by Tom Adelstein
Occasionally, I run across a nice Hamilton watch with a broken balance staff, which makes it inoperable. I consider that a boon, since I have a chance to repair the movement sell it and sell the case. That may seem odd to others, but it makes sense to me.
Parting out pre-1948 Hamilton 987 watches will bring in more profit than selling the watch in working order. A few months ago, I restored a 1948 Norman with a 982 19 jewel movement. I put it up for auction and let it run to the end. It brought $60. During the listing period, I sold a movement for $59.
You can do the math:
| Broken watch | $ 39 |
| Staff | 11 |
| Dial | 40 |
| Crystal | 17 |
| Hands | 15 |
| Total | $122 |
The typical price for Cleaning, Oiling and Adjusting a working wind-up movement runs about $195. Staffing costs about $65. That’s doesn’t make sense. Neither does the typical listing, which says that buyers do not care if someone serviced a watch. Listing one as serviced will not increase the value. That watch will sell for the same amount as one that simply says “working”.
It’s a fickle market these days. The faster people pull Hamilton watches out of circulation, the lower the price. That’s backward economics. When a supply goes down, normally prices rise.
If you understand the overall market for watches, then you know that 1) the retro watch has lost its popularity. Fad’s come and go. The allure of a retro watch has faded. 2) Swiss style chronographs have garnered the market. They usually have a minimum size of 40mm. The typical Hamilton tank-style runs about 30mm across and 38mm from lug to lug. In 2014, buyers have shied away from the tank look.
Invicta has become the wristwatch of choice for buyers in the low-end of the market. Invicta’s automatic watches have price points close to Hamilton retro’s. The Swiss have done a good job of establishing the Hamilton brand just above the low-end of the market. Buyers have gravitated to both manufacturers.
The attractiveness of an Invicta makes sense to someone willing to pay less than $100 or up to $500. Invicta also holds itself out as an American Watch Company since the company established their headquarters in Florida.
So, what can a collector like me do? I still buy vintage Hamilton watches with broken movements. I don’t restore the dial, buy a new crystal or put a new watch band on it. Restoring them makes little sense, because my costs outweigh my potential return.
I repair the movements and sell cases and parts. I know that’s sacrilegious at first glance, but it provides value to people who still have a love of old Hamilton classics. They either want a case for a good movement or want a movement for a good case. I call repaired and working movements – drop-ins.
Below, you can see one of my projects. It’s a circa 1930 Cushion. I have the case listed for $75 and the movement listed for $59.
Buyers tend to pay more for movements than cases. That’s a shame, because this one is a gem. Not in mint condition, but practically unused.
Here’s the description of the listing:
Up for auction, a very nice Hamilton Cushion case made by Wadsworth. As you can see, it’s in very good to excellent shape. It has a NOS crystal, new band with gold clasp, the proper crown, a nice dial and lumin hands.
The crown is correct for the model and hard to find. The hour and minute hands are lumin and filled. The second hand is blued and fits the watch correctly – right length and height. The dial has a patina, but it’s in very nice shape. You will not want to re-dial it. The band material is leather with an alligator grain and a brown or dark burgundy finish.
Obviously, the price is discounted significantly.
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This is a very nice Hamilton 987 6/0 movement. It’s backward compatible to any model of Hamilton with the 6/0 caliber footprint. I tested this movement in two different watch cases for over two weeks each. It keeps time within seconds a day.
Hamilton began producing a movement with the Swiss Elinvar Extra hairsprings,non-metallic balance, double rollers for shock resistance, friction jeweling and designated it the 987 A. It is backward compatible with all of Hamilton’s wristwatch cases from 1924.
Hamilton produced the 987A from 1936 until 1948. The 987A is similar to the earlier 987 models, but does not have interchangeable parts with earlier 987’s . The Extra Elvinar alloy allows the watch to adapt to various swings in temperature and in different climates and altitudes.
This watch kicks off before winding and runs quickly. It’s definitely a drop-in replacement.
The 987A is rugged and keeps accurate time – (two factors that led the Pentagon to choose Hamilton’s 987A movement for use in the military at the onset of the US involvement in World War II. The other allies also ordered Hamilton 987A wristwatches for each branch of their service. The British and Canadian considered it so accurate, they equipped their pilots with Hamilton military watches. The Hamilton also held up with rapid changes in altitude.)
Hamilton did not have to design a new movement for the military, the civilian movement met and exceeded all of the Pentagon’s requirement.
The “A” is a different design than earlier 6/0 movements; only a few parts are interchangeable with the earlier models. Hamilton produced approximately 490,00 model 987A models for the military during World War II and continued production until 1948. Watch supply houses have extensive parts inventories for the 987A due to the high volume of production in the 1940’s.
Like the early Hamilton railroad watches, the 987 had the latest technology available and several additional enhancements made by Hamilton labs. Because of its advanced technology jewelers began replacing older 987 movements with 987A for their best customers’ watches.
This is a Complete movement with minute wheel, canon pinion, jewels, stem and crown.
This is the original movement.
Note a a few important features of the 987A movement above.
It’s complete. It has the minute wheel and the canon pinion. It keeps time.
You will not see many movements in tact out in the market. If you don’t have certain parts, the buyer will have trouble using it.
I find the majority of the movements I restore simply need cleaning. A broken watch that people call “over-wound”, typically has gummy oil stopping the train. I also check the mainspring since it typically doesn’t have enough strength to push the wheel train.
I also find broke staffs in the balance wheels. Balance work requires more skill. Also, new staffs are difficult to find. I horde the ones I happen across.
The old 987 movements sell faster than the 987F or 987E. That’s a bit insane, so I replace the hairspring with an Elinvar whenever I work on them. Hamilton 987A have all the bells and whistles and the design makes it repairable with the least effort.
By parting out a watch, I tend to double the price I get for a restored watch and do not have the expense.
I believe you will see this more and more. That is, buying a case for a good movement and buying movements for a good case.
In the meanwhile, I have taken a liking to some of the newer designs.
Who knows why? Trends change.
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