Hello Group,
Here is a Hamilton 925 I picked up. If you'll notice the movement is marked "TESTED". I have not seen this on a Hamilton before. I thought it was quite interesting. Has anyone seen this before? Any thoughts???? Thanks, Jim

back cover

dial

movement1

movement2

movement3

Yes Jim, it is interesting. I've never seen anything like it before.

The uneveness of the letters suggests that "TESTED" was stamped into the barrel bridge rather than engraved.

I'm going to take a very wild guess and say that it was used like a "control" movement during production?

For a watchmaker to mark "tested" is sort of an oxymoron, so I think that Ed's observation about the uneveness of the stamp indicates that it was be added later. As it is light in the middle, and as these steel die stamps are Glass hard steel, I speculate that the stamp may have been meant for something else with a curved or cylindrical surface, and was used here to add "merit" to the Movment by who ever was selling it. I show below a 974 that was factory marked "Limited" on a 974 and you can see the difference in marking quality. Hamilton was very proud of such things.