October 21, 2011, 18:08
Lindell V. RiddleHAMILTON "4C PREFIX" AND "S PREFIX" 992B POST-PRODUCTION DATABASES
HAMILTON "4C PREFIX" 992B CONTINUING DATABASE
Everyone,
After the production lines were shut down at the end of 1969 there were still requests from dealers for Railroad Pocket Watches. So during 1970 a limited number of Hamilton "4C Prefix" numbered 992B examples were assembled housed in Model 15 Stainless Steel, Model 16 Rolled-Gold-Plate and Gold-Filled Model 17 cases, only Models 15, 16 and 17 cases were used in this project. Unlike more than 525,000 conventional 992B movements with a "C Prefix" number these were assembled using previously jeweled pillar plates with "4C Prefix" numbers which were left-over from the last US Government Contract 4992B movements which had been manufactured during the 1960s making these one of the more uncommon and unusual 992B watch variants. These are of interest to collectors for a variety of reasons and so we present the accompanying data.
Parenthetically, the last Government Contract for 4992B watches dates to a 1959 contract numbered DA-36-038 and I have 4C139516 with U.S.A.F. case-markings which is a completed 4992B from that same grouping.
How many of these post-production 4C Prefix 992Bs were put together is anybody's guess. A former Hamilton employee who was involved in the project told me he thought there may have been at most "a few hundred" assembled from material they pulled from the vaults, but we do know this for certain, they are interesting and uncommon items.
The ones listed below have similarly numbered cases to other late 992Bs but you can also see from this list the factory obviously paid no attention to chronology of either the movement or case numbers. And since these watches were put together using left-over material we can draw no conclusion from the numbers as to the total cased and sold, the movement numbers are merely numbers and the watches were not assembled in any particular order.
Note on Movement Numbers: The movement number range in the table below (4C144280-4C149950) corresponds to some 5,000 numbers and since the 1970 post-production run is estimated to be far less than 1,000 this indicates that perhaps 4,000 leftover 4C-marked pillar plates in that number range (many collectors have retained a few consecutively numbered plates out of curiosity) were scrapped or sold off as parts, many of those were used to rebuild or repair watches by various entities and individuals. So exercise care in buying and make sure any 4C Prefix 992B you buy has a credible movement and case number combination that reasonably fits with those listed below. These post-production watches command premium prices and are highly sought-after by discerning collectors. After all, no serious Hamilton Railroad Watch Collection is really complete without one of these.
Here we have been gathering data to provide some comparisons...
4C144280 in Case 17 number P670933 (NOS and lowest number documented example)
4C144369 in Case 17 number P621538
4C144434 in Case 17 number P621855
4C144515
4C144552 in Case 17 number P297774
4C144599 in Case 17 number P621937
4C144601 in Case 17 number P561933
4C144612 in Case 17
4C144696 in Case 17 number P670660
4C144792 in Case 15 number P583194
4C144836
4C144892 in Case 17 number P671099
4C144920 in Case 17 number P297697
4C144935 in Case 17 number P297563
4C144942
4C144962 in Case 17 number P561739
4C145137 in Case 17 number P585844
4C145217 in Case 15 number P584028
4C145238
4C145333 in Case 17 number P626845
4C145663 in Case 15 number P583121
4C145715 in Case 17 number P561789
4C145733 in Case 15 number P584026
4C145737 in Case 15 number P583297
4C145923 in Case 17 number P561967
4C145949
4C145996 in Case 17
4C146028 in Case 17 number P621749
4C146274 in Case 16 number P296504
4C146237 in Case 16 number P296484
4C146243 in Case 17
4C146398
4C146457 in Case 17 number P586879
4C146493 in Case 17 number P561506
4C146586
4C146521 in Case 16 number P560203
4C146622 in Case 17
4C146708 in Case 17 number P297369
4C146839 in Case 17 number P671033
4C146871 in Case 15
4C146904 in Case 17 number P621858 (NOS)
4C147007 in Case 17 number P586512
4C147117
4C147204 in Case 17
4C147220 in Case 17 number P586504 (1970 Presentation)
4C147344 in Case 15 number P583225
4C147353 in Case 17 number P297279
4C147538
4C147489 in Case 15 number P583368
4C147702 in Case 17
4C147149
4C147629
4C147830
4C147831 in Case 17 number P621959
4C148046 in Case 15 number P584255
4C148300 in Case 15 number P513346
4C148457 in Case 17 number P670467
4C148505 in Case 17 number P585813 (Million Mile Presentation dated July 1970)
4C148521 in Case 17 number P297394
4C148557 in Case 15
4C148616
4C148683 in Case 15 number P583305
4C148228 in Case 17
4C148811 in Case 17 number P296235
4C148959
4C149950
We have just over 60 movements documented here, out of the "maybe a few hundred" they hand assembled.
(Last Updated in October 2019)
Anyone with additional 4C or S-Prefix 992B numbers to share, please eMail them to...
<ihc185@roadrunner.com>
Lindell
The "4C" Prefix 992B movements are interesting...