1942 Hamilton 950B Railway Special 23 J Gold Wheel Train Accurate 2-3 Sec/Day

  
I HAVE PROVIDED MY OWN DESCRIPTION OF THE USED CONDITION OF THIS WATCH, WHICH TAKES COMPLETE PRECEDENCE OVER THE PRO-FORMA DESCRIPTION. PLEASE DISREGARD THE PRO-FORMA "PRE-OWNED" DESCRIPTION. Estimated production year of the movement within +/- 3 years" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; outline: none; background: transparent; color: rgb(165, 76, 0); text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;>.

Hunting: The stem is at the 3:00 position, and the movement is meant to be mounted in a case that has a covering over the face. "Sidewinders" are hunting movements in openface cases. " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; outline: none; background: transparent; color: rgb(165, 76, 0); text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;>.

This Hamilton railroad grade 950B watch model is one of the two last grades of railroadwatch produced by the iconic Hamilton Watch Company, the other being the 992B. The Hamilton grade 950B is considered the highest quality mechanical pocket watch produced by the Hamilton Watch Company. The B series 950 and 992 Hamilton pocket watches had the best hairspring and balance wheel ever made for a pocket watch. The hairspring made of Elivar Extra has an accuracy of.

04 sec/day, if properly regulated, and at the time the Hamilton watch was perceived as the highest quality among all the watch companies. The balance wheel was monometalic, an aurium beryllium-silver-nickel alloy. (Hamilton patent) which is almost unaffected by temperature see further details below for more information on these inovative materials and other great features of this watch par excellence. This was among the highest precision railroad watches of its day, and is still performing with precision 77 years later. As adjusted on the desk this watch is performing at 2 - 3 seconds per day, or better. Railroad watches in the US are particularly interesting because the watch industry in the US leapt to its feet from very little preceding history, unlike Europe, and in the midst of a developing industrial production line environment produced railroad watches to meet the most rigorous, stringent, and demanding requirements established by the American railroads, where the previous absence of precise watches had resulted in serious disasters a number of times. It is thought that American mechanical watchmaking reached the pinnacle of its success with the development of the railroad watch. A good number of companies developed to meet this need, such as Elgin, Waltham, Illinois, and Hamilton, but the Hamilton Company was still competing until the end of the railroad pocket watch epoch through the end in 1968, and the next to final grade produced by Hamilton was the 950B which was produced until 1965.

This 1942 Hamilton 950B railroad pocket watch is in excellent condition, and is keeping superior time. On the desk, where it has been timed, it is running daily within 2 - 3 seconds variance, or less, with excellent amplitude. It runs in all positions consistently and starts on its own during the wind of the watch. A beautiful, clean example of this model, this 950B 23 jewel watch is very durable, extremely well made, and has the following characteristics. 8 adjustments consisting of 6 positions (face up, face down, pendant up, pendant left, pendant right, and pendant down), heat and cold, and isochronism (keeping consistent time as the mainspring winds down).

This is the highest number of adjustments made by any of the manufacturers of railroad watches. This watch is a double roller. Double roller jewels ensure that the watch does not overbank. Overbanking immediately stops the watch, and requires a trip to the watchmaker to correct. This was a fundamental requirement of all railroad watches, for more than 50 years prior to the production of this watch.

This watch also has an Elinvar-Extra hairspring. Original Elinvar hairsprings had durability problems, and were a sore spot in the Hamilton drive for excellency. They finally found the answer at International Nickel Company, in the form of a new alloy, "Ni-Span C".

They were able to get the rights to manufacture the new alloy "in-house" in their own metallurgy laboratory for hairsprings. The Elinvar Extra hairsprings, recognizable by their mirror-like polished white metallic color, were ready just in time for the new line of railroad watches introduced in 1940 as well as the many derivative and new timepieces made for the U.

The new Elinvar Extra hairspring alloy was credited with helping make possible the new Hamilton Ships chronometer, the first mass-produced timepiece of its kind! Eventually the use of the new Elinvar Extra was extended to the entire domestic line of timepieces. This watch also has a monometalic balance Aurium (Hamilton patent) monometallic beryllium-silver-nickel alloy.

This is also an improvement over basic railroad watch requirements. The value of this type of balance wheel is in the thermal coefficient which in approaching zero impact results in it not being sensitive to temperature variations. Temperature variation is a problem to performance of watches, because the changes in temperature affect the shape of the balance wheel due to expansion (heating) or contraction (cooling). The change in the shape of the balance wheel affects the rate of the balance wheel beat. For many years this was partially resolved by bimetallic split balances.

But this monometalic solid balance, by being almost completely unaffected by temperature variation effectively completely solves this problem. Temperature impacts might have been the greatest in the engine compartment affecting the engineer's watch and other railroad crew located in this area of the train, since the engine compartment tended to be warmer, especially in older models of locomotives. This watch has a Hamilton patent motor barrel mainspring. This is most valuable in reliable timekeeping, since this style of mainspring did not impact the running of the watch when it was being wound.

This Hamilton patent type of motor barrel mainspring design is coupled with a safety pinion arrangement on the center wheel to ensure that a broken mainspring does not damage the wheel train of the watch. This watch has a solid gold wheel train. Cold rolled gold alloys are pretty hard, and much more important: They have self-lubricating capability. Gears are not perfect, i. The teeth don't perfectly roll on reach other.

Depending on the production precision there is always some friction left, back then more than today. Nobody would care about less wear through less friction, but higher accuracy was well a reason to prefer gold alloys. Comment by Roland Ranff, Watchuseek. Other outstanding features of this watch consist in.

Flush solid gold upper jewel settings with 23 ruby/sapphire jewels, and a Reed variant micro regulator, which provides very fine micro adjustments. Stem wind and lever set. This watch is wound from the stem, but in order to set the time, the bezel must be unscrewed and the lever pulled out. The lever is located at the 1 o'clock position.

With the lever pulled out, the stem is turned in either direction to set the time. Remember to push the lever back in, before attempting to screw the bezel back on. The watch movement is running very well; however, it is not known when it had its last service, and you may want to add to its value by contacting a reliable watchmaker to have it serviced. If you would like to do so, and do not know who to contact, I can provide the information of my watchmaker, who I have found to have the highest level of skill at a very affordable price. If you are interested, please let me know.

I do not receive any compensation for recommending this watchmaker, but, I have found him to be truly superior in his knowledge and ability, and the final product is superb. I have all personal collection servicing done by him. The case is the original factory cased Hamilton Watch Co.

10K gold filled case in very good shape. The case has typical pocket wear, consisting of micro scratches and one or two small dings on the rear cover (see photo of rear cover), which are not of any real significance to the appearance of the watch.

All of the shoulder trim on the case is in excellent condition, as is the trim on the central case frame. The bow sits firmly on top of the case and does not flop around. Opening and closing the bezel and the rear cover both involve unscrewing and screwing back in.

Sometimes it is possible to missthread these. Lay the cover on the case body so that it is flatly aligned around the circumference, and start to screw it down.

When the threads are lined up, they go on easily. For a guide to where to start the front bezel and rear cover both are marked on the inside edge with a small inscribed circular shape which should be lined up with the crown for easiest installation. Removing the bezel will be required every time the time needs to be set (as mentioned above), because the watch is a stem wind and lever set, as almost all railroad watches were. As mentioned above, remember to push the lever back in before attempting to screw the bezel back on. The crystal is a new mineral glass crystal. This crystal is 2 mm domed mineral glass. Being new, transparency and clarity are both excellent. The dial is a classic white double sunk porcelain dial in pristine condition.

The dial is signed Hamilton in block letters that parallel the curve of the sunken dial, with Railway Special inscribed in a horizontal line below the name. The lettering is sharp and clear, as it was when new. Numbering consists of prominent block font dark black arabic numerals for excellent visibility, a must for a good railroad dial. The minute chapter is marked by a set of black hatch marks that circumscribe the outside of the dial at the minute positions, with a small black solid square mark at the five minute locations.

No hairlines or chips can be seen. The seconds chapter is sunken to the double sunk position at the bottom of the main dial at the six o'clock position.

The dark cyan blue hands are a matched pair of diamond point railroad grade watch hands in very good shape. The matching second hand is also present in excellent condition. The movement, serial number S2911, places it in the 1942 production cycle, and is very consistent.

The top plate is damaskeened with an attractive ribbon wave pattern. The signature and all wording inlays on the rear plate are inlaid gold. The micro regulator is a Reed Variant micro regulator and functions well. The 23 ruby/sapphire jewels are prominently flush set in gold settings according to the practice current at the time of production. The Hamilton grade 950B movement was designed with a double roller escapement, adjusted to 6 positions, temperature, and isochronism, has an Elinvar-Extra hairspring, a patent Hamilton motor barrel mainspring, a monometalic balance wheel that is not susceptable to thermal expansion and contraction, a solid gold wheel train, solid gold balance weights and various other excellent features typical of a railroad watch of its generation.

The watch self starts during the wind. Should this ever fail to happen, a simple slight flick in the rotational plane of the movement will immediately start it. I will try my best to respond within 24 hours. Please look at the pictures, as they form a significant part of the description. Following words of this paragraph are standard conditions, but not applicable here since this is a fully serviced watch: (If desired, I can recommend an excellent watchmaker who services at very affordable prices).

The last serviced date (repaired, cleaned and oiled) on this watch is not known; however it is running with excellent amplitude and keeping excellent time. I try to provide complete and accurate descriptions in my listings and provide notes about the particular watch to the best of my ability. All my running watches have been tested as running for several days before listing them.

This allows me to determine if they are able to keep time and how consistently they are running, which I do my best to describe in the listing. Following words of this paragraph are standard conditions, but not applicable here since this is a fully serviced watch. This does not indicate future performance or accuracy of timekeeping.

This American Railroad Watch is a stem wound watch. Generally, you should never wind all the way old watches break sometimes and over-winding makes failure of the mainspring (by breaking) more likely, and ALWAYS stop winding if there is any resistance. Do not force the wind to be too tight, as this may overstress the mainspring. Be sensitive to the feel of the mainspring becoming tight.

Older watches sometimes need a gentle rotational shake to start the balance wheel turning, after winding. Some may start running right away, which is even better. Also, some older watches may only run in certain positions. My watches have all been running in an upright bow up position, and do run in that position. Most have only been tested in that position.

Even if you are not a member, but just a guest, you can ask questions, and becoming a member is not difficult if you desire to do so. Sales of watches are considered "as is" and "final, " unless I have failed to describe the watch accurately and it differs meaningfully from what was described. However, in any case, if you are having a problem, however, please contact me, and I will do my best to help you.

SOME DESTINATIONS MAY NOT BE INCLUDED. The item "1942 Hamilton 950B Railway Special 23 J Gold Wheel Train Accurate 2-3 Sec/Day" is in sale since Saturday, May 18, 2019. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Watches, Parts & Accessories\Pocket Watches\Antique".

The seller is "drademacher1" and is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Uruguay.

• Number of Jewels: 23 Jewels
• Model: 950B
• Modified Item: No
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Style: Railroad Grade Pocket Watch
• Escapement Type: Double Roller with Reed Variant micro regulator
• Pocket Watch Size: 16
• Material: Hamilton Watch Co. 10K Gold Filled Case
• Movement: Stem wound and stem/lever set
• Year of Manufacture: 1920-Now
• Features: Box Car" style Dial, with sunken seconds chapter
• Closure: Open Face
• Brand: Hamilton, Grade 950B, Model 6
• Serial Number: S2911