Just acquired a 974 with a Hamilton Electric Railway Special dial the dial is original and almost mint cond.movt has a broken staff and is not maked special and is PSet.My question is: I have a 974 marked special in a traffic special case has a HA dial very nice as is but would it be correct to replace the Ha dial with the Electric railway dial? s/n2547763=1934 Regards Roger

Yes Roger, I think that would make a nice & entirely correct combination.

Thanks Ed,I assumed so but wanted confirmation from someone much more knowledgeable than myself.Thanks again. Roger

Pocket watch dial switching has been going on for a long time and each person had his own reasons for doing it. What they all did not realize was, were they destroying a historical trail that could be used in the future to document information about watches not of the norm.
Example... In 1940's John bought a new Hamilton 992b pocket watch. He threw away the outer card board box and gave the inner box to John Jr to play with. Now fast forward to 20012... A Hamilton collector today will pay big money for the combination of watch with original boxes. Many of these original combinations were used to answer questions about what case was used in what time period. Was this number dial used in conjunction with this case? Was this variant movement used in this time period?
I hope I am explaining this correctly! You can jump in any time Lin, you are better at this than I am!
The Hamilton Electric watches used the 3 dial types in certain time periods/movement serial number sequences. Not enough information exists to document runs, maybe never will be. But the more original watches that are documented the clearer the picture becomes.

I hope I have explained this clear enough.

See this thread.

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...683971967#1683971967

Edward also posted and created a data-base on the Electric series variant dialed watches here for us;

Electric Series

I find this most helpful with getting a mean average with and for these watches.

Thanks Ed

regards,
bb

Of course we have no way of knowing what has happened to this 1934 pocket watch in the past 78 years, but I dare say it's unlikely to be in an "untouched" state.

So I see nothing wrong with switching the dial if it is to restore the watch to what we know to be a correct configuration . . . meaning it could have been bought that way when new.

Thanks Ed. Roger

Roger, as far as I can tell, putting an Electric Railway dial on a 974 Special movement would NOT be appropriate.

I believe the 974 Special came out in 1928. Hamilton made the "Electric Railway Special" trolley dial until 1925. Then Dueber-Hampden told them they were in violation of copyright for putting "Railway" on the dial, at which time Hamilton changed to putting "Electric-Interurban Special" on the trolley dials.

So again as far as I can tell the only trolley dial appropriate for a 974 Special would be an Electric-Interurban Special.

But someone please correct me if I'm wrong about all this.

(I also mentioned this problem in this other thread about the Complete Guide to Watches).

Roger, I just updated the data on these watches.
You can see some data starting to form with the small amount of examples listed.
Example... most all were sold with SS dials. A few are listed with DS dials, were they special order, we do not have enough examples to get an idea as yet.
Two movements are listed with mdl #956 movements. They are only 304 movements apart. Did Hamilton have special orders for these or were their more produced?
Not everyone finds this information interesting, I understand that. There are members that have compiled very interesting and to me important data on the Hamilton 992b watches. Others have data bases on Ball watches, Elgin watches, Etc.

Lastly I have to state again , I did not start this data base. Two vastly more informed gentlemen did, I am only continuing on what they have contributed.




https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...363938857#5363938857

It's hard to know what is correct from the reference material I have available.Even the serial number list seems to be incorrect as far as s/n2547763 circa 1931-1939 PS.When it is surely a lever set.The first mention of "Traffic Special" seems to be 1935 with a choice of several dials . Not really knowing what dials were avaiable makes it hard to know what is correct. Regards Roger

Roger if you could show us a pic maybe someone could help.
If this is readable it might shed some light on the subject.

Edward will try to get some pics.tomorrow evening. Regards Roger

Here are some pics.of the 974

HA dial

bezel off

movt

inside case back.What are the swirls?

Roger that is a good looking dial! Did you receive the watch with the HERS dial on it?

Ok I just reread your post. This movement did not come with the HERS dial.

Edward,you are so right.This dial did not come with this movt.I am not trying to deceive anyone by doing this.It is for my pleasure only as I do not plan on selling it.If I were trying to decive I would not make it public on this site. Regards Roger

Roger here is a little more information I dug up.

Traffic Special Case-Star Case Co. 1937
Looks like case #16

Thanks Edward,Lindell verified that my case is a Traffic Special case as it is gold filled.Question:Would aTraffic Special dial be correct or incorrect? I value your input.Regards Roger

Roger,
Here’s a Hamilton advertisement showing the Traffic Special case with the HA dial. It also illustrates the most common hands used for that dial. If you read closely at the end of the paragraph for Traffifc Special it says, No extra charge, Also available with selection of silver and porcelain enamel dials.
I don’t know what those other dials are but I do know the HA dial is correct for the case you have.
RR