Brown Box Database . . .

992B movements in brown boxes is something I've been seeing (and buying when I could) on eBay for several years. These sets consist of a 992B in a brown pull-apart cardboard box with a taped-on 992B box end label that matches the movement and case numbers. Sometimes there's a also muslin pouch for the watch, a guarantee paper, and when there is a price tag it is always for $71.50 when present.

In this topic I will post pictures of 30 such sets, 12 that I own and 18 more for which I just have pictures:

Sets I Own:

1. Mvt C252024 (1948), Case A (shoulders) #K198443, Dial MHGSS*

2. Mvt C304283 (1950), Case 15 #R133335, Dial 168

3. Mvt C316472 (1951), Case 16 #R211592, Dial 168

6. Mvt C203544 (1948), Case 11 (shoulders) #K181012, Dial 080 (added 10/30/06)*

7. Mvt C131003 (1945-1946), Case 11 (shoulders) #K071205, Dial HG (added as eBay pictures 10/31/06)(Purchased 5/08/07)

11. Mvt C251741 (1948), Case 2 #0075477, Dial MHG (added 1/8/2008)

14. Mvt C360621 (1952), Case 16 #R230169. Dial 121 (Added 8/27/08)(Purchased 9/1/2008) [NOTE: This is the highest Movement Number C360621 as yet found in these sets as of this posting]

15. Mvt C228559 (1948), Case A (shoulders) #K201462, Dial MHGSS (Purchased 9/18/2008)*

16. Mvt C353887 (1952), Case 15 #R239764. Dial 379 (Added 2/16/09)(Purchased 2/22/09)

21. Mvt C484640 (1963), Case 17 #P189543, Dial 121 (added 9/22/09)(purchased 9/28/09)

26. Mvt C220176 (1948), Case 11 (shoulders) #K197970, Dial MHG (Added 10-22-2011)(pucrhased 10/28/2011)

28. Mvt C216185 (1948), Case 2 #007892, Dial MHGSS (Added 1-26-2012)(purchased 1/30/2012)*



Sets w/ Pictures Only:

4. Mvt C157889 (1946), Case A (shoulders) #K140186, Dial 081*

5. Mvt C187967 (1947), Case A (shoulders) #K179404, Dial MHG

8. Mvt C154255 (1946), Case A (shoulders) #K114886, Dial 080 (added 11/29/06)

9. Mvt C314755 (1951), Case 16 #R145816, Dial 121 (Added 7/3/07)

10. Mvt C192943 (1947), Case 11 (no case pic) #K171082, Dial MHG (Added 8/31/07)*

12. Mvt C246485 (1948), Case 2 #0076223, Dial MHGSS (Added 1/20/08)

13. Mvt C321696 (1951), Case 15 #R185177. Dial 121 (Added 2/5/08)

17. Mvt C495788 (1965), Case 17 #P371402. Dial 379 (added 2/18/09)

18. Mvt C164818 (1946), Case 2 #H734462. Dial HG (added 4/27/09)

19. Mvt C274575 (1949), Case 14 #K234747. Dial 121 (added 8/22/09)

20. Mvt C352765 (1951), Case 15 #R240674, Dial 121 (added 9/10/09)

22. Mvt C297895 (1950), Case 15 #R124546, Dial 121 (added 11/3/09)

23. Mvt C126787 (1945), CASE 11 (no case pic) #K064436, Dial HG (Added 6/27/10)

24. Mvt C327080 (1951), Case 16 #R211507, Dial 121 (Added 10-4-2010)

25. Mvt C345333 (1951), Case 16 #R148297, Dial 379 (Added 12-23-2010)

27. Mvt C248233 (1948), Case A (shoulders) #K213391, Dial MHG (Added 1-26-2012)

29. Mvt C330292 (1951), Case 16 #R147712, Dial 121 (Added 3-16-2012)*

30. Mvt C196052 (1947), Case 11 (Shoulders) #K171015, Dial MHG (Added 8/25/2013)



* Includes $71.50 Hamilton price tag.



I am convinced this was the $71.50 bargain-priced 992B "package" Hamilton touted in their postwar advertising, and 5 of the sets (3 that I own) include a Hamilton price tag for that amount.

That $71.50 price represented a significant discount in an era when the 992B was selling for $90.00 in the standard packaging, plastic cigarette box & blue outer cardboard box.

When I posted the first "brown box" set I acquired (C304283), I was told by some "expert" that it was a put-together fake, probably because of the scotch tape on the label.

The theory advanced was that the watch was taken out of its original plastic cigarette box (the standard 992B packaging at the time), put into a generic brown cardboard box, and the label transferred with tape.

But too many similar brown boxed sets have since turned up, all with taped labels, for the "box substitution" theory to have any credibility in my mind any more. I think the labels just didn't stick very well to the brown boxes, hence the need for scotch tape.

So let's take a look at these brown boxed sets.

Set 1 -- Mvt #C252024 (1948), Case A #K198443, Dial MHGSS

Here's the Box End Label