Thank you @Canuck and @TexOmega. The back eventually unscrewed. Had not been opened in decades! These Hamiltons look so nice! What do the markings on the case back mean? (Other than the obvious ones).

 

Case back states the manufacturer and states it is gf when you see a year guarantee.

Get a cotton Qtip and a touch of oil and run it around those case back threads if you do not get it serviced and it will unscrew easily in the future. Just a touch of oil.

other microscopic markings are WM coding when it was serviced

 

Canuck, thank you for that fine post on the topic.

Came perilously close to purchasing a pocket watch when I was in Abilene, Texas at a watch shop this morning. Saw an assortment of Hamilton, Hampden, Illinois, Waltham, and Elgin watches with 17 jewel or better movements. One Hamilton with a 992 was from the 19-teens. One Illinois had a really nice looking "Springfield" 17 jewel movement in it. Not railroad grade though and even the watchmaker owner said that railroad grade pocket watches were a good place to start.

That Hamilton 992 had a bad dial. Was a double stepped (?) dial with an extra "step" between the 4 and the 5 where it had been patched. Shame as it was a Montgomery dial which appeals to me.

 

Single sunk or double sunk dials or flat are terms I’ve read in manufacture adverts and catalogs from the period.

did you take pix?

 

I bought this nifty Hamilton case back remover years ago off *b*y

 

I am pretty sure I have a decent 16 size Hamilton dial in my spares if you decide to go back.

 

Was wishing to find a dial and am not sure how dials interchange. Seemed a bit high for a piece out of the dial. He wanted $495 for it. I tried to get him to negotiate on a "package deal" with an Omega I was interested in, but he wouldn't budge off the Hamilton.

 

Depending on the year, dial feet will be different and different among the grades

tiny screws hold the dial feet.


Some early dials had 4 then later, 3


Canuck and other WM’s here can put a sharper point on this


Unless the movement is very special, like wrist watches, a damaged dial sinks the value and the 992 was produced in extremely high numbers for about 40 years.

and the name on the dial changed fonts over time with the 992, plus sometimes it was Hamilton sometimes Hamilton Watch Company over time

 

Some Hamilton dials have FOUR feet, and some have THREE feet. They are not interchangeable. Any 16-size Hamilton dial from an OPEN FACED watch with three dial feet will fit any other 16-size Hamilton movement meant for a movement with three feet, in open faced case. Same goes with four feet dials. Hunter case Hamilton dials will only fit a hunter cased model. How to tell three or four feet?

The images are of a Hamilton grade 992, and a Hamilton 952.

On the picture marked Hamilton 952, the arrow points at the crown wheel which is contained by two screws. The dial on the watch has FOUR feet.

On the picture marked 992, the red arrow points at the crown wheel which is held by ONE screw. This dial will have THREE feet. The dials on Hamiltons such as the examples, are NOT interchangeable.

This rule of thumb does NOT apply to 18-size Hamiltons!

 

fonts and verbiage over the years

 

I am aware of the difference and wouldn't have offered him a four foot dial for a 992.

 

I guess you though that post was directed at you, Actually, it was directed at @TexOmega ‘s post where he mentioned putting a “finer point” on 3 and 4 foot dials! A 992 with two screws holding the crown wheel, likely HAS a 4-feet dial. The earlier ones had 4, and the later ones had 3.

 

I am always assuming I’m writing for a novice, I’m just barely above a novice & the WM’s can add and subtract from their perch.

Great thread hope we can pull a few more inside.

Offering a dial is a top notch gesture @Waltesefalcon

 

When I was graduating high school my father told me it was customary to give someone a watch to commemorate the milestone. What did I know about watches, I knew Rolex and Tag Heuer because I had a $20 New York special Tag s/el knockoff and never thought a real one was even an option. So being me I thought gold pocket watch. He had a friend who was a jewelry dealer and brought home a few different types with and without the hunting case a varying levels of engraving. I made my choice. I used to wear it a lot and utilized the 5th pocket of my jeans but too many mishaps where I now only use it for special occasions. I just recently had it serviced and it is gorgeous and working beautifully.
Elgin Watch Co. grade 210, size 16, 7 jewels 14k gold hunting case. It also had a nice gold chain not pictured.

 

I exposed my own ignorance there. I guess I've never dealt with an old enough 992, I thought they all used three footed dials.

 

The 992 with the single screw in the crown wheel that I showed (above) was from 1919. The 952 with two screws holding the crown wheel that I showed (above) was from 1910. I don’t know what year the three-footed dial was introduced in the different models. The earlier one had 4 feet, the later one, three feet.

The first grade 992 was serial number 302101. It was produced in 1903. Definitely early enough to have had the four-footed dial.

I showed a Hamilton grade 952, earlier in this thread. Mine was the first model. Two screws holding the crown wheel, four-footed dial, and two-piece barrel bridge. Model 2 had the two-piece barrel bridge, three dial feet, and a single screw holding the crown wheel. Model three had a one-piece barrel bridge, one screw holding the crown wheel, and three dial feet. Yet they were all grade 952! Go figure! It is not uncommon for these manufacturers to have made changes like this during production.

 

Was double sunk.

Didn't think to get photos. It wasn't very attractive with the patch.

 

Something a little different: European and modern. A Lemania split seconds pocket watch with a cal 1131 36,000 bph movement from the 1960s. It's big at almost 70mm, and the blued steel time hands and multicoloured second recorders are magical

 

Single sunk on the first dial, double sunk on the second. On the single sunk only the seconds are sunk, on the double the the center is sunk below the minute and hour track and the seconds is sunk below the center.

 

I have always liked the Gothic font Illinois used.