Hi, could anyone please verify whether my findings are correct?
936 #426.274 (1902?)
992 #2.402.768 (1926?)
992B #C3235 (1940 or 41?)
On the 936, was that ther first movement produced or which one was it please?

Thanks!

Chris.

Chris,

The 936 was finished on 3-30-05.
The 992 was sold in 1926-27.
The 992B was sold in 1941.

The 936 was Hamilton first watch produced or at least the first serial number watch.


Hamilton's beginning serial numbers:

1-20 ------ 936
21-30 ------ 932
31-60 ------- 936
61-400 ------- 932
401-1000 ------ 936

The first movements were finished on 11-25-1893.

Chris,
Below are links to the Hamilton (1947) Material Catalog pages which has the serial numbers and grades.

Courtesy of Kent Singer...

Serial Number 1 - 194,000

Serial Number 194,001 - 501,000

Serial Number 501,001 - 923,000

Serial Number 923,001 - 1,513,600

Serial Number 1,513,601 - 4,523,000 & Letter Prefix Serial Numbers

Robert

Jim, thank you kindly for your help!

Robert, thanks, does not tell you the age but very interesting: Years ago bought software called PWATCH, you put in a Hamilton (or Elgin, Rockford, South Bend, Trenton) number and it would tell you the grade, brief specification, when made and how many made in total. Never could find out the source of information but it would always "guess" the movements right. Apparently that made my 992 a 1931 vintage.

Chris.

Ah yes, the old reversal of month and day thing! That's why I spell out the months. By the way, on number 2402768 which Jim indicates as being produced by Hamilton in 1926 is correct and appears as follows...

2402001-2407000 ----- 992 Lever-Set ----- 1926-27

Chris, most collectors will say that since yours is early in that run it would be attributed to 1926 production. As to when it left the factory on the other hand, often the earliest numbers in a run are not the first out. However the 1926-27 time-frame is a fair statement.

I would also urge you not go by the approximations of serial number dating you find on software or posted on some internet venues. My reason for pointing this out is the watch companies often blocked numbers out of sequence. Some examples of that situation are given in this topic... Shugart really meant to say?

Most of those numerical lists were arrived at by simply taking the total production of a given company and dividing it by the number of years in business, then assigning an artificial "number produced" to each year. They are merely "guesstimates" and will be off by a dozen or more years at critical times. We find this on a regular basis, check the image below this post for correct information that may surprise you.

The example below is part of a page from Hamilton factory grade listings. There you'll see that numbers were blocked and watches produced out of sequence beginning in the 1920s using those blocked numbers. Note that Hamilton actually began producing the 922 in 1924 starting at the 3000001 serial number.

But you'll also see that they were not anywhere near three million on other grades by the 1940 and 1941 time-frame when they reached only the two million, six hundred thousand area. The factory production was not numerically to three million even seventeen years after those numbers were blocked and used in production.


Check the years on these production numbers carefully...