WRUW Today?

Lou P · Dec 28, 2023

Big Blue!

dougiedude · Dec 28, 2023

Old favorite that doesn’t get enough wrist time:

A 1940’s bumper caliber 476

‘Fabriqué en Suisse’ 😁

Canuck · Dec 28, 2023

This is the 1910 Hamilton grade 952, 16-size, 19-jewel watch I showed earlier in the thread. I vowed at the time that this one would be worn until after New Years. I will, but it occurred to me today that I have no recollection as to when I serviced it last. I’ve owned it for 40 years, and it may have only been serviced once in that time. So I decided to service it today. Just off the repair bench.

There were 7,300 grade 952 Hamiltons made, so it is not rare, but this is the only 952 I have ever seen.

ghce · Dec 28, 2023

At last a bit of sunshine for the end of the year.

Canuck
This is the 1910 Hamilton grade 952, 16-size, 19-jewel watch I showed earlier in the thread. I vowed at the time that this one would be worn until after New Years. I will, but it occurred to me today that I have no recollection as to when I serviced it last. I’ve owned it for 40 years, and it may have only been serviced once in that time. So I decided to service it today. Just off the repair bench.

There were 7,300 grade 952 Hamiltons made, so it is not rare, but this is the only 952 I have ever seen.

I always wonder about rarity when it comes to 110 year old items or even younger ones for that matter, what does 7,300 in 1910 equate to in 2023? 200? 300? or some much larger sock drawer number say 500.
I know probably quite a few appear online in collectors collections but does that just skew our perception of how many there are out there.
Perhaps PW's are different than say cars but I am not so sure, if a car manufacturer only made 7,300 110 plus years ago I suspect surviving numbers would be 100 or less possibly even just 10's.
Admittedly you can't stick a vintage car in a sock drawer and just forget about it but people who own said sock drawers do die and their relatives are pretty ruthless and uncaring when it comes to grand dads " Junk" and given that a few generations of family members have come and gone in that period how many sock drawer clear outs have occurred for that one watch? I think you can feel pretty confident that low 7,300 ( compared to Walthams run sizes) is low and 113 years later all but washed away.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/hamilton/753325

Fish70 · Dec 28, 2023

Howdy

Canuck · Dec 28, 2023

ghce
At last a bit of sunshine for the end of the year.

I always wonder about rarity when it comes to 110 year old items or even younger ones for that matter, what does 7,300 in 1910 equate to in 2023? 200? 300? or some much larger sock drawer number say 500.
I know probably quite a few appear online in collectors collections but does that just skew our perception of how many there are out there.
Perhaps PW's are different than say cars but I am not so sure, if a car manufacturer only made 7,300 110 plus years ago I suspect surviving numbers would be 100 or less possibly even just 10's.
Admittedly you can't stick a vintage car in a sock drawer and just forget about it but people who own said sock drawers do die and their relatives are pretty ruthless and uncaring when it comes to grand dads " Junk" and given that a few generations of family members have come and gone in that period how many sock drawer clear outs have occurred for that one watch? I think you can feel pretty confident that low 7,300 ( compared to Walthams run sizes) is low and 113 years later all but washed away.

To add some context to my comment re: low production of 7,300 for the Hamilton grade 952, this is relative to the Hamilton 992B of which there were over 1/2 million produced!