I picked this watch up a while ago because it appeared to be in pretty good shape. I am very new in watch collecting and was curious if someone could give me some background on this type of watch. Also, I realize the case has some scratches but what would something in this condition bring???

Thanks for any info,
Joey

Picture 2

Picture 3, I was told this site loves pictures...

Welcome Joey,

What you have there is a nice little piece of military and horological history: The Hamilton 992B is a “Rail Road” grade watch. As you should know there is a lever to pull when the crystal bezel is removed to set the time. This was a safety feature to hinder accidental time changes as having the correct time on the rail roads was so important.

There are a few variations to your watch. Two such variations are the dial and the rear lid nomenclature. The other style dial is called the “Montgomery” dial and the other style rear lid had a different type of military codes and serial numbers.

One such prefix on the back of your lid is “OE” and this signifies that this watch is a 21 jewel rail road grade pocket watch. These watches were purchased in great number (18,938 I believe) and used primarily by the US Army Corps of Engineers to help coordinate the massive logistical effort of moving men and materials in Europe and other theaters during war time at a cost of $38.96 each. Other watches of different calibers and jewel counts had other prefixes such as “OA” and “OB” for 7-9 and 15-17 jewels. And as far as manufacture date ???? maybe 1943-1944. It is difficult with online resouces as they all tend to differ but given your serial number that is my best guess plus I do not believe the Hamilton Ledgers have information such as the "finshed date" or "sold to" information for the 992B's.

As far as value now...well that is up to the buyer/buyers. I have seen a few examples sell in the $150-$250 range in average condition and others sell in the $350-$500 range depending on movement markings (military division and such) and condition. Your particular piece is a classic “U.S. GOVT.” marked in average to above average condition in my opinion. And this is just that, opinion. Everyone has one and probably not the same as mine. I will attach another few photos to show you another variant of this particular timepiece. Hope I could help a bit and welcome once again. Others with more information please add as I just gave a brief answer.

There are many more threads and discussions on the military issued Hamilton 992B in this forum. Just do a quick advanced search in the search field area with "Hamilton 992B" and in the "Military Timepiece" section and your on your way with more information you wrap your head around!

Rear case lid example different from yours.

Joey-

I have an exact same setup 992b as you. Matching dial, hands, case and US Gov marked movement. The case number on mine is 11,834. movement number is C99797. Yous is a little better condition as mine has hairlines in the dial and little more wear on the back.

Thanks,

Jated

Michael & Jared,
Thanks for all the information. The only reason I bought the watch is because it was very clean. After purchasing some not so good watches, I am glad to hear this one was a good choice. This site is great and I am glad to be apart.

The case condition is not that bad for a WWII military watch. The case is similar to the 4992B cases, base metal, usually worn through on the back. I think the cases were designed to last for the duration of the war.

The military "specs" had to be adhered to and agreed to prior to manufacture one would think.

I would be most interested in seeing those specs and trying to find out why in blue blazes they went with a base metal chrome plated case instead of stainless steel

There may be a snag however, because there was a shortage of mass produced watches here and abroad during 1939-'41. The USNO put out a letter inviting the major watch companies to design watches for them and to have prototypes. I believe that's how the Model 21 came about just to name one watch type. Being how the 992B was already in production prior to "Pearl Harbor" perhaps Hamilton was just pressed to deliver a needed mass produced watch quickly to the military

Stainless steel would of stood the test of time and I don't believe it would of been any more expensive to mass produce. With extremely harsh conditions to endure from polar caps to deserts and being in and around different salt water "seas", stainless seems like it would of been the only logical choice.

I'm wondering if the govt. called for SS but the manufacturers pulled one on them

What does anyone amongst you have to add to this, in the way of facts, please......

regards,
bb

Maybe one idea is that stainless steel was a hot commodity for war time manufacture and there may have been a shortage or a prioritized use of it. I do know that copper is an example of a metal that became in short supply during this period and other metals were used in it’s place for example the Zinc covered steel Lincoln penny in 1943. Maybe a base metal was more economical and in greater supply than stainless steel during this time. Just one idea.

During WWII nickel was a strategic material. I have some civilian Bulovas wrist watches (1943 specically) that have sterling silver as the base metal. The Bulova Type A-11 hack wrist watch is a classic example of the wrong choice of plating material, most of which were chrome plated and didn't stand the test of time. It looks as though material choice was left to the manufacturers. I have a copy of one page of an A-11 spec (spec number unknown)and it does not define what material the case should be. I have a list of military watch specifications, but the military specifications themselves are hard to come by.

Both observations/posts are correct. Copper and nickel were two materials that were in demand by the military. We actually got steel pennies in 1943 and actual silver alloyed nickels in 1942 thru 1945

Yet we find these chromium plated watches for civilian as well as military use during the war efforts, and many, many of them have a copper or nickel base metal under that very thin chromium layer

It's mind boggling and confusing to say the least to realize that ordinary citizens were actually digging out and participating in organized drives to bring copper and nickel items to the war effort and smelters across America. And all the time watch manufacturers were using these "disguised" materials by the tons and even selling them to the military under contract

regards,
bb

Something to remember is that silver today is considered a precious metal but it has not always been very precious. During the war the price of silver was about 35 cents an ounce so using it in place of stainless steel or nickel would not have been a a big deal as it would have been only marginally more costly. And since it is much softer and easier to work it would even have had a small cost savings over the greater effort to work stainless steel into a watch case. As has been mentioned, the reason many watch cases were made from silver during the war is that strategic metals such as brass, nickel, aluminum, and even stainless steel were in greater demand in those years.