Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

This is one of my US military pocket watches - a 19 jewelled Hamilton 23 military chronometer from 1942. Grade 23 is listed as "military issue" but, as the case back has none of the usual US (or UK) military engraving and the face is very clean, I suspect it was sold after the war for non-military purposes. The movement is a one-button chronometer - you can't see the button in the pic because it's recessed into the crown. The movement is currently sticky - wound but not unwinding - so it's gone off to a friendly Amish watchmaker in upper New York State for cleaning and fettling. His name is Mahlon Shetler and he's a member of a community that doesn't use electricity - hence they need watchmakers who can deal with mechanical movements. He also specialises in all grades of US made Hamilton watches - a useful man to know!

 

Hamilton%2023%201942%20face.JPG

 

Hamilton%2023%201942%20movement.JPG

Edited by WillFly
Posted (edited)

Thanks, Rog. One of Mahlon's specialities is making display case backs from existing backs. He cuts out the centre from the case and fits a watch crystal in its place. The back on the Hamilton 23 is slightly worn and slightly cross-threaded, so I've asked him whether it's worth getting a fresh case back and doing a display case operation on it. I haven't heard yet whether he's going ahead with this. If the watch had the usual military markings, like these below from my Hamilton GCT, then I'd keep it "as is" but, as it stands, the case back is very unattractive. Anyway - the GCT case back:

 

Hamilton%204992B%201941%20case%20outer.J

Edited by WillFly
Posted

A display back would be a great plus. However did you learn about "Mahlon Shetler" sometimes it's not what you know but who you know.

 

Another excellent timepiece Will. :thumbsu:

Posted

A display back would be a great plus. However did you learn about "Mahlon Shetler" sometimes it's not what you know but who you know.

I have a friend, Dan - a fellow musician - in New York State, and he's a great collector of Hamilton pocket and wrist watches. Mahlon is his buddy, so I post the Hamiltons for fettling to Dan, who drives over regularly to Mahlon's to chat, shoot the breeze, and give him Hamiltons to look after. The internet's a wonderful thing!

Posted

Oh, there's no shortage of military pocket watches around. The most common are Waltham and Elgin, and the most sought after are genuine WW1 and WW2 models and makes like Jaeger Le Coultre, Lemania and Hamilton. But the number of military chronometers is far less, and this rare Hamilton might sell for around £600-£700 in good condition - but I'll never sell mine! I bought it at an online auction a few years ago - can't remember what I paid for it, but I think it was in the £200 region.

Posted

I will have to keep a look out. I was lucky with my Omega as well. I won it for $33, it has been ticking like a good'un since the day I got it a couple of weeks ago.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Hi All, I’m having a hard time finding a balance assembly or even a working donor movement for a Gruen 330.  Any leads appreciated.   Gruen doesn’t stamp the caliber number of the movement but lust in the case back.   
    • Why do you think this is Fontainemelon ?  The balance staff you will need to source separately.  But first it's important to accurately identify what you have there. Research Ebauches Sa, see who was in group, to find the brand that made this movement. 
    • Hi Watchrepairtalk, I have some questions about part sourcing I was hoping someone here might be able to help with. I'm working on an FHF 180 movement with a broken balance staff, broken regulator pins, and damaged cap jewels (both top and bottom). Some Googling says that this is similar to other FHF calibers like 150s, 160s, 180s and so on but I can't figure out what the functional difference is between these movements.  Is there any reason I wouldn't be able to acquire a donor FHF 150 or similar (with no shock protection) and use parts from that or would it be smarter to source replacements individually? Also are there any sources someone could recommend to get bulk cap jewels like this? Thank you for the help!
    • Hello and welcome to the WRT forum.
    • interesting video nice to see the machine what it can do now I wonder what it costs and I'm sure it's not in my budget. Plus the video brought up questions but the website below answers the questions? What was bothering me was the size of his machine 4 mm because I thought it was bigger than that? But then it occurred to me that maybe they had variations it looks like four, seven and 10. With the seven and 10 being the best because way more tool positions in way more rotating tools. Although I bet you all the rotating tools are probably separate cost https://www.tornos.com/en/content/swissnano   Then as we been talking about Sherline. Just so that everyone's aware of this they have another division their industrial division where you can buy bits and pieces. I have a link below that shows that just in case you don't want to have the entire machine you just need bits and pieces. https://www.sherline.com/product-category/industrial-products-division/   Let's see what we can do with the concept I explained up above and bits and pieces. For one thing you can make a really tiny gear very tiny like perhaps you're going to make a watch. Then another version the center part is not separate it is all machined from one piece. Then fills gear cutting machines have gone through multiple of evolutions. A lot of it based on what he wanted to make like he was going to make a watch unfortunately eyesight issues have prevented that. Another reason why you should start projects like this much sooner when your eyesight is really good or perhaps start on watches first and then move the clocks then local we have from the industrial division? Looks like two separate motors and heads. Then it's hard to see but this entire thing is built on top of a much larger milling machine as a larger milling machine gave a very solid platform to build everything.   Then like everything else that had multiple generations are versions the indexing went through of course variations like above is one version and the one below was the last version. Now the version below I mentioned that previously and somewhere in the beginning to discussion and somebody else had one in their picture. As it is a really nice precision indexing. Then I wasn't sure if I had a the watch photos here is his unfinished watch. No he wasn't going to make a simple watch like none of his clocks were simply either what would be the challenge and that.    
×
×
  • Create New...