Hamilton H3 MIL-W-46374B

Hi.

I bought this on eBay a few weeks ago and I like it after hearing about them and seeing it mentioned here . Need to service the movement and tidy the hands and be careful with the lume as I understand it's Tritium.
What should I do about cleaning the hands so I can relume them to match the dial? Should I clean them under water? Also, I can't seem to find a definitive answer on what the seconds hand should look like. Is it red tipped, is it coated in lume (which would explain the rot on this but not the other hands) or is it completely white with a lume tip? Seems to vary on models that look very similar and I've seen some that are all yellow.

Anyway here are some pictures.

http://i.imgur.com/ms1mndZh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/YqFo3LIh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oFpNO0ch.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2gLSkIoh.jpg

Today I received a 28.7mm Sternkreuz ACTR crystal that I'm yet to test but will attempt to get this running (runs and stops with low amplitude) and relumed, just worried about the Dr Emmet Brown radiation symbol because I already cleaned off a spec that had dropped onto the dial and then didn't want to grow an extra foot, so went to bed and tried to sleep the nightmares off.... .

Thanks for the pictures, I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Cheers alfat. I'll try and find some time and don a hazmat suit..

This is my MIL-46374D
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0b17f04546.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c8ec123d12.jpg

I bought this NOS late last year and there are very minor differences in appearance between the B and D

As you can see the second hand is fully lumed, I have seen red tipped hands on the civilian version of the Benrus but not the Hamilton. I think the civil versions were made without lume on the second hand.
A good resource is http://home.earthlink.net/~brendo81/46374.html
It has al you will ever need to know about these watches!

With regard to the lume, it is tritium and as such it is radioactive however the levels of radioactivity are quite low and as long as you don't inhale / ingest the lume I should think you will be fine. Looking at the condition of the hands I would probably remove the lume and then relume them in a suitable shade.
If doing this yourself it may be prudent to wear gloves and a dust mask.
Failing that use a watch maker who knows what they are doing.

Hope this helps
John

Helps a lot, cheers John. Hmm I don't worry so much about the lume but I do need to maybe invest in a mask of sorts.. Anyway when I have that and some time I'll lume the entire seconds hand and then fill in the others hopefully it will come out OK, and I won't need to be quarantined.

A handsome looking watch, great find!
Great resource as well.

Glad to help
They are a great little watch
I have unintentionally ended up with a bit of a collection of MIL-W-46374 spec watches having a C, 2Ds, 2Es and 3Gs. One to look for is the Stocker and Yale 490. Even though they have a plastic case they are very good quality.
The MIL-W-46374 watches are one of the few affordable mil spec watches left although prices are on the rise.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5b890e6d82.jpg
A pic of some of them along with Traser which is based on the Stocker and Yale 650 produced for the same mil spec. Traser produced the watch after SandY went bust.

Yeah I've always been drawn to the SandY and Marathon watches, I've a couple of Hamilton khaki fields but have yet to venture into the vintage stuff.
Cheers.

Just seen your picture nice collection, I have a few Trasers as well!

Hmm second from the top is the 46374E? That looks good.

Yep it's a SandY490
The marathon next to it is also an E

THey're very appealing. I've seen the black Hamilton before but not the other, but I am only just starting to look at these. I noticed one of the ones I have is going quite high on ebay with missing hand lume.
Good thing I got this one for 35 pounds from TheWatchCollector as a non runner! :) Balance swings so it'll more than likely just be dirt.

They are easy to service and pretty robust so get it going and worn. :-)
The SandY and 348 are both 90/91 in vintage but still glow enough to be usable.
I wear mine on days when I have site visits, they are prefect for this as they are so small they don't get knocked.

^^Would love to see your collection sometime!^^
Cheers.

Here are a couple of mine type F (sandy 650) and the newer type G also in the picture is the Adanac which was the pre cursor to the marathon SS navigator


[IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/2a9rxad.jpg[/IMG]

Rate is weird, bit up and down, did the MS again and it was a little better, but mostly the same. The pallet might have been over oiled so I need to clean that and reinstall with a clean escape.


Not sure if I can regulate it any better but gave up due to the inconsistencies. Will tackle it again. Tried to relume in keeping with the age of the watch, maybe slightly pale but I don't mind that.


Any feedback re movement and relume would be good.


Wrong crystal (38.7mm) so I ordered a 38.6mm hoping I don't end up needing the 38.5mm, which I think will just be too easy to install. Hopefully that will arrive soon, but I could have polished the crystal as it was I guess, but don't got no materials to do so...

Here are some pics..

http://i.imgur.com/3hSiBEZh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/AJxaiqdh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/Oxlt8iqh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/HqRxZV4h.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/QbeN7jbh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/z6x4OcAh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/UBTh5kEh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/h6M3uLrh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/P5H4BU3h.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/H9fLtaNh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/s0cmlWJ.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/JJUby3Gh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/CT7m9JJh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/OgfcY4qh.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/bHphDY9h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Mi6tc9Dh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sbtBcOQh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/bNiFUYwh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/MxYyMekh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/M3WbW15h.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/TB4al8ah.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/TiStaokh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/Qxk6puWh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/7Gam5HXh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/6fBgGu7h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mWKo5sGh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/94IOJosh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/0HB2Hu5h.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/YtGpuyxh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/KvtPzKxh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/YqFo3LIh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/L8AOx8Hh.jpg

And the finished piece.
https://i.imgur.com/AGGIxgAh.jpg

The lume is a vast improvement looks good
Can't help with the movement or crystal
Try over at MWR there are guys that will be able to tell you.

Cheers, John. Well do you think I should redo the lume as I have some orange oxide and I think a touch of that in the mix in hindsight might have got it spot on. I think it works as is and I agree looks much better. Didn't lume the whole length of the hand which should be addressed.


I guess from the spec of +-60 spd, it is actually pretty decent. :)

Just want the crystal now so I can wear it on an olive nato..
Guy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bodo

Cheers, John. Well do you think I should redo the lume as I have some orange oxide and I think a touch of that in the mix in hindsight might have got it spot on. I think it works as is and I agree looks much better. Didn't lume the whole length of the hand which should be addressed.


I guess from the spec of +-60 spd, it is actually pretty decent. :)

Just want the crystal now so I can wear it on an olive nato..
Guy

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I would leave as is
The colour of Tritium lume can vary Watch by watch so your relume looks I. Keeping with the watch.
I would probably lume the whole second had
But apart from that I think it looks totally original now.
A job well done I would say.
Oh and if you want to keep it totally original
A single peice black fabric strap as shown on one of pictures is the strap for it. Watchgeko in the uk sell good examples.

Looks great, thanks for all the detailed pictures. You nailed the regulation in the end then!

Thank you, both! :)

Yeh I'll have a look at the straps when I have some cash.
Cheers alfat, got there eventually and it's spot on today. Not sure about positional accuracy but it isn't bad, then again I think I'm happy with how it's running so far.
Very simple to work on, surprisingly, and with my limited experience. Enjoyed it!

Will tinker some more later with that side of things.

http://i.imgur.com/z4YBM8oh.jpg


Did the sweep. Also keeping time very nicely! Gave the original crystal a slight sanding just to get it back on the watch, but the replacement should hopefully be here soon.

Looks Fab,well done

Thanks Dm!

https://i.imgur.com/AGGIxgAh.jpg

It came out good. A good friend who was a Navy Chief on another forum knew I collected military stuff so he ask if I wanted a issued Hamilton for free I could not turn it down. Was in bad shape like yours was before you did a nice job of getting it back to great condition. Mine was missing lume on the hour and minute hands and the sweep second hand was missing. Another member on the MWR forum gave me a set of hands and I got it serviced and mines back to working condition. A few photo's of mine.
http://i.imgur.com/gu15vs9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/AXC4eA1.jpg

Very nice River Rat.
I sold it go my friend for his dad's birthday. However I will miss the watch as it had a lovely dial and was proud of the work I did. I'm gonna keep an eye out for another bargain maybe and see.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by River Rat

It came out good. A good friend who was a Navy Chief on another forum knew I collected military stuff so he ask if I wanted a issued Hamilton for free I could not turn it down. Was in bad shape like yours was before you did a nice job of getting it back to great condition. Mine was missing lume on the hour and minute hands and the sweep second hand was missing. Another member on the MWR forum gave me a set of hands and I got it serviced and mines back to working condition. A few photo's of mine.
http://i.imgur.com/gu15vs9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/AXC4eA1.jpg

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Nice one. I wish you had put some pictures of its original state as well like before and after.

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