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1946 Description
Howard
This rare Howard wristwatch was
manufactured by Hamilton in 1946 and distributed to wholesalers for
trade mark protection purposes. It contains a modified 17-jewels 980
movement renamed the "H 980."
Production Info |
Comments
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Production
Date: 1946
Price When New: Unknown
Case: 10K Yellow-filled
Case Manufacturer: Wadsworth (Cased in a Hamilton
"Stanford" Case)
Production for this Variation: 1,021
Movement: H980 - 17-Jewel Howard Movement modeled after
the Hamilton 17-jewel
980 movement
___________________________
Comments:
Hamilton purchased the goodwill and trademarks of the E.
Howard Watch Company in 1931, three years after the purchase of the
Illinois Watch Company in 1928. Although never active in the
manufacture of "Howard" watches, Hamilton did produce a very small
quantity under the "Howard" brand name and conducted tests in the
market for this once famous timepiece.
Apparently, the test results did not
weather well as Howard wristwatches were never placed in full
production. This rare Howard wristwatch was
made by Hamilton in an effort to protect Hamilton's trademark rights
to the "Howard Watch Company" name. These wristwatches were
distributed by select wholesalers to jewelers on August 8th 1946.
Once supplies were exhausted, no other Howard examples were made
with the exception of 51 14K solid gold examples which were cased in
Hamilton's Pierre cases in
1942 and
the earliest example which were cased in 14K solid gold Hamilton
Seneca cases.
This particular example used a
redesigned Hamilton 980 17-jewel movement which was renamed H 980 ("H" for
Howard wristwatch). The movement is identical to the
Hamilton 980 series with the exception of damaskeening on the base plates and
circular damaskeening on the crown and barrel wheel.
