Grandpa’s Watch

I posted pictures in the other Watch thread, but the story really needs its own space. My paternal grandfather was born in Illinois in 1906. Sometime after 1920, he moved to Southern Idaho and established a family.
 

He died in 1964, when my dad was 20 years old; I was born 19 years later, in 1983. The only way I've gotten to know Grandpa is through my Dad's stories of him. I first saw Grandpa's watch when I was ten years old; Dad brought it out and showed it to me, movement and all; in fact, I probably owe my lifelong love of timepieces to that day. 

My Dad is now 78, and if he makes it past his 80th birthday with his current health problems, I will be genuinely surprised. I went to see Mom and Dad today, and the topic turned to watches.  

Dad got up and shuffled off to his room, and when he came back, he had a very old Hamilton box in his hands. He said to me, "Son, this was your Grandfather's watch, and he used it a lot. I want you to have it, because I know you'll show it the love it deserves."

Yeah, there was some dust in the air. Here are the before pictures. After pictures will be done once I get it repaired.

Very cool!

Very cool.

(I have to admit, I was a bit worried the story was going to take a Pulp Fiction turn....)

That is a beautiful piece. You are lucky to have it. 

I love it and love the history of it.  I really like pocket watches and wear them at work when I can. 
 

You'll find that they are not cheap to refurbish and go through but they're so cool....

especially the exposed gears like you have. 

In reply to jfryjfry :

That's with the case back removed. It's really pretty plain from the outside, but as is often the case, the story doesn't match the appearance...

That's very cool.

I have a 1904(?) Waltham pocket watch that belonged to my great grandfather, who died in 1935, or possibly his father, a Civil War veteran. My grandfather passed it to my father, and then he passed it along to me because my older brother didn't really want it.

It's been repaired, and it's not worth much, but it sits on top of my dresser and I see it every morning. I love it. It wasn't working when I got it, which was disappointing, but then I opened the case and found that one of them had placed a DeMolay emblem inside (they were all Masons). When the case is closed with the emblem in there, it presses on the back of the movement and stops it from working. I don't want to remove it because it's probably been in there for most of the watch's life. If I leave the back of the case open a bit, it works fine.

Edit:

And.... I just took these photos, moments before breaking the front glass. Damn. 
 

Great story!   My wife's grandfather had 11 kids and probably 2 dozen grandchildren.  

One day he gave me his Elgin pocket watch.   I'm sure 10 grandsons would fight me for it but in the end it was an honor.  Then again maybe he couldn't decide and didn't want an argument on his hands so he adopted me as a grandson this way.  

Oh man that is such a cool piece! I'm looking forward to seeing it all cleaned up. 

Very cool.  For no real reason I've been watching watch repair videos from several watch repairmen recently; I think since that one has 21 jewels and the individual minutes are marked, it would be considered a 'railroad grade' timepiece.  One thing all the repairmen have said is pocket watches are easy to work on, compared to wristwatches, simply because all the innards are larger.  

Yours will need a new crystal, and possibly just a simple disassembly/cleaning/reassembly will get it running again.  The big issue is if you want to do any restoration to the case or the watchface, or leave them as is.

You can find more information on the watch by doing a search on 'Hamilton 992' (that 992 marked on the inside is the type of movement).  It was a popular watch, and they had several versions of it over the years.  Here's one example that has the same movement but a slightly different case: https://www.pocketwatchesuk.com/american-railroad-pocket-watches-in-background/hamilton-992-railroad-pocket-watch-1918

In reply to Javelin :

Thanks, Jav. I can't wait either, and I need to send it off still. It's in good exterior shape, other than  the cracked crystal. The movement needs a bit of work, as it's likely got a broken balance staff that's keeping it from working. 
 

According to the serial number, it was made between 1928 and 1934. The watch is a 16s (size), 21-Jewel railroad grade movement, lever set, and hand wind. The case is a "Spartan" by Illinois Watch Case Co.and is made of nickel alloy. 

aircooled said:

Very cool.

 

(I have to admit, I was a bit worried the story was going to take a Pulp Fiction turn....)

Yeah, where exactly was this watch prior to being sent for repairs?

Dad has a great big gold pocket watch, some antique train conductor thing.  I will see if I can find pictures

In reply to Toebra :

Yeh, I don't get the pulp fiction reference. Oh well. 
 

Dad kept it in a dresser drawer, which is where it has lived for the past ?? years. I'm assuming it's just tagged along with Dad ever since Grandpa died...

That's pretty cool. My grandfather recently gave me a decent sized black diamond. I'm not sure what to do with it. 

I bought a Hamilton pocket watch at an estate sale a while back.  It runs but only for a short time so a I know it's functional.  I'd like to get it repaired and in to use some day.

Wonderful workmanship.

914Driver said:

Wonderful workmanship.

They still make watches like that, but you    have to pay a mint for them...

Recon1342 said:

In reply to jfryjfry :

That's with the case back removed. It's really pretty plain from the outside, but as is often the case, the story doesn't match the appearance...

yeah, one of mine is the same - gorgeous inside but you never get to see it!

my other one is not as pretty inside but it is a cool piece.  

When I was running machines I wore a very thin, like 1/4" thick Carvelle pocket watch.  Wrist watches are unsafe near twirly machines.

For Christmas one year my wife bought a Waltham watch with the inscription inside the back cover to a priest dated 1893.  Weighs a ton, about an inch thick but nice to look at.

Wish I had the patience to dig deeper into watches.