[TwiceRetired]

I'm sure this experience is not unique to me but as a reminder, be careful. I had been sending my vintage/antique watches to a repair service in California from here in Tennessee. In the beginning the service seem good but after about a year or so the quality started to decline. Even after sending some watches back they were still not working (or running) upon their return to me. My talking with the owner went no where. Lucky for me I have found a local repairer that is doing a wonder job. The watches the other person could not fix he did so with relative ease. When asked for his opinion about the over guys work he simply said it looked like they had not been completely disassembled for servicing and were over oiled. I could tell he was trying to be respectful which I understand.
So is this a common story or am I just "special".
Below are two watches I sent to California guy. Thank goodness these two same back looking and running great.

 

[Dan S]

What is going on with the crown on that Hamilton?

 

[TwiceRetired]

LOL. It had became detached from the stem. The crown functions fine now. However, It actually swivels a little on the stem. I have never experienced this before. The guy who serviced it said with this model it was supposed to do that. What do you think?

 

[Incident]

Perhaps if you are going to warn others of an unqualified repair shop, it would make sense to name said shop?

So is this a common story or am I just "special".

I would venture to guess that there are FAR more unqualified service techs in the business than there are qualified ones, so I doubt your experience is special.

 

[Watchbreath]

Name of "California guy".

 

[Timewatcher40]

LOL. It had became detached from the stem. The crown functions fine now. However, It actually swivels a little on the stem. I have never experienced this before. The guy who serviced it said with this model it was supposed to do that. What do you think?

That does not sound correct to me. I do not believe that model Hamilton has a split stem in it. The movement does come out from the back of the watch. I could be wrong but maybe I will learn something new.


This does not really surprise me in the service industry of all types there are always some who do not know what they are doing, or they try and cut corners. To take a watch completely apart clean it, oil it and put it back together takes time.

 

[Dan S]

Well, I'm not expert on vintage Hamilton, but I have never seen a crown as wonky as that one.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Perhaps if you are going to warn others of an unqualified repair shop, it would make sense to name said shop?


I would venture to guess that there are FAR more unqualified service techs in the business than there are qualified ones, so I doubt your experience is special.

Yup. I’ve had two different local shops fail to properly repair a watch. I chuckle a bit when I see someone here say “just take it to your local watchmaker.”

 

[georges zaslavsky]

This is more or less the same in my country, I don't go to watchmakers who don't have at least 20 years of experience and who can get spare parts. I rely on two watchmakers in my country that I know nearly two decades,the rest I don't trust them this much. In the USA,the names of Bob Ridley and RGM are often quoted when it comes to restoring vintage watches or servicing them watchmakers international and rgm watches repair For repairs or restoration, I prefer to pay for an expensive but well done restoration than a cheap botched up work. In a French movie les "Tontons Flingueurs",there is a famous saying "Le prix s'oublie,la qualité reste" which means "The price forgets itself, but quality remains" in short you get what you pay for.

 

[Dan S]

This is more or less the same in my country, I don't go to watchmakers who don't have at least 20 years of experience and who can get spare parts. I rely on two watchmakers in my country that I know nearly two decades,the rest I don't trust them this much. In the USA,the names of Bob Ridley and RGM are often quoted when it comes to restoring vintage watches or servicing them watchmakers international and rgm watches repair For repairs or restoration, I prefer to pay for an expensive but well done restoration than a cheap botched up work. In a French movie les "Tontons Flingueurs",there is a famous saying "Le prix s'oublie,la qualité reste" which means "The price forgets itself, but quality remains" in short you get what you pay for.

I agree that a seemingly bargain repair many not be a bargain in the end. But I don't agree that "you get what you pay for"; that's what rip-off artists are hoping you will think. There are many excellent watchmakers that charge fair, but not exorbitant, prices. The prices I've heard quoted from those two shops are shocking. They would be much more than 10x the value of the OP watches. I would only consider using them for an extremely valuable watch that needed something very special.

 

[jpk207]

Early on in my watch collecting journey, I took a 1963 Omega Seamaster to a local RI watch shop. They got the watch running, but swapped the Omega crown with something generic. They actually told me they did that, but I did not know any better. So my vintage Omega has a non Omega crown on it. Had I known at the time, I would have at least asked for the Omega crown back……albeit not attached to the watch.

 

[georges zaslavsky]

I agree that a seemingly bargain repair many not be a bargain in the end. But I don't agree that "you get what you pay for"; that's what rip-off artists are hoping you will think. There are many excellent watchmakers that charge fair, but not exorbitant, prices. The prices I've heard quoted from those two shops are shocking. They would be much more than 10x the value of the OP watches. I would only consider using them for an extremely valuable watch that needed something very special.

Fair repair prices are almost non existing in my country so I pay an expensive price with people that I trust but at the end I get a top notch quality repair. I have given one of my Jenny Carribean to a so called watchmaker who practised a fair rate, result is that he couldn't regulate it properly (it was still losing -30sec per day) and he couldn't waterproof it,so no more fair rate watchmaker ever for me. Yes if you have like say a vintage heuer autavia or an universal tri compax or a rolex killy you go to them. Also it is better to make sure than your local watchmaker can get access to spare parts otherwise it isn't worth it. I don't spare expenses on servicing nor restoration on my vintage watches that would be the same if I owned a vintage car.

 

[Dan S]

Early on in my watch collecting journey, I took a 1963 Omega Seamaster to a local RI watch shop. They got the watch running, but swapped the Omega crown with something generic. They actually told me they did that, but I did not know any better. So my vintage Omega has a non Omega crown on it. Had I known at the time, I would have at least asked for the Omega crown back……albeit not attached to the watch.

Watchmakers should always return parts IMO.

 

[Watchbreath]

Watchmakers should always return parts IMO.

Mine does.

 

[Timewatcher40]

I have a BIL here that I gave a pocket watch to, and he got it wet and took it to a repair shop here. They swapped out the hands for some cheap crap. When I saw it, I was pretty mad about it. The Bil just did not know any better.

Early on in my watch collecting journey, I took a 1963 Omega Seamaster to a local RI watch shop. They got the watch running, but swapped the Omega crown with something generic. They actually told me they did that, but I did not know any better. So my vintage Omega has a non Omega crown on it. Had I known at the time, I would have at least asked for the Omega crown back……albeit not attached to the watch.

 

[davinator65]

What is going on with the crown on that Hamilton?

For a second there I thought of Vostok... 😄

Glad to hear that you have found a reliable watch repairer.

 

[Catalyzt]

I've been lucky with auto, guitar, and watch repair-- and man, having good support on those three issues really does make life much easier and less complicated. The only issue I've noticed: They don't seem quite as motivated to go the extra mile later in their careers, which I can understand.

I really like my watch repair guy for simple jobs on all watches and complicated jobs on affordables... I forgot to screw in the crown on an Invicta 2936, and he dried it and cleaned it for $20. He's also a fantastic enabler.

He's an older guy, probably in his late 70s, and my suspicion is that while he's good now, he probably used to be great. My experience with luthiers, for example, has been that even the best ones start losing their edge a bit in their late 70s to mid '80s. My guitar guy in Hollywood did a perfectly serviceable setup when he was 90 years old, but it wasn't as good as the setup he did six years earlier, and he refused to work on the ground-loop hum, said it was fine, the old single coils were supposed to sound that way-- well, yeah, a bit, but not this bad.

This is another pattern I see with my watchmaker-- don't bother regulating it if it's only -20 seconds, don't bother with too much preventive maintenance, etc... not lazy, per se, just a little sloppy around the edges.

My mechanic, fortunately, is in his late 50s and still going strong!

 

[Michael Maddan]

As to the Hamilton: although I do not know this Model, I have worked on another Hamilton that used "Cld" on the dial, and my impression was that this was Hamilton's way of noting that the watch was 'sealed' against moisture, dust, etc. Within this context, the watch I cleaned ( 'Vardon" ) did use a two-piece stem, and I've always thought that the other "Cld" dialed Hamiltons did, too.

In any case, the crown on this Hamilton sure looks unhappy! In the winding position, this watch's crown should be nice and close to the case, and not be dangling at the end of the tube. If this is a two-piece stem, they did have a tendency to wear and become loose, and the Vardon that I saw needed another stem.

The Omega looks as if its crystal is crazed / stress cracked...speaking for myself, I would always replace a crystal in this condition.

Oh: what's the story behind the tape on the Hamilton's crown?

Michael.

 

[HamDoctor]

Just wanted to chime in on the Hamilton, too. The model is called "Beldon" and you can find more details here, "as usual" ;-)

1951 Beldon CLD

vintage Hamilton watch restoration repair collecting collections

www.hamiltonchronicles.com

The crown is a so called "dustproof crown" and really shouldn't come off like that. The watchmaker was right in that it has an inner seal and outer casing, but of course, they are not meant to move independently :-(

You should have a new one installed, it's quite a visual and functional upgrade... and while they are reasonably rare, you're located in the U.S., so eBay will set you up with the right part if your watchmaker can't source one. What you need is a Hamilton "cld" crown for an 8/0 movement, your watch has the 747 movement.

This search term will do the trick: "hamilton cld crown 8/0".

 

[TwiceRetired]

Thanks for the info. It is indeed a Hamilton Beldon. Here is a newer photo with the Crown repaired.
It will still has a very small amount of "swivel" to it. BTW it keeps great time and I enjoy wearing it. I have an erratic watch rotation of 23 vintage watches. Not a large collection by some standards but plenty for me.