I have owned a couple dozen Hamiltons over the past five years, both vintage and modern. To date, this is my favorite. In fact, I traded one of my favorite Hamiltons—a pristine serviced Yorktowne; a serviced vintage Seamaster; and an almost new Bucherer Adamavi, box and papers, for it. I enjoyed all three of those, but I fell in love with this Super-Compressor the moment I laid eyes on it. And I still need to get it serviced. Photos probably do not convey how cool this watch is, particularly if you aren’t also a watch junkie. “Upscaling” is how I would characterize my last couple of years, and in my view that is what I did acquiring this future icon.
My friend James Sadilek is the USA specialist in vintage Glycine Airmans, so he has considerable experience with EPSA super-compressor cases. We meet on Sundays to share coffee and watch talk. When I showed him this Hamilton he was surprised that it has a threaded back, as apparently most EPSAs from this era utilize a press fit strategy. I let him open it up and pull the works out to analyze how it works.
A week later we meet again and he still expressed some skepticism concerning the effectiveness, versus the snap backs. His question is whether the threads will impede the compression effect as the watch goes deeper underwater. James did remark that he could definitely feel the springs taking hold as he screwed the back down.
Unfortunately, he won’t be performing the service, as he is always booked up a year out or more. I will likely send this to a watchmaker in Pennsylvania who has a reputation for restoring underwater performance.
Spec sheet:
HAMILTON AquaDate 600 Super-Compressor w/internal rotating bezel. Ref. 64040-3 Automatic cal. 694-A Date SS. Re-set date utilizing the 2400-0830-2400 hour routine
Case Width, w/o Crown: 36.30 mm
Case Length: 43.15 mm
Case Height w/Crystal: 12.35 mm
Bezel Diameter: 36.50 mm
Lug Width: 18.05 mm
Crystal: 32.90Dia mm, in bezel, acrylic
Crown (X2): 6.35Dia mm, cross hatched
Case Back Diameter: 34.05 mm, thread
Case Back Thread O.D.: 30.40 mm
Inside case back inscription: “Hard Hat” symbol; Swiss Made; Super-Compressor; Brevet + 317537; Brevet + 337462; Stainless Steel; Hamilton Watch Co. Swiss partially encircling stylized “H” in circle; 1547993
Engraving on outside case back: Outer circle: Stainless Steel; Antimagnetic; Waterproof; 64040-3; Automatic; Shock Protected. In circular inner recess, raised: stylized Hamilton “H”; wave motif; “600”, below waves.
Movement: cal. 694A (base ETA 2472); 17 jewel Automatic; 18000 bph; Unadjusted
Engraving on Movement: On Rotor: Hamilton Watch Co.; 694 A; Seventeen 17 Jewels. On Bridges: Unadjusted; Swiss. (Absence of import code on bridges---and not being 21 jewel cal. 64---suggest USA assembly). Under Balance: Hamilton “H” in circle; Cal. 64. Not decorated.
Timegrapher 1900 readings: -3 to 8 seconds a day; 271 degrees of amplitude; 1.1 milliseconds of beat error; 52 degrees lift angle
