Thursday, June 19, 2008

Vintage Hamilton Square Dial

Today I'm wearing another of my vintage Hamiltons. Like the Hamilton Thin-O-Matic I wore previously, this was given to my grandfather in 1960 for 30 years of service, but it came from Esso, not Humble. I honestly don't know why he got one from each, as Esso owned Humble at the time, but maybe one came from the Humble management and one from the Esso "head office". I'd say the one from Humble was a little nicer, as this watch has a manual winding movement (although still Swiss) and the case is gold-filled (rolled gold plate to be precise) rather than solid gold. I do like the looks of this one though. The square shape is softened a bit by the highly domed crystal and pattern of concentric circles on the dial. The minimalist dial is highlighted by the classy applied gold numerals and markers and matching hands. The strap is recent and I chose it because it wasn't overly dressy and kept with the style of the watch. The case is in generally excellent shape, but the gold-plated bezel has a little bit of wear. I'm sure this was another watch that was only occasionally worn by my grandfather.








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