Hamilton 14Kt Gold "Midas" Art

Creator: Hamilton
Movement: Manual Wind
Style: Art Deco
Place of Origin: United States
Period: 1940-1949
Date of Manufacture: 1940
Condition: Excellent Wear consistent with age and use. It is worth noting that this watch only had a 12-month warranty when it was new. However, we are so confident of our workmanship and team that we offer an 18-month warranty on all our watches, even those over 100 years old.


FACTORY / HOUSE: Hamilton Watch Company
STYLE / REFERENCE: Midas Series / Art Deco Tank
METAL / MATERIAL: 14Kt Solid Yellow Gold
CIRCA / YEAR: 1940s
DIMENSIONS / SIZE: Length 22mm X Width 33mm
MOVEMENT / CALIBER: Manual Winding / 19 Jewels / Caliber 982M
DIAL / HANDS: Original Two Tone in Sterling Silver with 18Kt. Solid Gold Applied Numerals
ATTACHMENT / LENGTH: Leather, 16mm / Regular Length
WARRANTY: 18 months on the movement
This is a "vault find" watch, it has been locked up for nearly 50 years, which means it needs a service. We will give it a factory quality service by our finest watchmaker as part of the purchase price before it is shipped out to you. This will delay shipping for a few days of course.
This is a great looking and dependable watch by this legendary American House from Lancaster Pennsylvania. This watch is offered with what appears to be an original period Alligator strap and an original Hamilton buckle and box. While the strap is to fragile to be practical it does indicate that this watch is in nearly new condition.
Hamilton was devoted to excellence from their most modest watch to their finest. For example, Hamilton Dials were made in all Sterling Silver with Solid Gold 18Kt. Applied Numerals. No American house did this on all their watches. Only the finest Swiss houses had this level of quality. This watch will keep dependable time for the next 200 years if you give it a service every so often.

Hamilton History
The wrong train, on the wrong track, at the wrong time at the end of the 19th century frequently resulted in disastrous train wrecks. In response to the critical need for accuracy on the nation?s railroads, laws were passed in 1891 establishing set standards of accuracy.
All engineers and railroad workers were required to purchase and maintain their watches to keep accurate time based on set standards, about 30 seconds per week was the tolerance.
This was the inspiration for The Hamilton Watch Company which was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The company was started by a group of investors who were looking to create a high-quality, American-made watch. Hamilton quickly became a leading manufacturer of pocket watches, and by the early 1900s, the company was supplying watches to the US military.
In 1917, Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch for service men entering the first World War. The wristwatch quickly became popular with both soldiers and civilians recognizing how practical they were. Hamilton continued to grow throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and by the 1940s, the company was one of the largest watchmakers in the world.
Hamilton had exceptional engineers and designers and their watches were elegantly styled as well as dependable. As a watchmaker myself I consider Hamilton to be one of the worlds ?best? watches. It was mass produced perfection. Even today, you can take 100 old Hamilton?s of the same model apart and shake them up in a bag and reassemble 100 watches that will work perfectly with almost no adjustment. This is an achievement.
In the early 1930?s our family store in Los Angeles was a ?Hamilton? Store. Even during the depression though Hamilton did not allow you to discount the price to sell a watch. Also, in the neighborhood was another Hamilton store and one day the owner sent in a ?shill? to buy a Hamilton from us, someone gave them a slight discount. Well, that was all it took for Hamilton to ?pull the line? from us. In those days the local jewelry supply houses sold you the watches and they were all told not to sell to us. We simply contacted Gruen, and they were very excited to have a new account in Los Angeles and we immediately became a Gruen Store.
A few months later, the other jeweler in the neighborhood went out of business and Hamilton came back to us asking if we wanted ?the line? again. No thanks was the response and we never carried Hamilton again.
During World War II, Hamilton supplied watches to the US military again. In addition, with contracts for the Navy, they produced the world?s most accurate navigational chronometers. The company also developed several new technologies for use in military watches. After the war, Hamilton continued to innovate, and the company introduced several new watch designs for the future.
Unfortunately, they made one very poor executive decision in the 1950?s. Having invented the first ?electric? or battery watch they decided to launch it before all the ?bugs'' were worked out. Too many of them failed and at the same time, Bulova launched their version of the electric, or battery watch called the Accutron. It did not fail and that was the demise of one of Americas most successful and influential companies.
Their watches, however, still live on and parts are available and the average Hamilton, with only average care, will last hundreds of years. Their commitment to excellence has never been surpassed by any watch company.

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