Hampden 17

[Razz]

My newest aquisition and project. Was a non-runner picked up fairly cheap as a BIN with just 2 photos of the front and back. Very worn case and broken acrylic.

Has an Otero 71 in it. Got it open with the superglue nut trick. The gasket was pinched and worn and I think  the Combo of the over tight case with the broken crystal was causing a bind on the seconds hand. Once removed form case and loose debris tapped out and inspected under the scope, looks pretty good.

Very nice black linen dial in great shape. The case did its job protecting the movement. Look like it was plated gold over brass.

[watchweasol]

Tidy old watch cleaned up case polished and new crystal. It will .look great. Like the dial. Different.

[Razz]

1 hour ago, watchweasol said:

Tidy old watch cleaned up case polished and new crystal. It will .look great. Like the dial. Different.

Definately not yet in my wheelhouse to gold plate, but maybe at some point in the not to distant future. Here it is with a temp crystal while I wait for a new one. Think I will try a gold tension ring acrylic.

And I have some numbers to improve upon...

[watchweasol]

Hi. Definitely needs a service timgrapher is a bit scatty look nice with the crystal 

[Razz]

4 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi. Definitely needs a service timgrapher is a bit scatty look nice with the crystal 

Yes, I think a demag as a starting point then record the 6 positions again before starting the service.

[rehajm]

.

Edited June 12, 2023 by rehajm

[rehajm]

I like the size…and that dial! With a period or modern style band that could be a unique and attractive wearer…

[Razz]

5 minutes ago, rehajm said:

I like the size…and that dial! With a period or modern style band that could be a unique and attractive wearer…

Yes I agree. If you haven't caught it yet, the dial is marked Germany and Otero is/was a German movement maker. Trying to find out more about the Otero company...

[Endeavor]

On 6/13/2023 at 3:01 AM, Razz said:

Trying to find out more about the Otero company...

https://www.uhrwerksarchiv.de/movements/o/otero/

As you may know, the town Pforzheim in Germany (famous for all watch / jewel industry) was in WW2 leveled by one of the greatest carped bombing as late as February 1945 (kept silence about in "Allied" history-books), killing estimated 17.000 people and the German watch-industry was destroyed.

https://www.dw.com/en/pforzheim-the-dresden-nobody-knows-about/a-18274739

After the WW2 some companies never came back, some stood up again and some new started; Otero seems to be one of the new ones.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Endeavor

[Razz]

5 hours ago, Endeavor said:

https://www.uhrwerksarchiv.de/movements/o/otero/

As you may know, the town Pforzheim in Germany (famous for all watch / jewel industry) was in WW2 leveled by one of the greatest carped bombing as late as February 1945 (kept silence about in "Allied" history-books), killing estimated 17.000 people and the German watch-industry was destroyed.

https://www.dw.com/en/pforzheim-the-dresden-nobody-knows-about/a-18274739

After the WW2 some companies never came back, some stood up again and some new started; Otero seems to be one of the new ones.

Thank you for this information. Looking into the Clinton Watch Co and Hampden Watch Co is yielding nuggets of information as well, including a bit that the companies did import movements from Germany for use in their watches. Something not a lot of other companies apparently did post war. 

https://www.hampdenwatches.com/clinton-hampden

Edited June 16, 2023 by Razz
Typos

[Endeavor]

Perhaps not so much watch related, but in a way it is, because the German watch industry was till the destruction of Pforzheim (B-Uhr, Laco etc) a stiff competitor of the Swiss watch industry; there is an extremely interesting (for me an eye-opener) book describing the destruction of Pforzheim and what leads up to it; "Wolfram, the boy who went to war" by Giles Milton.  In English and you can pick it up, 2nd hand, on eBay for a few $.

 

50 minutes ago, Razz said:

Something not a lot of other companies apparently did post war

The US and Allies did profit from the German "know-how".