Recently, I bought a Hamilton watch with solder sealing a hole at the snap back notch. I wondered why I got the watch for such a low bid.  I didn't care much about the case, I wanted the movement. When the watch arrived, I opened the packing material and saw a stunning case. Sure, it had solder sealing a hole, but from the outside, the watch didn't show it. I put the watch in my cabinet and forgot about it.

Today, I began assembling the pieces of a Hamilton Blake I had restored. I looked the watch over carefully and saw light coming through a hole where the tip allows you to pry open the snap back case. My first reaction led me to think about where I could use the parts. After a few minutes, I decided to head to my favorite local watchmaker and Jewelry repair person.

She sealed the hole with silver core solder. I couldn't see it from the outside, but it left a silver spot on the inside of the watch. I understood why I have heard people discuss fixing cases by soldering. I'm aware of using gold solder to fill a long gouge on the outside of a case, but not from the inside.

I can sell both watches for much less than a similar model with no solder sealing the case or I can keep the watches and wear them. I've decided to keep them. Why would I want to give away a watch with a totally sealed case that will protect the movement and the dial? Because of a cosmetic consideration no one would ever see?

I wonder how many watches have gold filling put on the case by a jeweler? You can't tell it because of the skill involved. I know it happens because a friend of mine has it done to almost every watch he buys. I also saw my jeweler fixing a similar problem.

Go ahead and seal your watch and it will last you a long time. Don't worry about the cosmetics, no one can tell except you and you actually did yourself and your watch a favor.

Tom Adelstein

No one I know could tell you how to restore a vintage watch in a blog entry. Each watch is unique. Even if you know the model and serial number, the process is arduous.

When I began working on the Internet in 1995, not many webmasters existed. We also didn't have ecommerce. One web site, a Philadelphia cheese cake company had a page up giving people information on how to order a cheese cake for overnight delivery. According to the company's owner, no one ever called from his Internet site.

One day, he published his family's secret recipe and put it on the web. Shortly after posting the recipe, the phone started ringing off the wall. What happened? People looking for cream cheese recipes ran into his recipe and quickly realized they could not make one like his. They didn't have the equipment, the ingredients would cost many times what his cheese cake costs. Suddenly his cheese cake was a bargain.

That was the first success story about which I ever heard about Internet commerce.

With that in mind let's look at a generic vintage watch restoration project. I'll use my work as an example.

When I decided to start restoring watches, I did it for myself. I collected watches, had several that family members left me in their wills. Few worked and I didn't want to spend $300 a watch to fix them. I had already done that with three of my watches and they stopped working with a couple of weeks. I decided to do it myself.

I bought a few books and began attempting to fix at least a couple of watches. One book I purchased had looks of 5 star reviews on Amazon. The reviewers agreed that the book was suitable for the beginner.

Two thousand dollars later in equipment and I hadn't touched my first watch. I didn't want to experiment with my own watches so I bought a half dozen lots of old vintage watches - some working but more not working. I learned on those watches and began to realize that fixing watches was not easy.

So, the first thing in the process of restoring watches is getting the right equipment and learning the parts of the watch. That includes the case, movement, crystal, stem, staff, hands, dial, crown and so forth.

You can restore a watch by handing the movement over to a watchmaker while you find a crystal, have someone restore the dial and hands. You'll also generally need to find a crown. Too often vintage watch crowns are flat and almost impossible to wind.

I start by removing the parts and separating them in a standard watchmakers parts tray. I check the movement. If it doesn't work I probably have one that does. I bought an inventory of old watches with decent movements and began hording them.

Next, I examine the case for brassing and wear through. If the case has lost gold, I either solder gold into the brassing area and smooth it out or I sent it out to a jeweler for repair.

With snap back cases, I make sure that the back will stay in place. Sometimes, they just don't stay put. I can fix some, but some never work. That means I have to find a case. I look for similar models with broken movements. Then I start all over with the case.

Many people believe that you can put a gold filled case in a sonic jewelry machine and it will just clean it. That's a mistaken certainty. Gold cases require cleaning with soap and water. That's the only way I know to clean one. Then I will gently polish areas when surface scratches might exist.

Once the case is OK and I know I'll have a movement, I send the dial off to a restorer. Restoring a dial is much different than re-dialing one. First, the restorer will need an original dye. He will also need contemporary materials that approximate the original material. I don't want a paint job, I want the dial to look like it did when the company made the watch. Does it cost more? Yes it does cost more. Is it worth it - yes.

The most difficult tasks in restoring a vintage watch is finding a crystal. I have hundreds, maybe thousands of crystals. I prefer to use glass, but sometimes glass just isn't available. The next best thing is a "high quality" acrylic crystal. Unfortunately, new old stock crystals can come in various  thicknesses. So, I often go on a hunting expedition to find a crystal. That can also involve finding a non-functional watch of the same model with a good and I mean good crystal. I haven't had the joy of polishing glass and having it work. I don't know anyone else who has succeeded in doing so. Even acrylic crystals are unlikely to completely respond to polishing. But, they can look so much better than when you got the watch, you might find that satisfying. I don't.

I have found movements to act a little fussy. For example, I sent a movement off to a good watchmaker and after several months, I got it back. When I tested it, the keyless movement (the mechanism that winds the watch and sets the time) didn't work. The watch was cleaned and oiled and two wheels replaced, but something happened to the winding piece. So, I fixed it myself. The movement tested fine; it kept time and ran beautifully.

I reassembled the watch and tested it again. I made sure that the watch sealed so dust and moisture wouldn't get into the case and mess with the dial, for example.

In restoring watches, I just gave you the high level view. When you get down into areas where a case screw is missing and the movement rattles, you have a new set of problems. Count the number of parts and you can have multiple times as many problems.

I look at vintage watch restoration like some people look at antique furniture, paintings, porcelain and so forth. Only, I believe that restoring a watch properly is one of the most complex jobs around. It's quite difficult most of the time - no pun intended - but the end result is extremely satisfying to me.

As a restorer, I feel that vintage watches need to go back into circulation. I don't horde them anymore, unless I find a great one I want to keep. I'll wear it and eventually put it back into circulation.

I hope you enjoyed my story. I'd like to conclude by adding that I think vintage watches are great investments not because they increase in value so much (they generally do), but because I've seen plenty of them work after more than a hundred years. Think of the engineering that went into creating a vintage watch. Put one on and enjoy your cheesecake and you'll know what I mean.

eBay has made my life easier by offering some great services lately. I can designate a search criteria and when something I want is listed, I get an e-mail. I don't have to do that manually any more. I have to say, the majority of my bids now come from e-mails and also other items a seller has listed that show up on their auction page. I'm making visits to see a sellers other items because I just might see something that interests me. That's not something I did in the past.

While these services have come as great value add, I'm also seeing some things that have surprised me. A short time ago, I saw a few watches listed that interested me. When I arrived at the auction site, I wasn't horrified, just baffled. One such watch was a broken down white gold Elgin. Someone put pits in the case and it looked terrible. The watch didn't run and was missing the second hand. The dial was aged and spotted. The opening bid? $199.

That's not the only vintage watch I've seen like that lately. I see at least one and probably five a day. I click "watch this item" when I see those auctions and follow them. I rarely, if ever, see a bid. I asked one a seller if he or she wanted to sell one of those watches at a more reasonable price. I received an incoherent and somewhat angry response that had some phrases like eBayer's are fickle and he or she would relist it.

On another occasion I asked a seller "getting no bids" if he or she thought $17.50 was a reasonable price for shipping USPS first class. I knew that a well packaged watch like the one offered for auction shipped for around $2.25. The response was unexpected. He or she wrote back and said "here's another one to add to my blocked bidders list since eBay changed its feedback policy". I thought, "what?"

In several auctions I have seen endless paragraphs about shipping and bidding and if someone asked a question about the cost of shipping, he or she would report that person to eBay for spamming. I don't know if this comes from a recommendation, but it's out there.

Then I see the "I won't ship to..." snippets. I see disparaging remarks about Spain, Italy, Korea, Viet Nam, Singapore, Russian, the Ukraine and so forth. Luckily, I haven't had any problems shipping to buyers in those areas. I look up the bidder's profile and if he or she has good feedback, why would I restrict them?

An unspoken set of conventions exist among regular vintage watch buyers and sellers one eBay. Stay away from people with abnormal behavior. For example, if you have to read a few paragraphs about shipping, reporting you for spamming, excessive shipping fees and so forth, you probably haven't connected with a friendly seller. You may want the watch, but you're better off waiting for another opportunity for a similar watch from a reasonable person.

Secondly, with regard to price, don't write the seller and aggravate him or her. The market will send the message that seller needs to get.

Prices on eBay for restored or mint watches are reasonable. Brick and mortar jewelers shop on eBay for fully restored vintage watches and then sell them in their stores for 2 to 10 times what they paid on eBay. Oh, and that's not a well hidden secret. The best deals are on eBay and the jewelers know it.

You also know it if you've shopped on eBay enough to have a good feel for the goods. One buyer wrote me and asked who the best Hamilton seller was on eBay. I think he wanted to have me reaffirm his decision to buy a watch he won from me. The buyer seemed surprised when I told him I considered Rich Crumpton at Hawaiian Times, the best Hamilton guy on eBay. That's my overall impression and I'm not afraid to say it. Later, my buyer wrote and thanked me for the lead. He bought two watches from Rich. Was I foolish? No, I was simply passing on the reality of the vintage watch at eBay.

I just bid on a watch from a seller who writes descriptions that go on and on and on and on. At some point I find the real information about the watch: 1929, Elgin, 440 model with 554 15 jewel movement. But right afterward we get more of the same:  "Looks great and you can own a piece of history!!!"

You might think that I am picking on a specific seller. You can't guess the identity of this seller and you don't know if I'm just making up this whole story. The piece of history bit is used by dozens of sellers. Some of them claim to be absolute authorities on watches and even have an identity with "watch" in their name.

If they say that a watch is "wound too tight" - I suggest you back off. You cannot wind a working vintage watch too tight. If it stopped when you wound it, then it's got a broken part.

I've written about this earlier. I need to emphasize it again. I just saw a great looking turn of the century wristwatch with a description of wound too tight. I wanted the watch, but I'm not a good parts maker. The maker of the watch went away. Given the time frame, no one alive would recognize the brand. So, where would one get the parts?

I just wish people would drop the "wound too tight" phrase because it's misleading to people who don't know a thing about manual or wind up watches and just think all it needs is someone to unwind it.

Tom Adelstein

Hamilton Watches were once considered the finest ever built. Certainly, Hamilton of Lancaster, Pennsylvania produced high quality American watches. Their closest competitor in terms of quality were Elgin watches of the Elgin Watch Company. Now, both watches are manufactured by conglomerates who have only purchased their naming rights. Today, we'll briefly discuss Hamilton wristwatch movements from a high-level.

Hamilton dubbed their early movements the 401. It is a 19 Jewel upgrade from the Illinois Watch Company 207 15 Jewel movement. This is the second rarest of movements with only 7500 ever produced. The Stanley and Livingston were gold filled watches with the 401 movement. Solid gold models include Andrews, Byrd, Ericsson and Wilkinson. These watches were produced between 1930 and 1933. The 401 is a rectangular movement.

Round movements include the 983, 985, 981, 986, 987 and 979. The 985 is the rarest of Hamilton movements. I only work with 987 movements as they are plentiful and I can find parts for them. The 987 comes in a series with which I work including the 987 itself, the 987A, E, F and S. I prefer the 987, A & F. These are 17 jewel watches.

Next, you will find Hamilton's high production rectangular movements which include the 980, 982 and 982M. These are the watches that drive the vast majority of vintage Hamilton watches. The 980 is a 17 Jewel model. The 982 and 982M are 19 jewel watches.

Hamilton used the 980 for gold-filled models and the 982 for their solid gold models. As Hamilton began having financial difficulties after World War II, the company put the 982 in 14 K gold filled watches and the 982M in solid gold watches.

You can see pictures of the 98x models in almost every auction. You won't see many 982M movements. Production of the 98x series continued until the 1950s.

In 1946, Hamilton introduced the 747 round movement. You'll find it in a number of Post WWII models. Production lasted until 1954. The 747 has serial numbers like the previous Hamilton models, but I'm not totally certain that this movement is entirely American made. I have found the 747 a reliable movement and one that keeps excellent time. I read an interview with a member of Hamilton's management. He said the 747 was the culmination of everything Hamilton knew at the time and the information the gathered as a government watch maker during the second world war.

If you are a new watch collector or just getting into Hamilton's I suggest staying with the 980, 982 and 747. Why not the 987? In the early stages of collecting you'll find the 980 and 982  more plentiful and the cost of buying a parts watch will be easier and cost less.

Best regards

Tom Adelstein