I recently acquired a Hampden KW watch in a VERY dark case. The case is a Fahys SENIOR coin pair case, with a nickel inner unit (except for the pendant, which is silver). A pretty 11j movement which runs. I thought $70 was a reasonable price.
Posts: 486 | Location: Arizona in the USA | Registered: March 13, 2010
patina on a hamilton or illinois watch dial - very desirable. patina on silver, not a value adder. clean that case and the 100.00 is very accurate. I love the blue screws, great buy!
Posts: 5101 | Location: Buffalo, New York in the USA | Registered: November 11, 2009
Thanks all for the input. I will probably clean it up at some point, but it's soooo black and shiny, like my old mans 1940's Lincoln Zephyr. I did clean up the last silver case which was an Edgemere "sidewinder". Even the gold was tarnished. A bit of wd-40 and rubbing with paper towel got it clean without removing any of the overlay.
Posts: 486 | Location: Arizona in the USA | Registered: March 13, 2010
Andy, you say that patina is very desirable on Illinois and Hamilton dials, and adds value, but what do you mean by "patina." I have rarely seen an aged dial that I found attractive. For example, does the dial shown below (on a scarce Illinois Grade 438 movement) have value-enhancing patina? If not, I would be grateful if you posted an example of a patinated dial that is more desirable than one in essentially new condition.
Posts: 1414 | Location: Pasadena, California USA | Registered: November 11, 2005