Hamilton Thin O Matic caliber 626

[Levine98]

Offered to service and refresh my 90 year old father-in-laws 70 year old Hamilton Thin O Matic caliber 626 in a solid gold 14k case.

Has high sentimental value as it was the last Christmas gift he received from his grandmother before her passing in 1960 or so.

On first inspection, the watch looked like it just needed a good cleaning and full service. At full wind, it timed at 90 per day fast and 265 amp with very low beat error.

Upon opening the watch up however, discovered that the previous watchmaker took some liberties (missing parts!!!).

Fortunately there are several Hamilton 629 donor movements to be had on eBay for relatively low $$, and since this a cost no issue repair/restoration for my father-in-law, expecting a happy outcome. 

Still amazed at what some folks will do to unsuspecting customers (my father-in-law says he thinks he last had the watch serviced back in the 1980s).

Edited October 22, 2023 by Levine98
Correction

[RichardHarris123]

I don't understand, you said it was running well with parts missing?  

[rossjackson01]

8 minutes ago, Levine98 said:

Offered to service and refresh my 90 year old father-in-laws 70 year old Hamilton Thin O Matic caliber 626 in a solid gold 14k case.

Has high sentimental value as it was the last Christmas gift he received from his grandmother before her passing in 1960 or so.

On first inspection, the watch looked like it just needed a good cleaning and full service. At full wind, it timed at 90 per day fast and 265 amp with very low beat error.

Upon opening the watch up however, discovered that the previous watchmaker took some liberties (missing parts!!!).

Fortunately there are several Hamilton 629 donor movements to be had on eBay for relatively low $$, and since this a cost no issue repair/restoration for my father-in-law, expecting a happy outcome. 

Still amazed at what some folks will do to unsuspecting customers (my father-in-law says he thinks he last had the watch serviced back in the 1980s).

Feel for you. Can't believe the unprofessionalism of some watchmakers. Mark's course really does teach us well.  Keep us updated with your service.

[Levine98]

37 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

I don't understand, you said it was running well with parts missing?  

I mis-stated. With a manual wind it appeared to run OK on the timegrapher. It also set fine. During my initial exam and before I opened the case it didn’t dawn on me to check the autowind since I never imagined someone would salvage parts from what was surely a clients watch.

it wasn’t until I opened the case that I realized that much of the autowind mechanism had be scarfed. My guess is the last watchmaker figured my father-in-law would not notice since he actually hardly wore the watch (I’ve never seen it on his wrist and I’ve known him since 1982).

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Levine98

[RichardHarris123]

I see, makes sense now.  What a scumbag that watch repairer was. 

[JohnR725]

18 hours ago, Levine98 said:

it wasn’t until I opened the case that I realized that much of the autowind mechanism had be scarfed. My guess is the last watchmaker figured my father-in-law would not notice since he actually hardly wore the watch (I’ve never seen it on his wrist and I’ve known him since 1982).

one of the problems with guessing is did you guessed correctly? For instance your father-in-law takes the watch in for servicing is an automatic watch don't you think he would notice that it doesn't automatically wind anymore? Seems like that's something you would notice?

so other scenarios would be the automatic winding ceased to function and the parts were removed. Although it seems like you would return the parts to the customer. Plus the customer would know that it's now a manual wind watch is not a automatic wind watch. then if this did occur didn't necessarily occur with the last watchmaker.

 

then for those that would like to see what the watches supposed to look like with all of its parts

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&Hamilton_629

 

 

 

[Levine98]

1 hour ago, JohnR725 said:

one of the problems with guessing is did you guessed correctly? For instance your father-in-law takes the watch in for servicing is an automatic watch don't you think he would notice that it doesn't automatically wind any

Honestly don’t think so. My father-in-law is an extreme introvert who lives completely in his head (retired mathematician & physicist). In spite of his genius, even when he was vital he couldn’t refold a paper map or figure out how to work the car radio.  I know he never wore the watch and doubt he ever even knew it was an automatic wind (because he would never have bothered to associate “Thin o Matic” with auto wind.   

anyhow academic now—he suffered a stroke 3 years ago and lost his wife of 67 years during the pandemic—doesn’t wear a watch or say much of anything now (we take care of him). He honestly doesn’t even remember when he got it from his grandmother, but does know she gave it to him sometime a long time ago (must be between 1959-1961).

my wife found it while cleaning up/sorting through some of his stuff since she is responsible for ensuring his things are in proper order—she wants me to restore the watch so he can pass it on to his oldest (my brother-in-law) when the time comes to sort out his legacy.