Well I finally found me some open diamond 16s hands for my watch. However I have run into a problem. My movement is a Hamilton 975 and the hands came off a Hamilton 974. The minute hand which was tight on the 974 is loose on the 975? Shouldn't they use the same hands?

So lets move on because it doesn't matter if they do or don't I have to figure out a way to tighten the minute hand up a little. Does anyone out there have a way to do this? Do you think I could use a staking set to put a dimple between the hole in the hand and the outer edge. That would make the hole a little irregular so it would be a little tighter I would think. The hands are awfully hard steel though and I my just end up ruining a staking punch.

Harry-

Although I don't do have to do it very often, I have a punch that comes to a point by means of three flat sides. This, in turn, makes the end have three ridges where the flat sides intersect. it is almost like the point of a field-tip arrowhead. I am able to line this punch up in the middle of a hand hole and with a couple little taps, it puts three very little points on the inside of the hand. I do this to the inside of the hand, so it does not ever show. It also keeps the hand centered on the pinion versus offsetting it a little bit by doing one.

Thanks,

Jared

Another View.

If you have the 974 the hands came off of you could try changing the canon pinion..That way the minute hand would go back on the same canon pinion...

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Two excellent recommendations! Jared I like your ingenuity and I will borrow your idea for future work with your approval. Thank you.

Gary your idea is great. I didn't even think of that. So I guess I'm not as smart as a 5th grader. Thank you both.

Harry

I'm with Gary; it's a simple matter to trade the canon pinion and the hour wheel between the two watches.

It's much easier to flare the canon pinion and the hour wheel than to try and close the hole on the minute hand - a tapered punch, and a couple of gentle taps will flare them just enough to snug the fitment of the hands. The hands are tempered steel, and are much harder than the canon pinion (which is nickel steel) and the hour wheel (which is mild bronze).

Thank you Eric. That is the route I will take. I like Jared's idea for future problems I may run into but Gary's seem better in this situation.

Thanks

Harry-

I would agree with Gary and Eric on this too. As long as the cannon pinion fits tight enough on the center wheel, it would works just as well on the 975.

Jared

There seems to be so many ways to "skin a cat". When the Hands are just slightly loose I stick with adjusting the hands because they are more replaceable than Cannon Pinions and Hour Wheels, etc. Here is what I always do; (STUDY H.B. Fried's page cc's)

1. Slightly Loose Minute hand;
Using a "Peening" (round tip) punch with tip diameter about 1-1/2 times the minute hand hole size, place the hand "face down" on a large flat stump in staking tool, then bring the rounded head punch to center on the minute hand hole and give it a light smack with a 1-1/2 to 2 ounce brass jeweler's hammer. Test fitment, and re-smack until it presses on.

2. Slightly Loose Hour hand;
Using a "Mouth Tapered" (inverted taper) stake with tip diameter larger than but not more than 1-1/2 times the hour hand collar size, place the hand "face down" on with a large flat stump in staking tool, then bring the Tapered stake to center on the hour hand collar and give it a light smack with a 1-1/2 to 2 ounce brass jeweler's hammer. Test fitment, and re-smack until it presses on.

3. Loose Minute Hands, Slide the second hand on to a micro-broach (often the one I used to open up the second hand hole in the first place), back it up slightly towards the smaller tapered end. With a Jeweler’s pliers squeeze it slightly and re-try fitment. Be VERY CAREFUL not to force the second hand on to the 4Th wheel arbor, you WILL BREAK the arbor. BIIIG POBLEM!

NOTE, as shown in the picture, method 2 can tighten Hairspring collets, and I use Method 1 to tighten Balance wheel Staff holes so they remain well enough centered to lightly press fit to the staff so that I can still easily Poise them

Thank you David. More great suggestions. So many minds have come up with their own different ways to handle the same problem. Thank all of you I am learning so much from you guys.

I have already fixed the problem. I went with Gary's suggestion figuring if that did not work I had other suggestions to try. Gary's way worked like a charm.

By the way Dave this is the 975 that I had mentioned before without the second hand. I fixed the balance staff, International Dials did a superb job on the dial and I have the open end hands and I am waiting on the sterling triple hinged case to arrive. When it does it all goes together and I ship it to Chris Abell for the once over.

I am spending a lot more on this watch than I had originally planned but I think it will be worth it.