Hamilton - Hamilton H3 Military w/ Provenance Letter
Hamilton was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, PA and today remains one of the most important watch brands with American roots. Many collectors would consider their military contracts a crucial aspect of their success and relevance having provided "GI" (general issue) models for the U.S. and other countries, notably for the Vietnam and Gulf War.
This "Type B" example, circa 1980s is one of their best known variants and comes from an Army veteran. This piece saw time in action in multiple countries and even comes with a letter of provenance from its owner. Of course military time is displayed on the dial but this model is memorable for its "H3" and radiation symbol. This is commonly mistaken for the use of radium lume, however it was simply denoting of tritium which has an extremely faint hint of radiation. The military showed this on the dial as well as on their issued boxes for disposal. This piece remains in excellent vintage condition with a nicely patina'd dial/hands. It is rare for us to come across military watches with proven provenance such as this and we believe this is an excellent value offering great history and character.
Dial: Excellent with all of the tritium plots present and even yellow patina.
Hands: Are matching and their lume is stable. Case: Signs of use consistent with age. Correct unsigned crown.
Crystal: There are some light scratches but no cracks. They could always be buffed off but we prefer to leave the history there.
Accessories: Bund style strap that the watch
The movement was recently serviced and is running nicely on our timegrapher. It comes with our 1-year mechanical warranty.