Any Hamilton 982 fans?

DManzaluni · Sat. 10:54am

Here's where things start to get nasty/difficult.

4 years ago bought a 14K 982M Hamilton that someone had trod on. The movement (which has that rather pretty medallion) no longer works and the case front is all bent out of shape. The back is quite hardy so is still usable. I have never had the heart to sell it for the melt value. So I have been semi-looking for a solid gold similar watch in need of a solid gold back. The chances of finding one were always a bit slight.

The question is: At what gold value does my search metamorphose into 'Sell it for the melt' along with all the non-repairable fountain pen nibs I have accumulated? $3300 / oz?

With Donald Trump in the White House for another 3 years screwing things up and with (obviously) no adult in the room to stop him, inflation WILL hit over 20% sooner or later so gold will definitely go higher, but should I start melting now and invest the proceeds in something else now?

pdxleaf · Sat. 11:23am

DManzaluni
Here's where things start to get nasty/difficult.

4 years ago bought a 14K 982M Hamilton that someone had trod on. The movement (which has that rather pretty medallion) no longer works and the case front is all bent out of shape. The back is quite hardy so is still usable. I have never had the heart to sell it for the melt value. So I have been semi-looking for a solid gold similar watch in need of a solid gold back. The chances of finding one were always a bit slight.

The question is: At what gold value does my search metamorphose into 'Sell it for the melt' along with all the non-repairable fountain pen nibs I have accumulated? $3300 / oz?

With Donald Trump in the White House for another 3 years screwing things up and with (obviously) no adult in the room to stop him, inflation WILL hit over 20% sooner or later so gold will definitely go higher, but should I start melting now and invest the proceeds in something else now?

Have you tried contacting Dan at HamiltonChronicles.com or other Hamilton sites to see if they have spare cases, etc?

Yeah, it'd be pretty tough to melt a watch.

Waltesefalcon · Sat. 11:25am

Wow, I haven't visited this thread in three years.

I would recommend contacting Dan like @pdxleaf says, and possibly even selling it to him if he is interested in having the parts. At least that way it won't be melted down.

Waltesefalcon · Sat. 11:28am

I should probably add my Donald I picked up a year or two ago.

Deafboy · Sat. 12:26pm

Waltesefalcon
I should probably add my Donald I picked up a year or two ago.

That Donald has a very sharp case! Congrats!

Waltesefalcon · Sat. 1:44pm

Deafboy
That Donald has a very sharp case! Congrats!

Thanks.

DManzaluni · Sat. 2:29pm

thanks guys Good idea to offer it to him, - now I have the impetus to look for it in my flat.

NOW: What do I do with my nice condition new looking but rather undistinguished 1970s 18 k Certina as well as my 50s Mathey Tissot top loader.

ghce · Sat. 3:58pm

Were these available with adjusted movements?

gatorcpa · Sat. 7:30pm

ghce
Were these available with adjusted movements?

All Hamilton movements from this era were marked “adjusted”, because they were made in the USA and not subject to extra tariffs on adjusted watch movements.

Where you see movements marked “unadjusted”, they are generally Swiss movements which were imported raw and put in US made cases to avoid these extra tariffs. Even for those watches, importers usually employed watchmakers to adjust them after casing here.

gatorcpa

ghce · Sat. 8:33pm

gatorcpa
All Hamilton movements from this era were marked “adjusted”, because they were made in the USA and not subject to extra tariffs on adjusted watch movements.

Where you see movements marked “unadjusted”, they are generally Swiss movements which were imported raw and put in US made cases to avoid these extra tariffs. Even for those watches, importers usually employed watchmakers to adjust them after casing here.

gatorcpa

The reason for my asking is that in all the above movement pics none say adjusted.

My preference in buying is always contingent on a quality adjusted movement 5 positions rather than 3 or 2.

HamDoctor · Sun. 3:28am

ghce
The reason for my asking is that in all the above movement pics none say adjusted.

My preference in buying is always contingent on a quality adjusted movement 5 positions rather than 3 or 2.

From today's point of view, it's odd that Hamilton didn't specify how many positions their 980/982/982M movements were adjusted to. Even with the 770 movement (which was the last one they produced in the U.S.), I have only seen it mentioned that they were "fully adjusted, shock-resistant, antimagnetic, lifetime dynavar mainspring".

I have to assume the data is just incomplete. When I run serial numbers on pocketwatchdatabase.com, my 982 movements are listed as "adjusted to 3 positions". We know that the 982M movements - which were their top of the line and only went into solid gold or platinum watches - were taken even more care of at the factory, tighter tolerances and better materials were used - when they made new breakthroughs with materials, the good stuff ended up in the 982M first (like the improved alloys for mainsprings and hairsprings). Hamilton had their own mini-steel mill to produce these materials, talk about "everything being made in-house". Still, if I run serials for my 982M movements, they show as "adjusted to 0 positions", which can't be right.

I'm chalking this up to "times - and advertising - were much different from today". You have to remember that these gorgeous movements (especially in the case of the 982M) were never even seen by the customer, hidden behind the caseback. It was the watchmakers that were supposed to be impressed.

... and the moniker "the American Patek" is not just wishful thinking by some rose-tinted-goggle-wearers with a penchant for nostalgia.

If you want to go into some detail for these movements, I highly recommend reading this interview with a watchmaker on them - spoilers: he was very impressed with how well they hold up, all these decades later:

https://vintage-hamilton-wristwatch...atchmakers-in-depth-take-on-the-hamilton-982/

ghce · Sun. 5:51pm

HamDoctor
From today's point of view, it's odd that Hamilton didn't specify how many positions their 980/982/982M movements were adjusted to. Even with the 770 movement (which was the last one they produced in the U.S.), I have only seen it mentioned that they were "fully adjusted, shock-resistant, antimagnetic, lifetime dynavar mainspring".

I have to assume the data is just incomplete. When I run serial numbers on pocketwatchdatabase.com, my 982 movements are listed as "adjusted to 3 positions". We know that the 982M movements - which were their top of the line and only went into solid gold or platinum watches - were taken even more care of at the factory, tighter tolerances and better materials were used - when they made new breakthroughs with materials, the good stuff ended up in the 982M first (like the improved alloys for mainsprings and hairsprings). Hamilton had their own mini-steel mill to produce these materials, talk about "everything being made in-house". Still, if I run serials for my 982M movements, they show as "adjusted to 0 positions", which can't be right.

I'm chalking this up to "times - and advertising - were much different from today". You have to remember that these gorgeous movements (especially in the case of the 982M) were never even seen by the customer, hidden behind the caseback. It was the watchmakers that were supposed to be impressed.

... and the moniker "the American Patek" is not just wishful thinking by some rose-tinted-goggle-wearers with a penchant for nostalgia.

If you want to go into some detail for these movements, I highly recommend reading this interview with a watchmaker on them - spoilers: he was very impressed with how well they hold up, all these decades later:

https://vintage-hamilton-wristwatch...atchmakers-in-depth-take-on-the-hamilton-982/

I have grown to love some of the square/ rectangular or asymmetric and recently missed out on an asymmetric Lord Elgin 23 Jewel 6 position watch, the sticking point on the purchase was a dial that only its mother could like though movement and case were excellent. I regret now not buying it but the search continues for that special US top grade watch!

pdxleaf · Sun. 7:40pm

HamDoctor
If you want to go into some detail for these movements, I highly recommend reading this interview with a watchmaker on them - spoilers: he was very impressed with how well they hold up, all these decades later:

https://vintage-hamilton-wristwatch...atchmakers-in-depth-take-on-the-hamilton-982/

This was great. Thanks for sharing it.

ghce · Mon. 3:26am

Great article, thanks for sharing, it looks like I need to look for a 982 movement watch.

Waltesefalcon · Mon. 8:35am

I highly recommend getting a 982. Look for a 982M they were the absolute highest grade 982s. I prefer the earlier ones with an actual medallion in the movement over the later ones that just have "M" engraved along with the 982.

HamDoctor · Mon. 2:08pm

I've been lugging "quite a few" watches to my watchmaker over the years, and I can recall him being enthusiastic over a movement twice - once was the IWC 8541B (Pellaton) movement, the other time was an (early) 982M. They really are beautiful, well crafted and held up amazingly over the decades.

@ghce - You're right about those Lord Elgins. Hamiltons are great, and some of the Hamilton asymmetrical watches are really really nice - but they are certainly not a "secret" anymore (which leads to "interesting" prices).
Elgin made quite a few very interesting designs, models like the Clubman, Dunbar, Black Knight, Holcomb, Thornton etc. - and I also respect them for their (ultimately failed) strategy of innovating and building new calibers, when Hamilton was only using Swiss movements and their 770 movement. There's quite a bit of use of enamel in their cases as well, which was something I really like.

Any Hamilton 982 fans?

DManzaluni

pdxleaf

Waltesefalcon

Waltesefalcon

Deafboy

Waltesefalcon

DManzaluni

ghce

gatorcpa

ghce

HamDoctor

ghce

pdxleaf

ghce

Waltesefalcon

HamDoctor

Similar threads

Any Hamilton Fans Out There?

Any Hamilton watch fans? Need an ID…

Hamilton Khaki Navy GMT, Ref: H776151

Vintage Hamilton 18K gold Thin-o-matic T-101

Managed to score a Hamilton Model 21 (from the 80's...?)

Any Hamilton fans?