Star Watch Case Question

December 20, 2016, 21:57

Lindell V. Riddle

Michael, there are some points to consider that you and others may find interesting.

First, that is undeniably a “Traffic Special” case that if we go with “factory case” scenarios would have originally left Hamilton holding a "Hamilton Traffic Special” which in 1935 would have been a 974 which was a good quality 17-Jewel watch Adjusted to 3 Positions which could be carried by employees not required to carry a Railroad Grade Watch such as a 992 or 950 under the terms of their employment.

Movements such as a Hamilton 992 or 950 were Railroad Grade and Adjusted to 5 Positions which was requirement for employees who were subject to Railroad Time Service and Inspection. I am uncertain where the manager of an Electric Power Plant for a Railway would fit into those requirements, so that is where I will go with what we know mixed with a bit of speculation.

The reason we know for a fact what you have is a mid-1930s case for a Traffic Special are the markings, that "14K Gold Filled" is how Traffic Special cases were marked during that time period and that case was discontinued soon after. That is also a 1930s Traffic Special Case number, the numbers on Model 16 cases had an “R” or “P” prefix. However the case being discontinued was not the end of that particular design because in the early 1950s the folks at Hamilton felt the need for a low-cost case for their 992B and the dies that had been used to make these earlier cases were brought out and dusted off to strike the Rolled Gold-Plate Case Model 16 for the 992B which was then continued through the 1969 end of Pocket Watch production. In other words that style case in Yellow Gold-Filled was a Traffic Special in the mid through late 1930s but nearly twenty years later that same design actualy became the Rolled Gold-Plate Model 16 case.

At first glance it might be tempting to find a 974 for that case and a higher grade case for your 950 movement.

But there is more to consider…

Your 950 movement, number 2505172 dates to a run of a thousand during 1934 through 1936 production, at which time the 950 was still available to retailers as an uncased movement only, they were of course also available factory cased in a Railroad Model Case which that particular case was not. (When the 950 Elinvar was introduced in 1937 they would be offered factory cased only.) And now, this is where the plot thickens even further. You see, we are left to speculate whether the retail jeweler may have removed a Traffic Special movement from that case and sold it with a 950 movement as we see it today, the case-screw marks would line up perfectly!

What you have there is an odd combination that according to period Hamilton Catalogs would not have been available from the factory, but could in theory, however unlikely it might sound have been put together prior to the first retail sale. Some might hold that the retail jeweler may have shown the buyer for the Rail Line a catalog of cases and the case we see before us might have been specially ordered without a movement and in that instance the “marriage” of a 950 with a Traffic Special case, regardless of how unusual it sounds to us today may have actually taken place at the time shown on the inscription.

Speculation and conjecture aside that is a mid-1930s case holding a mid-1930s movement.

Much of what we consider to be "original" comes down to the exact meanings of specific words, so though your watch is certainly not “factory original” it just may have originally been sold that way... but we will never really know for sure.

Interesting to contemplate isn’t it?

Lindell

December 21, 2016, 06:37

Buster Beck

An interesting watch and pretty much open to speculation as previously noted. All types of scenarios can or may be envisioned.

The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, commonly known as the New Haven, operated in New England from 1872 to 1968. Interestingly, the line went bankrupt in 1935 !! It was reorganized, went bankrupt again in 1961, and in 1969 was merged with the Penn Central, which was formed a year earlier by the merger of the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. It wasn't an ideal merger and The Penn Central proceeded to go bankrupt in 1970, becoming the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at the time !!

In 1921 one out of ten persons riding on a United
States railroad rode on the New Haven. There were
130 road miles (570 track miles) of electrified
line on the New Haven. The railroad owned 108
electric locomotives, seventy motor cars and
ninety-five trailers which produced 335,000
passenger miles per month, 160,000 motor car miles, 75,000 freight locomotive miles and 70,000
yard locomotive miles. There were forty-one of the
original type of passenger electric locomotives
still in service. They had been in use for fifteen
years and were averaging 150 miles per day. The
peak of electrification was reached in 1927 with
700 track miles on the New Haven.

The electrification of the New Haven Railroad was an innovative technological venture. The pioneering engineers of Westinghouse and the New Haven Railroad created the first long distance railroad electric transmission system in the United States. The Cos Cob power plant supplied the system with single phase alternating current at 25 cycles and 11,000 volts. It was a successful trailblazing effort that set the standard for American railroads. On September 22, 1986 Cos Cob Power Plant was shut down and phased out.

I note the case was carried in its lifetime on a watch chain a big part of its life and it was serviced for 4-5 years before servicing apparently ceased, which opens it up to more scenarios and speculations ! The possibilities are mind boggling and perhaps endless.

Unfortunate that there is no documentation which leads us to merely speculation. Its interesting from all view points.

I see it as unusual due to the time frame for a presentation watch with gold still being in the mid $30 dollar range per ounce, that a gold case wasn't selected. With 235 employees contributing say .50c or more each towards the purchase, there should have been enough for a gold case for the watch, one would think ?

The 950 bridge model movements were top of the line and demand an aura of respect that other watch manufactures would only marvel at and try and imitate until they slowly went out of business one by one.....

regards,
bb

Photo of Cos Cob Power Plant in Ct. and the transmission lines;

December 22, 2016, 03:01

Michael D. Carroll

I have seen Hamilton advertisements for the Traffic Special 974 movements in 10k Yellow Gold filled cases but not 14k White Gold cases.That is what i was inquiring about. I do believe that the case and movement are original to each other. Why that case was chosen we will never know. It was in the middle of the Great Deppression and Gold Cases may not have been available then as gold ownership was prohibited except gold jewelry. As for Benjamin Franklin Bardo the receipient of this watch he was the Superintendent of the Electrical Transmission & Communications Dept and was in charge of the overhead catenary wires, work trains, power plant etc. He later was the Superintendent of the Maybrook Freight Yard in New York during WWII. My Grandfather was an Asst. Superintendent in the Boston Division till he passed away in 1934. Thank You Lindell and Buster for your Knowledge. I always look forward to your replies. That is what makes this such a great club to belong to

December 22, 2016, 14:18

Lindell V. Riddle

Michael,

Thank you for the words of kindness.

Posts such as Buster's and my earlier one can take 2 or more hours to compose, putting it all together so the post makes sense and will not cause confusion means we must explain everything very, very carefully and clearly.

Consider the fact everything we post in public is subject to Internet Searches and we take it seriously that researchers will be reading these posts and using, often properly quoting the material.

If the difference between 10K Gold-Filled and 14K Gold-Filled is what you were after, the answer is simple. On most Railroad Cases will find 10K Gold-filled, the alloys that change gold color alter the hardness, thus how long it might take to wear through to brass that is hidden underneath, but that is also affected by the thickness of the gold over the brass core.

Remember, James Boss came up with the Gold-Filled process and patented the method of placing one or more bars of gold over a thickness of brass and another gold bar underneath. In many instances with 14K on top and 10K on the underside. Then a rolling machine fuses it all together under tremendous heat and pressure. (Find a moment to do a Find-Or Search on IHC for "James Boss" for more about this man who contributed greatly to what we enjoy collecting.)

When cases are White or Green Gold-Filled that usually carries a 14K marking and then Yellow or Rose in most instances a 10K Gold-Filled mark. There are exceptions, for example all Sangamo Special Cases will be marked 14K when Gold-Filled and that is accomplished by having additional thickness of gold to equal the wear rate of White Gold-Filled on a Yellow Gold-Filled case.

Simply stated, the alloy added to natural Yellow Gold changes not only the color but the hardness and therefore the rate at which the case will wear. What you noticed about the markings on Traffic Special cases would have been 10K Gold-Filled on a Yellow case and 14K Gold-Filled on a white case.

About the colors, if I recall correctly Yellow is basically natural, Rose means Copper added, White has the hardness of Nickel added and Silver is the main additive in achieving a Green Gold color. There are other ingredients, but that is basic. (I recall lining up three Hamilton Case Model 2 which came in four Gold-Filled colors and I arranged them as a traffic light would be, with Rose, Yellow, Green along with a White case, perhaps as a street light in that little game of colors.)

By the way I see Buster is as thrown as I am to see a "top-of-the-line" Hamilton 950 in their least expensive case, as we both commented that is a very, very strange combination. If you were simply wanted to maximize value the 950 goes in a Railroad Case and the Traffic Special Case gets a 974 movement. Many of us would find that hard to resist but situations and explanations like these are part of what makes our hobby fun.

"And the beat goes on..."

Lindell

December 24, 2016, 12:18

Edward Kitner

To add a little to Lindell's great post is quoted from an article authored by Larry Treiman in 1978.
"By 1926, though, Hamilton apparently had no three-position watch to offer to the electric railway trade. The 948 had been discontinued in 1920, reflecting the decreasing popularity of the 18-size watches by that time. However, the discontinuance of the grade 978 ,movement in 1924 was the very likely a sign of the decreasing importance of the electric interurban railways, as well as an effort by Hamilton to concentrate their production in fewer grades.
Regardless of the reason, the discontinuance of the three-position double roller,lever-set grade left a gap in the Hamilton line. To fill that gap, Hamilton changed the grade 974 in about 1928 to a double roller, three position-adjusted grade , marked 974 Special. The 974 Special stayed in the Hamilton line into the late 1930's, if not longer, as a complete cased watch called the Traffic Special."

Attached is a pic of one that I have. It is as one I saw in a Hamilton advertisement a few years ago.

Ed