1964 Sea Scout III

In what will probably be a never ending quest to locate all of the "sea something" models in Hamilton's line up - I can mark another one off the list.  A 1964 Sea Scout III.

The Sea Scout III was introduced in 1964 and produced through 1967.  So there should be plenty of them out there - but this is the first one I've seen.

Like many other Sea- watches, the Sea Scout III comes in a single piece stainless steel case with a white radial-finished dial and a silver ring containing the minute track.  The hands are luminous and there are luminous dots on the odd numbered hour markers.

Tucked inside the Sea Scout III is a Hamilton 686 movement... a very typical Swiss-made movement for this period of Hamilton production.

My recent Sea Scout III project watch purchase arrived in typical "diamond in the rough" fashion.  It was well worn but stainless steel can take a beating.  The crystal was scratched and yellowed so that will need to be replaced for sure.

With the crystal out of the way, you can see the dial is in excellent condition.  Some of the lume has broken out of the minute hand so I will replace it with fresh lume as part of the overhaul.

The movement comes right out the front, thanks to the two-piece stem.  This one is in great shape so it should clean up nicely.

Everything comes apart, is cleaned, dried and then reassembled with proper oils and greases.  The now running movement goes onto the timer to see how it's doing.

Initially it was running only slightly slow (7 seconds per day) and the beat error of 1ms is fine too.  On most other grades I would call it a day at this point.  However, the 686 has a tunable hair spring stud so I should be able to dial in the beat error even better.

A little fine tweaking and I got the movement to run very nicely with a perfectly aligned balance so the beat error is zero.  That's about as good as it can get.

The dial and relumed hands go back on the movement and the assembly goes back into the case.  A new crystal will seal out any dust and a new strap completes the restoration.  This Sea Scout III is ready for 50 more years of faithful service.