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Harold Lantis received this Hamilton Masterpiece to mark twenty-five years at Joyce-Cridland. The caseback names him above the words “For 25 Years of Loyal and Faithful Services.” We like a watch with that kind of specificity. A company and a person, connected by a quarter-century, are still legible in the metal.
Hamilton’s Awards Division supplied watches to companies and organizations for just such presentations. The Masterpiece wording on the dial is associated with that business, rather than being simply an ambitious name for a dress watch. Award pieces could use variations on familiar Hamilton designs, which helps explain why a Masterpiece does not always correspond neatly to a retail catalog model.
Joyce-Cridland’s own history begins in 1873, making lifting jacks for the railroad industry. By the 1950s, its range included automobile lifts and larger equipment for servicing buses and trolleys. That gives this restrained little Hamilton an unexpected connection to heavy machinery. We enjoy the contrast in scale: a company building equipment to lift vehicles chose a wristwatch to recognize someone’s years of work.
Our example has a 34mm 10k gold-filled case, measuring 40mm from lug to lug, with a silver dial and separate seconds at six. The hand-wound caliber 770 has 22 jewels. Pointed hands and fine markers keep the face spare, while light speckling around the dial’s edge gives it some softness. It is fitted with a tan Saffiano leather strap.
The pleasure here is in having both: a small hand-wound Hamilton to use, and a specific piece of somebody else’s working life to look after.
