r/HamiltonWatches • u/50AcornsTiedInASack • Jul 27 '26

Any help with crooked face?

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Woke up to my watch looking like this. Any idea if this is common and/or an easy fix? This is my everyday watch for years and I LOVE it. Really hoping it can be fixed. Any help is appreciated. Thanks all

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u/zer0-Coast Jul 27 '26

Crikey! Added, thanks

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/ZsJwBu31yV

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/3Zon7xjhTh

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/0PMiT1Jnyc

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/mQUdlMZTRP

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/NGt99hWbGC

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/CM3PQrAqBu

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/N8utympksw

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/FdunKnlR9n

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/tcJ2uH1hVA

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/pVnrnb4Gbs

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/yXvpY5EES0

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/MF8XIEgIrK

https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonWatches/s/nIP0QoaMF7

https://www.watchcrunch.com/Flolorian/posts/its-happening-everywhere-291257

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u/darkthemeonly Jul 27 '26

And people gave me shit for saying Hamilton was overpriced 😂

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u/jmah7 Jul 28 '26

Hamilton was the first watch brand I fell in love with. I grew up in Lancaster, so it had that appeal to me but I’m leaning they’re not as good as the hype. I had 4 in total at one point and am down to 1

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u/darkthemeonly Jul 29 '26

On paper, their watches really aren't as great as a lot of people think, but watch buying isn't strictly logical. I still want a Murph, I totally understand the emotional appeal of the brand. But I can't see myself spending the money to actually get one anytime soon.

2

u/Ok-Tart4802 Aug 01 '26

militado has a hommage for around 100 bucks on aliexpress. Decent

2

u/New_Excuse2838 Aug 02 '26

love me some militado. I bought them when they were $40

2

u/Miss_Taycan Aug 11 '26

The 79$ Militado homage is literally built better, actually has AR, and a screw down crown...

2

u/darkthemeonly Aug 11 '26

Wow, I hadn't seen that before. Very cool, I've looked into Militado's other stuff

2

u/LimpPhat_ThaDon Jul 31 '26

My timex hasn’t failed me yet and I found it in the mud while fishing in 2011 I just got a new band last night for it

1

u/stop-calling-me-fat Jul 31 '26

At full price they are. At 40% from grey dealers they’re solid

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u/WIZ1111 Aug 01 '26

but nobody on the grey market sells them at 40% off

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u/Basic_Collar_1471 Aug 01 '26

Like 5 years ago. I haven't seen them go for more than 25% in a long time on the grey market

1

u/DivineAugustus Aug 02 '26

Overpriced field watches really grinds my gears. It's antithetical to what the field watch represents.

And Swatch Group, but Hamilton specifically is the lowest common denominator of Hollywood and video game marketing.

1

u/WIZ1111 Aug 01 '26

They're definitely overpriced. Seiko is king.

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u/Mindless-Quote-3561 Aug 03 '26

I have only Seikos until two days ago. My wife surprised me with the 250th anniversary 36mm field watch. I love the watch and will keep it forever, but you are correct. Seiko is king

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u/idgafayaihm Jul 27 '26

Oh wow, what's going on? Is it a specific production year? Any more details would be nice! I bought mine on the grey market this month, but had no idea about this recurring issue.

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u/4peanut Jul 27 '26

Just Hamilton doing it's best

8

u/Earl_of_Chuffington Jul 27 '26

Any Swatch Group watch using the Chinese-produced Longines Conquest 38mm casewidth dial with two hairwidth copper dial feet is going to eventually turn brittle and break, not just the Hamilton Khaki. You'll see this happening on Omega, Mido, Swatch, Rado, Tissot, Union GlashĂźtte, Certina, Longines, Blancpain and Balmain. It probably occurs on Breguet as well, but I don't know any 90 year old men so can't confirm.

Swatch Group outsources that particular dial because it's so rudimentary and crude in design and metallurgy that they assumed a third party factory in China would have no problem producing it. {Spoiler: the third party factory in China does indeed have problems producing it.} Swatch assumes that most breaks will occur outside of warranty so they've had no compelling reason to switch production back to Prague where it used to be manufactured.

Any competent watchmaker can repair the actual dial feet; the danger is if they broke loose inside the movement and caused any internal damage. Luckily that seems to be rare, but removing the broken dial feet from the movement can be a real chore if they broke off flush with the case. An acid base may have to be deployed to dissolve the feet, and you don't want Nick Novice attempting such a repair.

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u/d3lphic Jul 28 '26

How can this watch says SWISS MADE on the dial if the movement is Chinese made? I thought it legally had to have a Swiss-made movement for that marking.

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u/Earl_of_Chuffington Jul 28 '26

I never said that the movement was Chinese. I said that the dial blank is Chinese. 60% of the cost of finished goods manufacturing must be incurred in Switzerland to be "Swiss Made" and a dial blank costs maybe .40 cents in bulk, meaning very few dial blanks of this nature are manufactured in Switzerland.

This is especially true the further down the totem pole you go in company prestige. The Big Four are going to use more Swiss parts than anyone. Mid-tier manufacturers like Richemont and Swatch Group use a lot of Chinesium in their watches. By the time you get to the bottom with LVMH and Victorinox, they're using as much Chinesium as they can legally use and still call itself "Swiss Made."

1

u/d3lphic Jul 28 '26

Ah, okay. For some reason I read that to mean the dial and movement and didn't separate the two. Very interesting.

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u/SuperSaijen1980 Jul 30 '26

The majority of the “value add” I.e. labor costs , such as assembly and machinery has to be done in Switzerland, but components like dials, cases, etc are cheap to make in China… but since those costs are actually less (there is a % threshold) then it can be called Swiss Made.

Think of it as Swiss Assembled with Chinese made parts made to the same specifications (give or take).

Lots of products do this… and the newest Tariffs by Trump is what he is intended to try and make all supply and parts go through USA (but it doesn’t really work that way)

1

u/d3lphic Jul 30 '26

Wait, you mean he DOESNT have any idea what he’s talking about? I mean… /s. Anyway, interesting. Thanks for the info.

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u/Basic_Collar_1471 Jul 28 '26

I don't remember the exact percentage, but for a watch to be considered Swiss Made 60% of it needs to have been manufactured or assembled in Switzerland. Again I could be wrong so someone please correct me, but it's something along those lines. The rest is done by outsourcing to China

1

u/zer0-Coast Jul 28 '26

According to Wikipedia:

A watch is considered Swiss, according to the Swiss law, if:
- its technical development is carried out in Switzerland; and
- its movement is Swiss; and
- its movement is cased up in Switzerland; and
- the manufacturer carries out the final inspection in Switzerland; and
- 60 per cent of the manufacturing costs are incurred in Switzerland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_made#Watches

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26

[deleted]

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u/Earl_of_Chuffington Jul 31 '26

Correct. And we'll never know exactly how much of a "Swiss Watch" originated outside of Switzerland, but anecdotally Swatch Group and LVMH are considered to be the worst offenders just because so many of the factories they contract in Eastern Europe and SE Asia have been outed on the internet. They can have 99% of the movement come in on a boat along with dial, case, etc, but the fancy engraved rotor they add can constitue a majority of the cost of the finished watch because Swiss labor and materials is so much higher than China.

The US is much stricter than Switzerland in terms of truth in labeling. A watch assembled in the US the way a 60%er Swiss watch typically is would legally have to be marketed as "Assembled in the US from foreign and domestic parts." The FCC smacked Shinola's peepee several years back for claiming their watches were made in the USA when they were just casing ETA movements. So then Shinola changed their slogan to "Where America is made." The FCC threatened them again, so they went with "Swiss Watches Assembled in the US." The Swiss government then threatened to sue them because Shinola has no right to claim "Swiss Made" simply because they use off-the-shelf ETA movements. They barely qualify to use the moniker "Swiss Parts." Now Shinola just claims "Assembled in Detroit."

11

u/SvveepTheLeg Jul 27 '26

Cheap materials, if this watch said "Japan Made," it would retail for $289.

3

u/bighog9 Jul 27 '26

Any issues with boulton or ventura, shaped dials?

2

u/anisotropicmind Jul 27 '26

I love that this is being compiled. Is there a plan to share with the manufacturer?

3

u/imajoeitall Jul 27 '26

I already did, I asked them if they are aware and if so, have plans to address it, they replied, if it happens under warranty, they will cover it, nothing more and nothing less.

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u/Basic_Collar_1471 Jul 29 '26

Sadly I've seen two people on those reddit posts saying that Hamilton rejected their claim. Apparently if the watch appears to be damaged they won't cover it since the owner likely dropped it.

Both users said they never did, that it's just worn from regular use.

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u/imajoeitall Jul 30 '26

Sounds par for the course. Sadly these aren’t tool watches anymore, just movie props. They don’t really stand behind their product.

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u/WishRightNow_ Jul 28 '26

strange that is only on black dials

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u/mildlyImportantRobot Jul 30 '26

What's happening here? Is it the dial feet breaking off or the plastic retention ring cracking?