Hamilton watches

Got something to say, but it's not classic related? Here's the place to discuss. Also includes the once ever-so-popular word association thread... (although we've had to start from scratch with it - sorry!)
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TerryG
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Location: East Midlands

Hamilton watches

#1 Post by TerryG » Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:14 pm

This is definitely off-topic for a car forum.
Do any of you happen to know of a jeweller / supplier of hamilton watch components? I have managed to knock one of the buttons off my Hamilton Lloyd and can't find it. My local Jeweller has quoted £250(!) to supply and fit a replacement. I knocked the other one off a few years ago but found it on the floor and with a spot of super glue it hasn't come off again. I don't really want to spend £250 on 5p worth of metal and a spot of glue.
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.

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JPB
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Re: Hamilton watches

#2 Post by JPB » Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:30 pm

I have a couple of Hamiltons in my collection and bought a n/o/s replacement balance staff and a selection of poising weights for one of these - an 18 size Railroad spec watch dating from 1911 - from an eBay specialist seller based in Canada. I'll look back through my eBay account and see if I can find the chap's details.

The trouble with the current incarnation of the much-loved, Pennsylvania-based Keystone & Hamilton rivals to Waltham, Elgin, Trenton and the rest is that they're wholly owned nowadays by the people whose collaboration with Daimler-Benz brought us these:
Image

Still, one thing's for certain; the watches can't be as hard to get parts for as the damned cars! :lol:

:idea: @ Arceye, you're a skilled clock fettler, I've looked at Cousins' site but they don't seem to have such modern parts as Terry requires, any ideas?
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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arceye
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Re: Hamilton watches

#3 Post by arceye » Fri Apr 21, 2017 2:15 pm

:oops: Sorry, can't help with that one :oops: :scared:

alabbasi
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Re: Hamilton watches

#4 Post by alabbasi » Fri Apr 21, 2017 3:01 pm

How old is the Hamilton? I believe that they're now owned by the Swatch watch group which also owns Omega and Tissot. Car forums are usually appropriate places to ask watch questions because most car guys are also watch guys. If you're still having trouble, try the following forum: http://watchuseek.com

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TerryG
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Re: Hamilton watches

#5 Post by TerryG » Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:54 pm

Thanks for the link, It is the 2005 reissue of the Hamilton Lloyd Chronograph. Various watch people have told me that I can't buy Hamilton parts which is quite annoying but I've spent hours trawling the net and they may be right.
I'll post on the site you suggest and cross my fingers :)
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.

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JPB
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Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Hamilton watches (as Vettel takes the top step)..

#6 Post by JPB » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:53 pm

I got round to looking for the Canadian eBayer from whom I'd bought parts for my Hamilton and found... that he is in fact in the United States and not in Canada at all, so quite how I managed to make this error of memory is beyond me. :oops:

He currently isn't selling anything and it appears that my parts purchase from him was a random occurrence and that he hasn't sold anything since then. So looking at every other seller of parts on eBay.CA and USA, nobody seems to carry stock for the modern stuff, unless you count the 1920s as modern, which it is when one's daily watch is over 100 years old and was built to be carried in the place that Levi made specifically for the purpose, in the o/s/f pocket of their jeans.
I will confess to having a Seiko Sea Urchin on my wrist though, just in case one of my proper kettles should stop or run down its spring without my noticing. The modernish Japanese automatic gains typically one minute in only a week yet that Hamilton is accurate to -8/+4 seconds during the same period. Progress? What progress?

Terry, is there any chance of your posting piccies of your modern Hamilton please? As Al suggests, it's not unheard of for car people to like watches too. And long case clocks, Smith Sectrics, mantel clocks, early Casio camera watches, etc. I just counted and I'm not obsessive at all, I only currently own thirty seven watches and far fewer clocks than that, which isn't unusual in the slightest in a house so full of old tat.
arceye wrote:
Fri Apr 21, 2017 2:15 pm
:oops: Sorry, can't help with that one :oops: :scared:
:o You know what your trouble is? Too much time spent on a certain very lovely, 1950s BMC product with a cleverly repurposed Morris Minor front bumper attached to its shapely rump! I don't know, anyone would think that being into timepieces was some form of shameful illness of the head. :lol: ;)
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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Minxy
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Re: Hamilton watches

#7 Post by Minxy » Sun Apr 23, 2017 12:41 pm

Can't help with a supplier but can recommend avoiding Hamilton like the plague. I have a Hamilton 'X' wind chrono, it has had to go back to Hamilton three times for repair and each time took two attempts to get it right - and one of those was just to have a new strap fitted which they managed to get on upside down :shock:
Lovely watches - dreadful after sales.
Never play chess with a pigeon. It will knock all the pieces over, S*#t on the board and then strut around pretending it won.

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TerryG
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Re: Hamilton watches

#8 Post by TerryG » Sun Apr 23, 2017 10:44 pm

I quite like Hamilton watches. I have a Ventura skeleton, Ventura chronograph and the Lloyd with a broken button. Other than the press fit buttons going walkies I haven't got anything to complain about with them. Getting factory straps was a bit of a faff but if I wasn't fussy I could have bunged on a generic set without any hassle. I'm going to have to approach Hamilton directly for a repair as parts seem to be impossible to find so my opinion may change depending on the outcome of that conversation.
I'll take some pics tomorrow evening just to satisfy John.
I got in to Hamilton watches because of the Ventura. I have had an asymmetrical Seiko for as many years as I can remember. It was starting to look tired so I started looking for a replacement and stumbled on to a Seiko Ventura (I now have both colour combinations of that), when I went to a jeweller to have it polished and found out what it was called, he showed me a Hamilton Ventura Skeleton which I had to have. Then I got the chronograph and they were both too nice to wear every day so I bought the Lloyd.
Since then I fixed the original Seiko and have made some other colour combinations (as you do).
I like nice time pieces both watches and clocks. Hopefully once my new garage is finished, the range rover is back on the road, mog is painted and the golf is gone, I'll be able to collect some more.
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.

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TerryG
Posts: 6754
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:54 pm
Location: East Midlands

Re: Hamilton watches

#9 Post by TerryG » Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:12 am

Here you go John
Face
Lloyd1.jpg
Lloyd1.jpg (219.41 KiB) Viewed 4670 times
Side with suspisciously absent button
Lloyd2.jpg
Lloyd2.jpg (228.67 KiB) Viewed 4670 times
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.

User avatar
JPB
Posts: 10319
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: Hamilton watches

#10 Post by JPB » Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:49 am

:drool:
Hmm, it's certainly different, I rather like it. Is that upper left complication something to do with the chronograph functions, or do months only ever have 30 days in the USA and Switzerland? :scared: ;)
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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