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Looking for a certain pocketwatch

rippsnorter

New in Town
Messages
45
Location
Olympia, WA, USA
Howdy folks

I'm new here and would like to introduce myself.

I've had an inclination for the "Golden Age" and vintage things since I was born it seems... My folks had antiques in our home, my father was into old cars and later went on to run an antique store. Some of my first obsessions were Old Time Radio shows, (vast collection of those, mostly Suspense, Lights Out, Inner Sanctum, etc) cars, (first car was a 1941 Chevy in a basket) old books, old military weapons, (I love my Kar98 and M1 Garand) cooking with old cast iron skillets, and lastly, shaving with old straight razors. I'm hoping I'll fit in here :)

Onto my actual reason for posting here though:

When I was 16 I bought an old Hamilton 17 Jewel white gold filled pocket watch at an antique show for $90. I don't remember the size, but I remember wishing it had been a hunters-case. It was stolen from me about a month later, much to my distress.

I'd like to know if anyone can point me in the direction of how to aquire a White Gold, Hunters case Hamilton in 17 jewel? I've been searching on google, ebay etc with no luck. From reading on here though it seems that the watch and the case were not always one and the same, and I might be able to recase it in a hunters case? Any idea where to look, and how much such a critter would cost?
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
A 17-jewel hunter-case watch made by Hamilton should be easy enough to find. It's finding all the little nitty-gritty specifics that are damn hard.

You can't recase a watch. Watch-cases aren't made anymore. There's only a SELECT FEW casemakers left in the world. And I don't mean companies, I mean people. And they have waiting lists that go for years. And their services are expensive.

Your best bet is to just troll eBay looking for 17-jewel hunter-case Hamiltons in gold/gold-fill.
 

Talbot

One Too Many
Messages
1,855
Location
Melbourne Australia
Recasing of timepieces was done back in the day, but would be difficult (and expensive) to achieve for a pocket watch today without the correct donor case.

Back in the 40's and early 50's many Rolex's were recased in Australia (Hanley cases) to get around import restrictions. Not as desirable today.

Good luck with your hunt.
 
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