First I would like to thank Brad, Roger, Ed, Dan and last but not least Richard for their assistance in building this watch. We covered a lot of ground. Between us we managed to come up with what I hope is an almost correct 974 Special.

This does have an incorrect case because I don't have the right one but this one looks similar and it is a Hamilton gold rolled case.

I started with a movement I bought a few years ago. It is a Hamilton 974 Special that did not run (Mainspring). It had a DS HA Hamilton dial in excellent condition.

Yesterday I thought I would change the mainspring out and with the help of the members here put this back as close as I could to a period correct 974 Special. I opened it up only to find that the mainspring barrel had come apart and the hairspring was still good.

I put some hands on it and I ran it for 25 hours to check the time while I did my research and asked questions. After 24 hours it was within a minute so considering this is a 1937 - 1938 model according to The Gelson List and some information Richard had found I decided to put a BM dial and some new hands. I got the nearest looking case I had and I put it all together today and hear she is.

Front

Dial

Back has a few small dings in it.

And the movement.

Nice outcome Harry.

Very nice Harry!!

Thanks guys. I sure learned a lot about 974 Specials on this one. I think that is one of the things I like about this site is that you can get help from 2 or 4 members and find out much more information than you can alone. It is also more fun when other people care enough to help and talk to you about it.

Can you imagine doing all the research yourself and spending all that time putting something together only to show it and find out that you missed something and somebody brings that to your attention and you have to go back and do it all over again.

Two heads are better than one and three are better than two. That has always been my motto.

This is a nice looking watch. Looks clean and crisp! The dial pops as well! Great job Harry!
Dan

Thank you very much Dan.