By Hamilton
Located in Long Beach, CA
FACTORY / HOUSE: Hamilton Watch Company
STYLE / REFERENCE: Midas Series / Art Deco Tank
METAL / MATERIAL: 14Kt Solid Yellow Gold
CIRCA / YEAR: 1940's
DIMENSIONS / SIZE: Length 22mm X Width 33mm
MOVEMENT / CALIBER: Manual Winding / 19 Jewels / Caliber 982M
DIAL / HANDS: Original Two Tone in Sterling Silver with 18Kt. Solid Gold Applied Numerals
ATTACHMENT / LENGTH: Leather, 16mm / Regular Length
WARRANTY: 18 months on the movement
This is a "vault find" watch, it has been locked up for nearly 50 years, which means it needs a service. We will give it a factory quality service by our finest watchmaker as part of the purchase price before it is shipped out to you. This will delay shipping for a few days of course.
LIFETIME SERVICE COMMITMENT
This is a great looking and dependable watch by this legendary American House from Lancaster Pennsylvania. This watch is offered with what appears to be an original period Alligator strap and an original Hamilton buckle and box. While the strap is to fragile to be practical it does indicate that this watch is in nearly new condition.
Hamilton was devoted to excellence from their most modest watch to their finest. For example, Hamilton Dials were made in all Sterling Silver with Solid Gold 18Kt. Applied Numerals. No American house did this on all their watches. Only the finest Swiss houses had this level of quality. This watch will keep dependable time for the next 200 years if you give it a service every so often.
Hamilton History
The wrong train, on the wrong track, at the wrong time at the end of the 19th century frequently resulted in disastrous train wrecks. In response to the critical need for accuracy on the nation’s railroads, laws were passed in 1891 establishing set standards of accuracy.
All engineers and railroad workers were required to purchase and maintain their watches to keep accurate time based on set standards, about 30 seconds per week was the tolerance.
This was the inspiration for The Hamilton Watch Company which was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The company was started by a group of investors who were looking to create a high-quality, American-made watch. Hamilton quickly became a leading manufacturer of pocket watches, and by the early 1900s, the company was supplying watches to the US military.
In 1917, Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch for service men entering the first World War. The wristwatch quickly became popular with both soldiers and civilians recognizing how practical they were. Hamilton continued to grow throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and by the 1940s, the company was one of the largest watchmakers in the world.
Hamilton had exceptional engineers and designers and their watches were elegantly styled as well as dependable. As a watchmaker myself I consider Hamilton to be one of the worlds “best” watches. It was mass produced perfection. Even today, you can take 100 old Hamilton’s of the same model apart and shake them up in a bag and reassemble 100 watches that will work perfectly with almost no adjustment. This is an achievement.
In the early 1930’s our family store in Los Angeles was a “Hamilton” Store. Even during the depression though Hamilton did not allow you to discount the price to sell a watch. Also, in the neighborhood was another Hamilton store and one day the owner sent in a “shill” to buy a Hamilton from us, someone gave them a slight discount. Well, that was all it took for Hamilton to “pull the line” from us. In those days the local jewelry supply houses sold you the watches and they were all told not to sell to us. We simply contacted Gruen, and they were very excited to have a new account...
Category
Vintage 1940s American Art Deco Wrist Watches
