Watchlords

I went to my favorite jeweler (JB Hudson in downtown Minneapolis) the other day to get a bracelet resized. While I was waiting, I looked over the 50% Off display. I saw this Lady Hamilton. I'm a borderline Hamilton fanboy *and* I have an awesome girlfriend. Full price was $375. I had a little over $100 in reward (?) dollars from my Nomos purchase there last fall. So I paid under $100 for this watch. I've been through a bunch of old catalogs online, Chronos24, etc. etc. I can't figure out the year. It's 14K white gold. Hand cranker. That's all I know. I assume those aren't diamonds. Anyone have any ideas? I sent an inquiry to Hamilton. By god, I hope they have a librarian/archivist around there...

You are a smart, savvy, and, yeah, nimble watch buyer. I hope your girlfriend is thrilled with it.

It's hard finding any info on "Lady Hamilton" around the Interwebs, but based on these links (the second one looks promising for research), it looks like you scored a good deal. Based on what I can glean, that watch is likely from the 1950s (and if it is, it's in outstanding shape)

https://omegaforums.net/threads/hamilto ... tch.28607/

http://vintagewatchforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=8553

nimbleboy wrote:I assume those aren't diamonds.

You assumed wrongly, I believe. It appears that the Lady Hamilton line was at the top of the range of ladies' Hammies, and models belonging to it were diamond-set.

You have what looks to be a Lady Hamilton 'Aurora' model 'H'.
This model is found in the 1955 catalogue near the bottom, priced at $225 (you can multiply by 9.4 to get today's dollar value).

http://vintagewatchforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=130

I include the 1956 catalogue which has the bracelet prices, as yours seems to be an upgrade from the cord band. The band on yours looks to be all diamonds, and would almost triple the price.

http://vintagewatchforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=129

So around seven grand in today's money!

Date your watch here:

http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/histor ... ilton.html

Well, shit! Thanks, everyone!

I didn't scroll down far enough in some of those years to see the additional Lady Hamilton catalogs.

I hope she likes it, too. I bought it as a relatively inexpensive Xmas gift, and I guess it still will be. Maybe it's just worth a little more than I thought...

A little WASP bling right there! Well done, Mr. boy!

Per my Stepfather, they are indeed real stones and Hamilton used good diamonds according to him. They are hand set in highly polished settings and likely G or H in color which will give them a lot of sparkle for small stones.

Very nice catch, man!