Do not forget that IHC 185 has the Hampden "Bible" (blue book with many of the recorded known s/n's) for sale as well as the story of the Hamden watch "From Springfield to Moscow"

Good reminder. I need to make that purchase in the near future.

I would love to see a Hampden forum here. Living in Ohio i come across alot of these watches.
Mike.......

Hampden fans. I think we will have a hampden forum on this site in the near future. Stay tuned

Excellent! I'm looking forward to it.

We are looking carefully to gauge if there will be ongoing sufficient interest to warrant the work that it takes to get a new forum up and running.

Keep the comments coming.

I certainly hope there's enough ongoing interest to make this happen. Since I posted this thread there have been several Hampden related threads started outside of this one, which seems like a good indicator that the board could support a dedicated area for them. Looking at the other manufacturer dedicated sub-forums it certainly appears to me that Hampden has been at least as active as a topic in recent weeks, if not more so.

But enough lobbying. Back on topic.

I got my 105 back from my watchmaker last week with the replacement double sunk dial on it. As you may recall, the watch came with a single sunk dial that I strongly believe was from a lower grade watch. I'm keeping the dial that was on it when I bought it with the watch so that if I sell it I can give both to the buyer to do with as he/she pleases. It looks great with the new dial. I'll get some pictures up soon...

Sure are popular these Hampdens. I like the McKinleys, but also the earlier Springfield made watches. Here's a pic of my 1882 model 1 Springfield 7j KW that keeps amazing time.

Thx, Roland.

The gilt 1882 7j movement.

For me I tend to collect watches in which I have sufficient knowledge of the watch company to know whether the watch I'm buying is worth the money I'm paying.

For example, with the Gelson Lists and the other archival information that can be found here at IHC185 and elsewhere regarding the Hamilton Watch Company, I can be fairly sure of the number of watches of a certain type that were produced. And with discussions such as the ongoing Hamilton weekly quizzes by Ed Parsons, I generally know what to look for with regard to "Is this correct for the time that it was produced?". Those two questions, scarcity and originality fuel my collecting habits.

From that standpoint I wholeheartedly support a Hampden-specific forum. I think the more knowledge that is available, the more people will become interested in collecting Hampden watches.

John III

And that's exactly why I suggested it in the first place. As someone who's interested in growing my Hampden collection, I find that it can be pretty difficult to get detailed information on the company. There just isn't the same depth and breadth of data available as there is for Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin. What's needed is a central clearing house for the knowledge we have and a place where we can pool resources going forward.

Bully Bully Lindell

Bully for us

Aloha Scott

Lin, we all knew you would pull through for us

Whoo Hoo!!

Thanks so much, Lindell. I'm very excited to see this new section grow and evolve.

Lindell, This is another reason why this is such a great site to belong to, you listen to and work hard to help the rest of us with requests like this.We all owe you a debt of gratitude!THANK YOU...Ted.

As promised, here are some images of my 105 with its newly installed dial. To review, when I bought this watch it appeared to be an original set with the exception of the single sunk dial. As far as my research could determine, the dial was probably from a lower grade watch. Given the well used condition of the case it seems likely that the original dial was damaged at some point and replaced with the one that was on it when I bought it. I searched around and eventually found a nice, practically mint double sunk dial that I believe to be correct for this watch. Below are images of the watch with the new face. Earlier images with the dial that was on it before are on page one of this thread.

I've also included an image of the newly cleaned and adjusted movement. I've had it back for about two weeks now and it's keeping time better than practically any other watch in my collection. It's lost about 10 seconds in 12 days.

Looks much better Chris!That's pretty much the standard dial used on Hampden railroad watches.My 105 also keeps about perfect time, they can almost give a quartz watch a run for its money, Regards, Ted.

It's really surprisingly accurate. It has a particularly solid sounding tick as well.

Now I'm going to replace the dinged up crystal and it'll be good to go. It would be nice to have a version of this watch in a Dueber case, but this one is in its original case, so it'll stay as is. It's got some brassing, but only enough to indicate its age and give it some character. It's obvious that this example did many decades of hard service.

THANKS LINDEL we appreciate you & your crew!

Chris,

The 105 is looking great. I just had William White install nine crystals. What a difference new glass makes. I highly recommend him for your chrystal. White's Crystals

I'm glad to see a Hampden forum is now started. I've bid on several but haven't been the winner yet so I'll be searching. RR

Yep, WW is going to get a package from me with bezels needing new glass very soon...

Check out this bizarre combination...

Chris,
That's a conversion dial that was made so you can install a hunting case movement in an open face case. That's a nice looking movement. The case has two sets of case marks. RR

Yeah, I know that it's a conversion dial, but it just seems like a weird combo overall. Black dial with white hands like a 4992B with an early-ish Special Railway movement.

You're right though. It's a spectacular looking movement.

Hi Chris, That has to be the strangest looking Hampden I've ever seen.I hope whoever buys it does the right thing and dumps the black dial and B.M. OF case!The whole setup is completely period-incorrect, but it's a nice movement!,Ted.

Chris, I forgot to ask, on your No. 105, what make case is that? It has kind of an unusual shaped bow on it, I like that, I don't remember seeing another one like it.Thanks, Ted.

It's a Star 20 year case. I agree that the bow is interesting. It's different from others I've seen too. It's a shame that it's bent. I may see if my jeweler can tweak it back to its original shape.

Thanks Chris, I know you're looking for a Dueber case for it, but if you don't have any luck finding one,since that Star looks like the original case(I can't see any other case screw marks), it might be worth having replated.That is a nice looking case, must have a ton of timing marks in the back.My 105 also came in a Star case, not like yours, though.Mine had a really long pendant neck, an older style case than the movement.It had a whole slew of wachmaker marks, and had been serviced so many times that the case screws were worn into the rim pretty deep.I was lucky enough to find a Dueber pyramid bow case for it.Thru the hard railroad life it apparently had, it still shines like the day it was new!Take care, Ted.

I was initially thinking about re-casing it, but because it's obviously the original case I'm going to keep it as is. It's got a little brass showing but not so much that it's unattractive. It just shows that the watch was well used by the owner, giving it a sense of history and character. The only thing I'm going to do at this point is replace the scratched up crystal and see about getting the bow bent back into its original shape. I think it would be sad to divorce the movement from its original case.