In 1930 several new models were introduced to the Hamilton men's lineup. Hamilton had just completed the acquisition of the Illinois Watch Company and the future looked bright... that is to say, until the Great Depression came along.
However, the show must go on and one of the new models to be introduced was the Raleigh. Like several of the earlier models, you could get it with an engraved bezel or with a plain bezel. You also had several choices of gold fill - yellow, white, or green. The Raleigh was made through 1932.
The shape is reminiscent of the Coronado but the Raleigh's lugs are not hinged. It's also very similar to the Langley - which was cased in solid gold - so sometime's the Raleigh is referred to as "the poor man's Langley". $57 doesn't sound like a lot of money but in today's dollars that would be almost $1,100 - so I don't think a poor man would have sprung for a Raleigh... gold filled or not.
My project watch arrived in typical 90+ year old condition. The crown was unattached, the crystal is beat up, and the bezel shows the tell-tale wear through to the corners from decades of shirt sleeve wear.
The movement is in good shape and the balance appears to be intact - which is great, because watches for this era were often rode hard and put away wet. They can be very troublesome and finicky.
The mainspring has the remnants of grease inside but it's an old blue steel design - I have no doubt that it has set into a tight coil and lost the majority of it's strength.
Yup - called it. Notice the spring is not much larger than the barrel it came in. This watch would probably run for a few hours before running out of steam and petering out. I suppose you could keep winding it several times a day but a new mainspring will power the movement for 35+ hours.
While all the parts are in the ultrasonic I will prep a new crystal and white alloy mainspring for installation.
Everything is spic and span now and ready to be reassembled... wish me luck!
It doesn't look like it but the reassembled movement is ticking away with a good motion. The regulator came pre-set to "slow" so I'm curious to see how it's running.
Well, it's running nicely from an amplitude and beat error standpoint but it's also running a little slow. There's plenty of regulator room to work with and it won't take much to speed it up.
One quick adjustment to the regulator arm and the movement is now running just a smidgeon fast. I'll leave it here though as I find that movements tend to settle down a little after they are overhauled.
A new crown and a new glass crystal make this 94 year old watch look fresh as a daisy. There's not much to do about the case wear. You could try to replate it but that wouldn't last too long so why bother. When you get to be 94 you'll probably have some worn parts too.
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