Baume & Mercier Hampton Square Extra Large Dual Time

Raven Defender Watch Launched Via Kickstarter
Wea€?ve covered watches from Benarus and Raven in the past, and now Raven has taken to Kickstarter to launch the Defender, a new model with an unexpected design and decidedly strong value proposition. While Raven, a sister company to Benarus, is generally known for making nicely priced homages to watches like the Rolex Submariner, the Raven Defender is an entirely different concept that blends the easy-wearing charm of a field watch with the functionality of an aviation derived dual-crown design and the specs of a Benarus dive watch.The Kickstarter campaign runs until mid November and allows Raven to offer a considerable discount on a wide variety of case finishes and multiple dial colors. The Raven Defender uses a 42mm case in either steel (your choice of brushed, blasted or DLC black) or brass. The Defender is 11.5mm thick with 20mm drilled lugs, sapphire crystals front and back, and 300m water resistance.The Raven Defender is characterized by an expansive dial and internal bezel tha

A New Respect For Quartz Movement Watches: From Spring To Battery
I think it¡¯s time for the hard-core mechanical watch enthusiast to give their ¡°distant cousin¡± - quartz watches - a little more respect. I guess in my own way, I¡¯m as guilty as the next guy, when it comes to comparing mechanical watches to quartz watches. When I was in the watch repair business, I flatly refused to take in quartz watches, and felt it below my standards as a watchmaker to change a battery in a quartz watch. I felt that quartz watches would make watchmakers obsolete, and in a way it actually did.In the 1970s and 1980s, the population of watchmakers, particularly in the USA, dropped off to ¡°endangered species¡± numbers. If it had been 20 years later, you¡¯d have college kids chaining themselves to Macy¡¯s Department store, demanding that we ¡°save the watchmakers.¡± This snobbery carried into the 1990s, and the new breed of watch enthusiasts looked down their collective noses at quartz watches. It might also be a good moment to look at the watches-dealer list of the top 10 mos

2009 Hamilton Photo Contest Entries
The dealine for entries has passed. Thanks to all who have submitted their photos.Now comes the time to decide which photo will grace our masthead in the Official Hamilton Watch Forum. Please vote for your favorite from the following choices.01020304050607080910

Need help with Hamilton 987f.
Greetings from a new poster. I am newly addicted to vintage watch collecting. My free time so far has been divided between research (including lurking here on WTF), collecting (mostly bottom feeding on Ebay) and servicing/repairing my acquisitions. I'm joining in order to tap into your vast knowledge to answer some questions I have been accumulating; expanding my chops so to speak. To the point, I have a 20's Hamilton with a 987f movement and cannot find a reference to this model.Sorry about the quality of the image. I am stuck using copies from my won auctions until I can get a camera with a decent macro function.I found the dial came on other models like the Prescot (1934) and the Winslow (1935). Other than that there seems to be a void in the knowledge out there about 987f's and 30's Hamiltons in general other than the geometric cases and the golf courses. Thanks for your time and help, Joel

Sources for misc parts
I started collecting Hamilton watches a while back but only recently decided to try servicing them. I occasionally break pivots off wheel staffs - especially on the 748 movement with four wheels to line up on one bridge!Forgive the newbie question but is there a good source for replacement parts like that? Any tricks of the trade for how to ensure things are well lined up so you don't break them to begin with?Thanks!