auction. Note that this is all-original with a Hamilton marked Swiss movement.

... and this is what "Masterpiece" used to mean --

What a shame.
Brian C.

Hamilton also sold the 923 as the "Masterpiece." I don't think there are any marked on the movement, but this example is marked on the case.

...Lindell, I get weak in the knees just looking at your Hamilton "Masterpiece"...can't say anything else...it's simply 'Magnificent'...think I would give up my entire collection for it...maybe one day I'll find one of my own...in the interim, I hope you don't mind that I 'snitched' your photo for my desktop image...Jim

Lindell,

Photos of the Waltham, Please ??

I wonder why the swiss movements always look crude compared to the American movements of the time. I hear it said that American dominance was due more to industrial organization and the ability (or desire) to produce watches of reliable timekeeping. It's said that the Swiss watchmakers possessed equivalent if not greater craftsmanship (plus, of course there were always some high grade Swiss watches). I wonder why, then, Swiss watches tend to look crude and unfinished?

Jessica

I think the swiss watches, made by low scale production methods at that time, had to compete with american watches whose parts were made by the thousands by machines with high precision, that could be done only by reducing quality on the manual finished parts

Incidentally, Jerry, what year is that Swiss Hamilton? The dial is attactive, although w/o a Mac (horrors! how can I survive, you may wonder. I wonder myself.) I can' see the details.

I still am curious why, with the Hamilton Masterpiece, the Swiss wouldn't have made a tactical decision to produce a highgrade watch, even if only a few. Which Swiss company purchased the Hamilton Name? (Is there a good book on the subject of these transitions?)

jessica

Anyone else, jump in on this ... I am not familiar with the Swiss continuation of the Hamilton product line.

I believe that Hamilton bought Buren and moved the production off-shore and then merged into what is now Swatch and was formerly SMH. SMH apparently has taken the name of their high volume product company.

They are still operating out of Lancaster as well as Switzerland.