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AN INTERVIEW WITH MY FRIEND AND MENTOR, RENÉ RONDEAU
On March 9th, 2025, I sat down and had lunch with René Rondeau, a person who was instrumental to me in the Hamilton Watch world. I call him my friend and mentor. He helped me more times than I can remember. He is the “Hamilton Electric Guru.”
We met at our usual spot in Larkspur California, which we have done for years. René sat down and joined me and a fellow collector, Richard Tung, for lunch. After René ordered his Cappucino, we noticed he was wearing his Hamilton Electric Converta III with a Hamilton prototype electric 502 movement and custom clear back.
I surprised him and said today, I want to interview my mentor, someone I have known for some 30 years. Much to his surprise, his eyes lit up and he said fire away.
Read more...
We met at our usual spot in Larkspur California, which we have done for years. René sat down and joined me and a fellow collector, Richard Tung, for lunch. After René ordered his Cappucino, we noticed he was wearing his Hamilton Electric Converta III with a Hamilton prototype electric 502 movement and custom clear back.
I surprised him and said today, I want to interview my mentor, someone I have known for some 30 years. Much to his surprise, his eyes lit up and he said fire away.
Read more...
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People always ask me why I collected Hamiltons
Simple answer, they were and are the premier American Watch made, ever.
Let’s take a 6/0 size - 987 movement. According to the raw material list I have from the factory, the pillar plate was made of Ni-Ag (Nickle-Silver), the jewel settings were made of 6k gold, the banking pins made of brass, the balance screws were made of gold, the meantime screws were made of gold, and the remaining parts of the movement were either, steel, brass Ni-Ag or bronze. Quite a unique combination of materials that went into this great movement. Most all the parts had serial numbers to match the movement. The movements were all stamped with the Hamilton name and serial number all finished with black paint. The plates used damaskeening to give it that unique look. This was all done in a time when no watch featured a clear back to look in. So why would they do all this to the movement when you can’t see it? While I have seen no documentation of why they did all this when the owner will never see it, I would presume Hamilton just wanted to make the best looking American Watch Movements, period! The hairsprings were made of steel, used 12 5/8ths coils and used the Breguet overcoil. The following was taken from the Breguet website. In 1795 Abraham-Louis Breguet solved the problem by upraising the spring’s last coil and reducing its curvature, to ensure the concentric development of the balance-spring. Thus endowed with the "Breguet overcoil", the balance spring henceforth became concentric in form. Watches gained in precision, and the balance-staff erode less quickly. Breguet also perfected a bimetallic compensation bar in order to cancel out the effects of changes in temperature on the balance spring. The Breguet balance spring was adopted by all the great watchmaking firms, who continue to use it to this day for high precision pieces. Between 1880 and 1910, many manufacturers inscribed the words "Spiral Breguet" or "Breguet overcoil" in large letters on the cuvettes of their watches.)
The dials were made of Silver or Brass and the numerals were made of solid 18K gold, aka-Applied Gold Numerals (AGN) Most the numerals used were in the ultra-classy Breguet style, not found on many watches in the early 1900’s. Hamilton imported a few of their dials from Switzerland from the Stern Company (The Stern family currently owns Patek Phillipe) or from Fluckiger. Both companies made the dials of silver and used a blank with the Hamilton name pressed into the dial as well as the minute and sub-seconds tracks, all finished with a black fired hard inlaid enamel finish. Most of Hamilton’s dials were either printed (painted) or inlaid enamel (fired enamel). Inlaid enamel was more costly to do, but Hamilton was into perfection.
Lastly, the catalogs of the Hamilton Watches show they were cased in either Platinum, Sterling Silver, Solid Gold or Gold Fill. No Hamilton watches in this era were made of a combination of gold fill and a stainless steel back. When WWII came along, Hamilton started using stainless steel to cut cost and make a solid military watch to help in the war effort.
Hamilton made great watches from the late 1800’s thru late 60’s and in the early 70’s the Swiss bought the company and still own it to this day. It’s the only American brand I can think of that survived and is still in business. I own some modern-day new Hamilton’s and enjoy them as must as my 100 year old models. I have been fortunate to meet and sit down with Sylvain Dolla, the former CEO of the Hamilton Watch Company and Vivian Stauffer the current CEO of Hamilton. I was able to show them my collection, many one of kind models, many limited production models and several prototypes, as well as Bill Dickey’s 1928 World Series Watch, Elvis’s white Ventura from Blue Hawaii and the legendary Barbizon. Both were gracious with their time and expertise. After the meeting, the CEO sent me a Hamilton, it’s a keeper as how many times do you get a watch from your favorite brand from person who runs the company. A special watch indeed.
People also ask me the best movement by Hamilton. The 770, 22 jewel movement is. Never gives me any issues. It was also used all the way until they made their last watch in America, the Coin Watch.
So there you have it, my quick story of why I like and collect Hamilton Watches.
Let’s take a 6/0 size - 987 movement. According to the raw material list I have from the factory, the pillar plate was made of Ni-Ag (Nickle-Silver), the jewel settings were made of 6k gold, the banking pins made of brass, the balance screws were made of gold, the meantime screws were made of gold, and the remaining parts of the movement were either, steel, brass Ni-Ag or bronze. Quite a unique combination of materials that went into this great movement. Most all the parts had serial numbers to match the movement. The movements were all stamped with the Hamilton name and serial number all finished with black paint. The plates used damaskeening to give it that unique look. This was all done in a time when no watch featured a clear back to look in. So why would they do all this to the movement when you can’t see it? While I have seen no documentation of why they did all this when the owner will never see it, I would presume Hamilton just wanted to make the best looking American Watch Movements, period! The hairsprings were made of steel, used 12 5/8ths coils and used the Breguet overcoil. The following was taken from the Breguet website. In 1795 Abraham-Louis Breguet solved the problem by upraising the spring’s last coil and reducing its curvature, to ensure the concentric development of the balance-spring. Thus endowed with the "Breguet overcoil", the balance spring henceforth became concentric in form. Watches gained in precision, and the balance-staff erode less quickly. Breguet also perfected a bimetallic compensation bar in order to cancel out the effects of changes in temperature on the balance spring. The Breguet balance spring was adopted by all the great watchmaking firms, who continue to use it to this day for high precision pieces. Between 1880 and 1910, many manufacturers inscribed the words "Spiral Breguet" or "Breguet overcoil" in large letters on the cuvettes of their watches.)
The dials were made of Silver or Brass and the numerals were made of solid 18K gold, aka-Applied Gold Numerals (AGN) Most the numerals used were in the ultra-classy Breguet style, not found on many watches in the early 1900’s. Hamilton imported a few of their dials from Switzerland from the Stern Company (The Stern family currently owns Patek Phillipe) or from Fluckiger. Both companies made the dials of silver and used a blank with the Hamilton name pressed into the dial as well as the minute and sub-seconds tracks, all finished with a black fired hard inlaid enamel finish. Most of Hamilton’s dials were either printed (painted) or inlaid enamel (fired enamel). Inlaid enamel was more costly to do, but Hamilton was into perfection.
Lastly, the catalogs of the Hamilton Watches show they were cased in either Platinum, Sterling Silver, Solid Gold or Gold Fill. No Hamilton watches in this era were made of a combination of gold fill and a stainless steel back. When WWII came along, Hamilton started using stainless steel to cut cost and make a solid military watch to help in the war effort.
Hamilton made great watches from the late 1800’s thru late 60’s and in the early 70’s the Swiss bought the company and still own it to this day. It’s the only American brand I can think of that survived and is still in business. I own some modern-day new Hamilton’s and enjoy them as must as my 100 year old models. I have been fortunate to meet and sit down with Sylvain Dolla, the former CEO of the Hamilton Watch Company and Vivian Stauffer the current CEO of Hamilton. I was able to show them my collection, many one of kind models, many limited production models and several prototypes, as well as Bill Dickey’s 1928 World Series Watch, Elvis’s white Ventura from Blue Hawaii and the legendary Barbizon. Both were gracious with their time and expertise. After the meeting, the CEO sent me a Hamilton, it’s a keeper as how many times do you get a watch from your favorite brand from person who runs the company. A special watch indeed.
People also ask me the best movement by Hamilton. The 770, 22 jewel movement is. Never gives me any issues. It was also used all the way until they made their last watch in America, the Coin Watch.
So there you have it, my quick story of why I like and collect Hamilton Watches.
Links to other informative sites:
My friend and colleague Bryan Girouard's site.
http://www.artdecowristwatches.com
My friend and colleague Dan Keefe's site.
http://www.hamiltonchronicles.com
My friend and colleague Jarett Harkness' site.
http://unwindintime.com
Hamilton Watch Company.
http://www.hamiltonwatch.com
My friend and colleague Bryan Girouard's site.
http://www.artdecowristwatches.com
My friend and colleague Dan Keefe's site.
http://www.hamiltonchronicles.com
My friend and colleague Jarett Harkness' site.
http://unwindintime.com
Hamilton Watch Company.
http://www.hamiltonwatch.com