Pics from Hamilton Watch Company...

by **Curtis** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:56 pm

Hi all,

I was "digging" through my photos and found this Hamilton folder, with the following pictures. They look to be from the 40s or 50s... interesting pics from one of America's great watch companies.

Cheers,

Curtis

by **caput** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:15 am

Curtis thank you, very nice pictures.

by **whiskeybelly** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:32 am

Thanks Curtis!

One of my mentors was a prototypist for Hamilton during this time. One of the most intelligent and skilled men I've ever met. Every phone call to him is a 2-3 hour epic tale of incredible engineering; I've thought of taping the conversations as there's no way to absorb it all. He still has a workshop loaded with many of the machines from Hamilton and Bulova (he worked there as well), bought when then companies folded years ago. Last time I saw him he had me help move a Rivett 608 toolmakers lathe- the 80+year skinny old man made this brawny looking 30 something look like a rag doll (felt like one too!).

That was a special time in watchmaking. Now that I live in Switzerland I love to rub it in that the automated machines and processes used to this day here were largely developed by a bunch of hick farmer Yanks back when the Swiss were still using rounding up tools as production machines.

They then rub it back in "so where are these great companies now?" Touché.