Snow-white dial and bright blue hands, check. A bunch of jewels and railroad grade on a dazzling pattern, check. A heavy and shiny display case to watch it run, check. Loaded with a century of history and tiny moving parts, check. Fully restored with everything matching and correct, check. Yep, it's got everything for a great daily carry watch.
The Hamilton Co was incorporated in 1892 from the remnants of the Adams & Perry, Lancaster, Keystone, and Aurora companies, named for the Scottish attorney who founded the Pennsylvania town of Lancaster, where the original factory was located. They had a single goal in mind - to produce the best railroad watches of the era, and they succeeded. Their workhorse in the 18-size family was the 940, produced in several marked, unmarked and Special variants from a little over 200,000 pieces made over a 20-year run. This excellent piece is the standard variant without grade marking but with a first-model pattern on very clean plates mounting twenty-one jewels in gold settings. It was just restored back to factory specs with a new alloy mainspring and the usual timing results to within a few seconds of error per day, a remarkable accomplishment for something made 120 years ago. It fronts a flawless double-sunk dial with full signature and correct blued hands, and it's housed in a heavy Silverode case that was converted to display here to show off the movement. The crown is still sharp, the bow is tight, the covers thread on easily, and twin NOS glass crystals complete it.
Manufacturer - Hamilton
Serial Number - 242140
Watch Size - 18
Watch Model - 1st
Watch Grade - 940
Jewel Count - 21
Winding/Setting - Stem/Lever
Production Year - 1904
A perfect way to show off your family heirloom is under a 3x4-inch glass display dome with a walnut base on your mantel, protected from dust and out of harm's way but visible for everyone to admire.
Safely store or display your favorite pieces in a custom wooden cabinet, designed and built to your specifications in your choice of domestic species, finishes, hardware and lighting packages.
There will come a time when you want or need to sell this watch for one of several reasons. If it's going to a fellow collector or someone who will genuinely appreciate it, then that's fine. On the other hand, if you're consigning it to an auction house or selling it to your local jeweler or gold hog it will almost certainly end up on eBay in pieces with the case melted down.
Instead of the watch being parted out for the bottom feeders to pick over, we will gladly buy the watch back from you, less 10% and the cost of a COA, plus anything else needed to return the piece to the condition in which you originally bought it.
The pinnacle of Hamilton's 16-size railroad watches - their 23-jewel 950B with correct dial and hands.