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I just serviced this vintage (I think it's from the 1950s) 14k gold Hampden wrist watch. I was looking into their history and everything I found about them said that they went out of business around 1927 and sold everything to Russia. I know that there are other Hampden wristwatches from the 1940s and 50s (swiss made) but I can't find any further history. Was this brand trying to be revived? Movement is signed Hampden too, it's an AS 970.

Hi all I'm trying to repair this one for an old Viet Nam marine buddy, who said it hasn't run since the day his grampa gave it to him just before he deployed. What I found was that the upper pivot of the balance staff was gone along with the balance cock upper hole jewel was cracked and chipped. I was able to secure a NOS balance, staff and hairspring assembled, and lucky enough that all the jewels and fits were good. I added a new white alloy mainspring for the heck of it, cleaned and lubed everything. Assembled it and put some power to the mainspring to check it all over to find what I thought was excessive endplay. I took the balance back down and under the microscope to find it looks like the staff upper pivot(or the staff OAL) isn't long enough to fit, or reach into the upper jewel when assembled. Is that possible? is the hairspring collet not staked to the shoulder? (I haven't gotten that far). 1) should I mic the staff overall length and try and find a longer one? 2) I see there are stake marks between the balance cock and base plate seemingly to raise it up or for binding issues. should I blend those down flush? 3) should I attempt to find a different balance/bridge/hairspring assy. and replace the whole thing? it wants to run that's for sure and does intermittently, which, after all the work, is encouraging to me. I'm soooo close. Can I fix this? much obliged- Mike

Hi all-is there a name for the crescent shape of this fork and its purpose? Vague memory of seeing one like this but can't find where I had seen it. Thank ya MM

hi everyone, todd here, been away for some time due to recovery from a bad injury. i am a reasonably skilled hobbyist, not a watchmaker. currently i am working on a Hampden model 307 that is in near mint condition but won't wind. i have the movement disassembled and everything looks good. when i test the motion of the clutch assembly, and clutch lever with a bench key with the top plate off everything works properly. however, when i reassemble the watch the clutch lever will not move the clutch into the winding position. i am at a loss here. something is obviously binding but i can't find it. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. i am attaching a pic of the clutch from my microscope that shows it is in good condition. thanks everyone todd