a few pictures of my most recent acquisition. It appears to be a very early? Hamilton 21 chronometer box,interested to hear from more knowledgeable members

Greetings,

I don't see any pictures.....

Hi; I couldn't get the photos to post so sent them to Lindell and asked him if he would do them for me, here they are,best wishes,Tom

I emailed the pics to Michael

Did you mean these Tom, if so, no not an early box, because it already has the instructions for the use of the balance wheel brake arm. The early ones didn´t have a break arm, they had to be corked.
I´ve added a picture of the movement with brake arm.

Thank you Werner for posting the pictures. For some reasom my Mac would not!!! It still could be an early box though, as when you search the document in the lid,it states that it was an order to put one in every chronometer they got rid of ???
so it might be that it was an older box with a newer chronometer. It also says all 85 size chronometers have the balance lock,yet we know that is not true. And I'm sure this one document is not the final word on what they did or did not do !!
"(4) All size 85 chronometers are equipped with a balance wheel brake mechanism that provides for locking or unlocking the chronometer balance wheel from outside the case. When a size 85 chronometer is issued from the chronometer supply pool to an Army installation by means other than hand carry, the balance wheel will be immobilized by using the brake mechanism. One copy of the starting instructions for size 85 chronometer (NAVSHIPS 250-524-6) will be furnished with each size 85 chronometer. Size 85 chronometers prepared for return shipment to a chronometer supply pool will be immobilized by using the balance brake."

http://www.apd.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r725_1/main.asp

Tom, you may be right, maybe someone pasted the instructions into an earlier box lid at a later date...

Tom,

I'm positive that it is not one of the early boxes (pre-N337) which were made by Regent Specialty Corporation, as these are keyed, have silver hardware, different handles and have a different construction around the openings. My N41 is an original untouched version of this box and there are a lot of differences that I can see between yours and mine.

Having established that it is not an early box, we know that it was a Seth Thomas box which was the second supplier. We can deduce that it saw military service as evidenced by the addition of the sticker in the lid from NAVSHIPS. The balance brake wrench holder (small hole) was most likely added sometime after the initial issue (which is not uncommon). What is interesting is the hole for the balance brake wrench appeared on some on the right side like yours, and left on others, where the proximity to the radius differed from box to box.

Also missing is the Hamilton nameplate on the box, I don't see any remnants of the screw holes, but the pictures aren't that big, so they could certainly be there. This would have been on the middle tier of the box, where usually the plate indicating serial number was just beneath this. But we know about mid-way through the run, they stopped putting the serial tag on the box, due to the difficulty of matching them back up after being serviced.

Somewhat more interesting are the brass corners on the top of the box, these appear to not be original. Most likely, they were replaced at the depot during overhaul. I don't doubt that the top is original, it certainly is as it has the right slide hardware and catch hardware. The original brass corners were more of a quarter square rather than the inward radiused corners displayed here. Once again, most likely a repair at the depot.

My guess on all of this is that the box is most likely an earlier version of the Seth Thomas boxes, where I base this on the number of times that it has most likely been through the depot with different chronometer movements and undergone refurbishment. It is something to imagine the service that this box has seen, it sure makes you wonder what campaigns shes been in and the hands that have held her...

Enjoy your box, she's got a lot of history.

Michael

thanks Michael, now I have two boxes to fill ,the Hamilton Chronometer Model 21 box,as well as a Hamilton model 36 Torpedo-boat USSB Ship Watch Box #373. I have as well a mahogany deck watch box,pictured here also

This Mahogany deck watch box has a flip up retaining mount to display the watch in the open position

#2 in the display position

Tom, The deck watch box is the one I need! Nice. I hope to find one someday.

hi Roger; I mis-spoke there ,the deck watch box is the only one I have filled,with an Air Ministry Chronometer Marked Waltham 16s Vanguard 23j .I have two English sterling silver deck watches both a larger size though which won't fit.