I wish to establish the existence of a Ball-Hamilton Delong that I currently have in my collection. I have owned this watch for approximately 8 months.

It is a Ball-Delong 999, 23 Jewels, with Serial Number B605770. This puts the serial number only 8 numbers off of another "listed" watch.

I have personally had the watch partially disassembled and have visually confirmed that it has a genuine De-long pallet and escape wheel. The watch times perfectly in all positions; thus confirming that it does have the proper Delong mainspring.

I photographed the movement after I purchased it. The photo does not show the Delong pallet. That fact will have to depend upon my personal veracity.

The movement is in excellent condition. I suspect that the case might not be original.

I am personally convinced that the Delong components are genuine and verified the same before purchasing Based upon the limited information on these Ball-Hamilton Delongs, I have become personally convinced that mine is part of the original, Hamilton batch. This is based upon the serial number and it's closeness to other known examples.

I was reluctant to reveal my ownership of this watch. The watch is currently stored away from the remainder of my collection. I have no interest in selling it or in further dismantling it for photographing or to "prove" it's authenticity. I offer this information purely in the interest of horological documentation.

The Shugart Guide indicates that these watches were offered in 23 and 21 Jewel models. My own research does not indicate that any 21 Jewel models have turned up. But, I suppose that an unscrupulous dealer with Delong components could "fake" such a watch and make more profit by using a less-expensive and more plentiful 21 jewel movement.

In the case of my watch, the fact that it is 23 Jewel and its serial number is within the narrow range of know examples lends credence to its authenticity.

At this time, I am not going to display the watch publicly or submit it for disassembly or examination. Perhaps sometime in the future....

I would appreciate the addition of this watch to those "unofficial" lists of known or claimed Ball-Hamilton Delong models.

PETER
Nice watch i don,t know much about these but do know there is very few know examples..

thanks for showing it...

Whatever you choose to believe about DeLong escapements, you should make sure it is consistent with this document in DeLong's handwriting.

I think this Illinois Abe Lincoln example is one of the original Illinois watches. If you click on the small image it will enlarge to show the pallet clearly.

Peter:
Thank you for sharing this with Chapter 185. I have never seen one up close.
Cheers!
Joel

Thanks to 185. When I was considering the purchase of this watch, I was fortunate to have the benefit of Tom's advice as well as the limited amount of material on the dates and serial numbers of the known Ball-Hamilton Delongs.

Although I'm reluctant to disassemble the watch, I do plan to take it out, in the next month, as I'm also honored to house it in one of Samie's Ball-watch boxes!

Perhaps then, I'll see if I can get a decent peek at the pallets and/or escape wheel with the digital camera.

Until I had seen the first one of these, I did not know how to spot them. You see the escapement by what is not there. If you look at an equivalent model without the escapement, the pallets are clearly visible engaging the escape wheel. With DeLong's escapement, the pallets are hidden by the anchor and all you see are the back ends of them as a pair of black dots.

It is important to know that DeLong probably made about 1,000 sets of escapements in the only run of them and used only a relatively small number in the production runs. There seems to be some documentation that Ball had a supply of these that they fitted to watches. Jeff Hess' Bureau of Standards letters seem to document this.

DeLong himself, while working in Pasadena in the 1930's was also fitting the escapements to watches when asked. Finally Hamilton stocked DeLong mainsprings until they finally went out of business.

I think that all Illinois and Hamilton watches originally fitted with the escapement must have been made in 1916. Ball watches may extend well beyond that year. Other dates likely indicate that the watch was fitted with the escapement by DeLong at a later date or that one of the surviving escapements was fitted to the watch since DeLong's death.

Of course, the DeLong letter was written before the production work commenced, so there could have been snags that delayed it for a time. The patent application was filed July 13, 1916 but was not awarded until January 6, 1920. Another 1916 patent concerning eccentric arbors and collets shows the escapement in its illustration.

I know some folks were too polite to point out that my photos did not clearly show the pallet. Today, I put some new watches in the safe and decided to pull out the Ball-Hamilton, 23J, Delong and see if I could get a shot that showed the pallet.

First, I'm sorry but I was too chicken to simply remove the balance and get a nice shot. I'm not at the shop and my tools are crude and very few here. I had visions of a ruined pallet.

But.... I set the camera to take continuous shots of the running movement in the hope that the DeLong pallet would peek out. Stopped, the balance pretty much covers it.

I got this one that is pretty clear. This shot shows the whole movment, serial number etc.

This shot is a cropped and magnified portion that shows the pallet. Note, the "half-moon" shaped pallet stones. Also, note the way the pallet holds the stones. DeLong used a spring-loaded, friction mounting for his stones.... that required no shellac or adhesive.

Nice shot of the pallet Peter.