[Les in PA]

I just came into posession of a watch that was owned by my grandfather and want to find out more about it.

-The dial is light gold tone with raised gold indices, hour, minute and second hands, no date. The Hilton name is underlined and has 2 red stars.

-The dial is also marked 25 jewels and incablock below the Hilton name.

-Below the center of the dial it is marked: unbreakable mainspring as well as automatic and anti magnetic.

-It has a domed crystal and small crown and what I believe is a replacement band.

-The caseback is marked: Automatic, swiss made, waterproof, antimagnetic, stainless steel back.

Now, I know what all those things mean, what I dont know is:

-When the watch was made
-Who made the watch. (Is Hilton a branded product of another manufacture?)
-Who can service it and replace the crystal.
-Outside of sentimental what is its value.

Any information you vintage watch gurus may be able to provide would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Les

 

[Ray MacDonald]

Thanks for posting and welcome.
Please read our sticky notes on Watch ID and Valuation. We cannot ID watches without pictures of the dial, case and hopefully the movement. From your description I would say it's no earlier than 1960.
We also do not give valuations in this forum for reasons outlined in our sticky notes.
Any good watchmaker should be able to service it and replace the crystal

 

[JimH]

Some pictures of your watch are worth a thousand words of description.

Hilton was a company based in New York City. Hilton distributed watches usually made with 17 jewel Swiss movements and cases from a variety of sources including Hong Kong. It was a marketing company rather than a manufacturer. Hilton got in trouble with the FTC in the early 60s over misleading pricing and claims for their watches (25 jewel but only 17 functional, marked Swiss Made but case from Hong Kong, etc.).

Post some pictures of your watch and the movement if you want more specific information.

I wouldn't worry about the value of this watch; it isn't much.