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Hamilton Case Question "Shouldered" "Click" to Login or Register 
Picture of Richard Romero
posted
In trying to determine when the Model No. "A" case stopped using shoulders I'm finding conflicting information. There are catalog pages from as late as 1951 showing the shouldered Model No. A case available. The problem is while searching for watches in the model A case many seem to from the late 1940's and they're in non-shouldered cases.

Perhaps the catalogs didn't revise the illustrations? Is there a consensus as to when the shouldered cases were discontinued? Is the Model No. 11 case losing it's shoulders consistent with the Model No. A?

Any information appreciated,

RR

Hamilton Watch Co. 1951 catalog page 161

 
Posts: 1413 | Location: Fremont, California in the USA | Registered: February 06, 2010
IHC Vice President
Pitfalls Moderator
IHC Life Member
Picture of Edward L. Parsons, Jr.
posted
Going by the 992B boxed set info I have, the transition to non-shouldered cases on the Case A and 11 happened about 1947-1949.

But the 950B was a slower selling model, so they may not have run out of the old-style cases until later, so that may be correct. Remember, they never threw anything away!


Best Regards,

Ed
 
Posts: 6696 | Location: Southwestern Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: April 19, 2004
Picture of Edward Kitner
posted
My 1952, 950b does not have a shouldered case.
 
Posts: 1488 | Location: New York State in the USA | Registered: March 04, 2008
Picture of Richard Romero
posted
Thanks Guys,
I've been gathering whatever box label pictures I can but most are for earlier 992B watches. Someday it would be nice to get a database going for the Keystone Hamilton factory advertised RR cases.
RR
 
Posts: 1413 | Location: Fremont, California in the USA | Registered: February 06, 2010
IHC Vice President
Pitfalls Moderator
IHC Life Member
Picture of Edward L. Parsons, Jr.
posted
Richard, you will need pictures of the watch in a boxed set to know whether the case has pendant shoulders or not. There's no annotation on the box label one way or another.

You can see examples of this in my brown box database in the 992B research forum:

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...4108073/m/7601094112


Best Regards,

Ed
 
Posts: 6696 | Location: Southwestern Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: April 19, 2004
Picture of Richard Romero
posted
Ed,
I forgot about the brown boxes and what a great resource you put together in the 992B examples in Brown Boxes database. I put the link in my Hamilton boxes folder for future reference and to remind me when I go to look at factory boxes.
Thanks again,
RR
 
Posts: 1413 | Location: Fremont, California in the USA | Registered: February 06, 2010
IHC Member 163
Picture of Mark Cross
posted
Just to toss this in, my 1953 950B does have shoulders.

Regards! Mark
 
Posts: 3831 | Location: Estill Springs, Tennessee, USA | Registered: December 02, 2002
IHC Member 1338
posted
I have a 1950 992B Model 11 Case that has shoulders. Looks original in condition to the rest of the watch.


Tom Dunn...
TIME MACHINE
www.myrailroadwatch.com
.
 
Posts: 3052 | Location: Ramsey, Illinois in the USA | Registered: December 15, 2008
IHC President
Life Member
Picture of Lindell V. Riddle
posted

When the Case A and Case 11 began production in 1940 they were both "High Shouldered" then the design was revised during 1948 and from that point on they became what we call "Low Shouldered" style cases.

Sorry to burst any bubbles boys and girls, but the facts are these and they are posted in public...

KEYSTONE-HAMILTON CASE A AND CASE 11 DATABASE EXAMPLES YEAR-BY-YEAR


__Excerpt:_______________________________


1948 - K200000

------- No High-Shoulders after about K220000 in 1948 --------

1949 - K260000

1950 - K315000 < (Note: During 1950 numbers were 95,000 above the K220000 point.)

The Case 11 disappeared entirely around this point but the Case A continued to be offered through 1956 in the Hamilton catalog. (The Case A was offered in Solid 14K Gold and at this point only two of those are documented as surviving. For a short time in the mid-1950s the Keystone-Hamilton "Railroad 17" case was produced using this same numbering system. Then the later Case 17 produced by Star using Keystone dies employed Star numbering.)

Here are some examples of Keystone-Hamilton cases for those years...


1951 - K350000

1952 - K365000

1953 - K380000 < (Note: During 1953 numbers were 160,000 above the K220000 point.)

1954 - K400000

1955 - K410000

_______________________________________


From this year-by-year work-up you can determine whether a given example could be an original combination.

Begin by looking up your Hamilton movement on the Hamilton Serial Number Listings Preserved by John F. Gelson then check the Keystone case numbers and years of production on this list for the one that comes closest to yours. If your movement and case are an original combination the years should then be a close match.

Based upon what we have compiled above I expect both Mark's and Tom's cases predate the movement within if they are in fact 1950 and 1953 movements. Rely on the Gelson List to date movements, no other list has the same degree of accuracy, particularly in the era we are discussing in this topic. And this is why we always suggest posting the movement and case numbers in these discussions in an effort to avoid confusion.

Hope this helps,

Lindell

Wink

Below, "Low-Shouldered" was the 1948-56 case design...


 
Posts: 10553 | Location: Northeastern Ohio in the USA | Registered: November 19, 2002
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