February 10, 2005, 05:56
William J. Hansen, Ph.D.Hamilton K-475: Elusive, Amazing Arbib Design
One of the rarest and most desirable of the asymmetric Hamiltons, this was only offered for one year, in 1962. Made of 10K gold fill, the case is offset to the right, with a cross-hatch pattern on the lugs that follows through to a line across the center of the dial. A 14K gold version exists, apparently part of a special order.
February 23, 2005, 18:21
___________Hi Bill -
Was wondering ... are the total production numbers known for this model?
Thanks!
Fred
p.s. Great pics and thanks for posting these!
February 23, 2005, 20:27
William J. Hansen, Ph.D., That is very kind of you to ask.
Rene Rondeau calls this watch "The Holy Grail" of mechanical asymmetrics. It was offered for only 1 year: 1962. It is as rare as the Flight I (a 14K Jetson-like watch), also sold that year.
The K-475 is really very rare. It was made in 10K gold fill. Consequently, it is prone to wear. Rene suggests that one or more solid 14K gold examples exist, perhaps by special order.
How many exist?
Unknown.
By report, 1600 examples of the Altair were made. I suspect that far less that 1600 examples exist of the K-475.
Our resident expert on all things Hamilton Electric & designs by Richard Arbib, Mr. Jeff Hess, can hopefully add to this discussion.