Hi all, I think I have a Hamitlon 990 (based on the serial#) That I am thinking of selling. I was wondering if any body could tell me what its worth and should I change the 4 foot dail, and replace the scratch up glass crystal. I do not want to change anything if it will lower the value.
Serial# is 387619, 21 jewel adjusted to 5 positions, 25 year case. It has just had a complete service avd runs strong. thanks for any help

More pics

Hi Joey & welcome to IHC185.

The book values on your 990 are $200-$400-$600 (wholesale - good condition - mint condition). For the book values to apply, you'd have to replace that badly damaged dial and scratched-up crystal.

If you'd like to sell your 990, may I suggest you become a member, so you can use our IHC185 mart, either as an auction or items for sale at a fixed price.

Does the dail badges mean anything? I have been out of work for 2 months now, and am unable to spend the money to join. I do have new crystals, so I can get that done. Were would be the best place besides Ebay to get a 4 foot dial? By the way I love this site, the people here a so helpful to others, and there is a lot of knowledge here. I am in the process of starting a watch repair buisness so I am tring to get as much info as I can get. This site has been so helpful as far as learning.I would like to sell it, but it will be a while before I can join. Thanks for the help.

I have a nos 3 foot hamilton dial that I bought for this watch, thinking it was a 3 foot dail, not a 4. I would trade somebody my new 3 for a new or a good used 4 foot dial. Thanks again.

Hi everyone, I got a chance to talk to Joey tonight. I have made arrangements to buy his watch. He also will be joining us as a fully paid up member. I am sure we are all happy to have him with us.

Thank you so much Phil, I have been wanting to join for so long now. I am so excited. I hope I can give back to you and this site.

SHAZZAMMMM! Welcome Joey We need more nice people like you!

Hello and welcome Joey!

Many repairers, experts, historians, collectors as well as enthusiasts and beginners reside here on IHC185. All combined, we claim the friendliest, most comprehensive and vital horological community I know of. I'm still amazed by the value of this resource.

I'm very glad you're here!

William

welcome to the club Joey. As A somewhat new member also and someone who is interested in pocket watches but has very little knowledge of them, just reading thru the posts has been a big source of info. thanks to all

Joey I have two 990's, a 992 and a 993. In the case of the 993 it had a metal sidewinder conversion dial and I wanted to restore it back to a HC watch but I also needed a 4 foot DS dial. I found a parts 974 that had a nice dial, case ring and nice movement with the bezel and back missing and purchased it for $40. The nice Hamilton DS dial now resides on the 993, the brass free ring I was able to use also. I will probably pick up a Hamilton SS 4 foot dial for the 974 (bit easier to find and less expensive) and restore it at a later date. If you are in the 850,xxx range you may be treading on thin ice because that is about the time Hamilton switched from 4-3 feet on the dial but if you can find a 17J movement in the 825,xxx or less it will probably be a 4 foot dial. Bad dials kill the value of watches unless the watch is super rare and the 990 does not fall into the really rare or super rare watches, not even sure at more than 10K made it would even be considered rare. Beautiful movements, a better watch than the 992 and for the most part overlooked by many people.

I have been looking for a nice 990. I believe I have a 4 foot dial at home, but I am in AZ for another month. I cannot attest to the engineering behind the movement, but they are nice looking movements.

I have long been a fan of the Hamilton 990--to me it is one of the most beautiful watches made by Hamilton. Without checking the serial number of Joey's watch versus the Gelson list, it would appear to me that his watch is actually an unmarked 992 though--soley based on the damaskeening pattern on his watch. The damakeening on an early 992 and a 990 were completely different. The 990 and 991 had identical damaskeening and were more similar to the 970/971 pattern than to the 992. The early 992 and the 18size 940 had very similar damakeening. Learning to recognize the damakeening patterns is helpful because it allows one on a cursory exam of a picture posted on ebay etc. to immediately recognize the probable grade of the Hamilton movement even if the grade is not marked on the watch or is difficult to acertain from the photos. The serial number provides of course a more definitive identification. Still having looked at the damaskeening patterns often enough, I find it easier to scroll by more common 992 and 940 watches while hunting for the more elusive grades--942,990, 991, etc.

Hi All

Would you mind a little teaching lesson? Can someone explain 4 foot, 3 foot?

For the most part most dials used by the various brands had 3 feet or posts that were used to secure the dial to the movement but in some cases the earlier version dials on Hamilton have 4 feet or posts to hold the dial to the movement so a movement made for four feet needs a dial with 4 feet or it becomes a frakenstein mess.

Gelson List says this watch is a 992 and not a 990, as Gregory pointed out
[387101-387900 992 1907 numbered on page 8]
Should of checked the serial number, first order of business OOOOPS
regards,
bb