The Masterpiece is not a name they would have given lightly to this Hamilton Thin-o-Matic watch, with its gold filled case.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
There is a clear engraving on the case back as a retirement present, given on 1st January 1971. Obviously that does mean that the watch was made in 1970 or even earlier, but 1971 is the most obvious date for a birth year watch. It is a Swiss made watch, which all Hamilton production was switched to Switzerland in 1969.
CONDITION
A gold filled case is far thicker than a gold plated case, and here is a perfect example. You could not engrave a gold plated case without going through the plating and into the base metal. But the case back here is engraved. This Masterpiece has a unibloc case, so the movement is removed via the front, and the 17 jewel calibre 628 movement hidden away in there has a nice surprise – a micro rotor movement. Normally the reserve of brands like Univeral Geneve in their Polerouter and Shadow ranges, a micro rotor allows an automatic movement to be thinner, as the rotor in in built into the movement and not bolted on the back. The dial does have some signs of patina, but original dials that are fifty years or more old usually do. The leather strap is new, and could be swapped for a different colour if preferred. This watch uses surprisingly narrow lugs, so the standard length strap fitted here will only for wrists up to 185mm. Extra long straps are available if you wrist size is larger than 185mm
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail. All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned. We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.
SIZE
Width with crown 35.4 mm
Width without crown 32.7 mm
Between lugs 14 mm
Lug to lug length 37.0 mm
Case Thickness 9.1 mm
All sizes are approximate. The watch is photographed on a wrist of 190mm/7.5 inches.
Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us. Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.
From 1st September 2021 we will be planting a tree for every watch we sell, working with the International Tree Foundation (Est 1922) to make this business positive on carbon. By buying anything pre owned you are effectively reusing what already exists, but this takes it further and makes us feel good.
