Nostalgia & History > Wartime Hamilton Watch advert

I acquired a 1942 CNR employee magazine recently which included this advert for Hamilton watches.

Hamilton mentions that they made timepieces for the military during the war. Anyone have any more info about this?

While I don't have a Hamilton made watch,I do have a "Pocket" type watch made by Elgin,marked "Watch,Navigation{Ground Speed}Type A-8 made Dec 22,1942.Of intertest is that the dial only goes from 0 to 10.So who knows just what kind of timepieces they were making.

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> Hamilton mentions that they made timepieces for
> the military during the war. Anyone have any more
> info about this?


Hamilton provided both pocket (992b) and wrist watches for military personnel, and a special navigational timepiece known as the 4992B. This was a 992B on which the hour hand swept once per day instead of twice (i.e. midnight at the 12 position, noon at the 6 position).

Examples of both show up on eBay regularly.

JAC

Interesting you should ask, Phil.

I have sitting in front of me a Hamilton "Master Navigational Watch Army-Standard Part. No. AN-5740" pocket watch. It has a stainless steel case with a black dial with "GCT" as the only lettering. The outer circumference is divided into 60 marks; one for each second or minute. The second hand is a sweep second hand. The inner circle of numbers is 1-24 with the "hour hand" making one revolution per day. The watch is "stem set" as opposed to the normal "lever set" railroad watches.

The back of the case is engraved with the Model No. (AN-5740-1), followed by "Stock No", "Mfr's Part No.", "Contract No.", "Serial No.", and finally "Hamilton Watch Company".

I also have, still in the original box, the heavy steel carrying case that secured the watch while on the navigator's desk aboard an aircraft. The box is about 5" square, 2" high and weighs about 2 pounds. The watch is secured on a shock mounted plate inside this box. This box has the following identification, "WATCH CARRYING CASE for Master Navigational Watch Army-Navy Standard Part. No. AN-5740 in accordance with U.S. Army Spec. No. 27310, dated 9-16-43, and amend. No 1 dated 1-2-44. Contract No. W30-053 ac-1115, Order No. (30-053) 44-12019, Class 05-A Geo. H. Adamson Tecumseh, Michigan U.S.A."

This is probably far more information than you really wanted....but what the heck.

John

Hamilton made MANY 992B's during the war. The first 992B came out in 1940. The early 992B'S were made for the ordnance dept. If you unscrew the back and see the movement, you would see "U.S.GOVT"
In addition, some 992B's watch cases were two tone because of the scarcity of gold during the war.