A refurbished HMT Sona. No collector value. Only ordered it because I wanted to know more about the movement which is apparently a licensed manufactured clone of an earlier Citizen brand movement.

It is a very nice looking watch though, and cheap enough to just give away if I don't like it for occasional wear.

A slim fitting case that is much like those of 50's and 60's luxury watches.
Here's a video review

Good reviews on several sites. haven't found any bad reviews yet.

The sellers images are used by everyone on Ebay who sells these, so I just hope mine looks as nice.

 

HMT ( Hindustan Machine Tools- a govt owned watch co. ) watches were once on every watch wearing man`s and woman`s wrist in India. They dont make mechanical watches much now a days. I recently saved my grand father`s HMT Chirag watch.

 

I had assumed that the case was some sort of "Gold Tone" but every review I've seen of these states that these are "Gold Plated" with one mentioning that these are known for high quality Gold Plating.
Maybe or maybe not, no way of knowing for sure.
Even if an all original specimen had a real Gold plating a refurb might have been housed in a cheaper after market copy of the original case.
At the very low price I paid I won't be too disappointed if its mere gilding metal.

I really love the lines of this case. Much like the old Elgin I got awhile back.
These are said to open at both front and back. A disassembly of one of these shows the bezel with crystal comes off as well as the case back.
Its suggested that one should avoid taking these apart for servicing unless you have ready access to replacement screws, since when refurbed or serviced they torque the screws down so tight they may break if you try to remove them.

 

Bumping to add that I received the watch and found it to be even better looking than images suggested.
The dial is much more finely made than any I've seen in the reviews with a beautifully understated pearl white finish and very neatly printed legends. The legends are printed on small flats rather than on the patterned surfaces like some examples. The HMT is applied in gold tone, perhaps real gold who knows and the contrast of gold markers on that beautiful dial is amazingly attractive.
The lugs are drilled through, a nice touch.

The case is very well designed though the tolerances aren't as tight as on my similarly constructed Elgin. I believe this is deliberate to make it easier to open the case for servicing or adjustments.
keeps decent time, so far within a few seconds per day. I'll wear it daily for several weeks before deciding if I should fine tune it. I've had a great deal of luck lately in fine tuning much older watches to within 2-5 seconds per week.

I may buy several of these as gifts for younger relatives as their first mechanical watch. A pretty decent introduction to the breed while not so expensive that it would be a great loss if broken while playing.

Caution though. There are more than a few vendors of these and quality of the dials varies though all apparently work quite well and keep decent time.
I was lucky to find one of the best made of these.

 

Bumped to brag a bit.
My luck in adjusting the timing of older watches is holding nicely.
After the fifth try I hit the sweet spot and now I'm on the third day with this watch showing no visible error.
This is definitely a keeper.

I've noticed I have best luck when the movement has no movable stud support. Most more modern movements have the movable stud support.
I was able to adjust an old Soviet era Pobeda to within 2 seconds per week. I would not have thought that was even theoretically possible.

 

HMTs are the best value for a dress piece and Vostok are the best value in sporty pieces. That's a fantastic watch that would satisfy my vintage tastes. It's unfortunate that HMT had to close shop.

 

So how did you go about getting beat error centred, and then regulating on this style of movement?

 

I used only hand and eyeball to adjust my watches, checking the timing hourly against the Naval Observatory clock, and moving the adjustment arm in tiny barely perceptible increments until I get no visible error in a 24 hour period.
I figure at most I may now have an unnoticeable fraction of a second error in any 24 hour period. I'll know at the end of the week exactly what I have. I tested the pobeda for four weeks without alteration. The first week there was no visible error, the second week it showed - four seconds, the third -six seconds and the fourth week a total of -8 seconds for 28 days , an average of two seconds per week.
Best I can figure watches with immovable stud supports are simply better made at the factory. They go to more effort to insure the hair spring is properly pre stressed. Greater effort and quality control in making the springs is another factor.
Both the Pobeda and HMT balance wheels are of known exceptional quality.
Both have movements in NOS or very nearly so condition. No wear to spring or balance since leaving the factory.
A non movable stud support is also not going to be moved by any shock the watch might receive.