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At $52.25, the Hamilton Roland had a very particular answer to the rectangular dress watch: rows of rounded ribs squeezed between pointed lugs. That price comes from its period catalogue listing, which advertised a 17-jewel Grade 987 and a 10k natural gold-filled case. We are drawn to the amount of personality Hamilton packed into that small outline. The ornament is not confined to a dial or an engraving; it is built into the shape of the case itself.
The ribbed-case Roland is documented as a one-year design for 1948. That brief appearance gives it a concise place in Hamilton’s postwar catalogue, with a case shape that remains immediately identifiable. The related Russell model also used rounded decoration at the case ends; here, the Roland gathers its ribs between fixed lugs. This is case ornament, not a set of articulated links. We like the contrast between this design’s brief catalogue appearance and its immediately recognizable outline. A rounded rectangle is familiar territory, but those ends make the Roland specific.
The period listing also specified an 18k applied gold numeral dial. It is a small detail in the advertisement, yet it helps explain the relationship between the face and its frame. On this example, raised Arabic figures answer the relief of the case ribs, while the black minute and seconds tracks give the display a firmer graphic structure. There is decoration at two levels, but neither requires a complicated display: hours, minutes and a separate seconds register are enough.
Our Hamilton Roland measures 27mm wide and 40mm from lug to lug, with a 10k gold-filled rectangular case, silver dial and brown leather strap fitted between 16mm lugs. Warm toning and scattered fine patina soften the dial’s contrast without obscuring its arrangement. The circular small-seconds register sits at six, its bold numbered ring echoing the rounded case corners. Pointed gold-tone hands cross the applied numerals. Inside is the American-made Hamilton 987A, a seventeen-jewel manual-winding movement, consistent with the model’s documented configuration.
The exterior back is engraved DEAN RICHARDS in decorative capitals with flourishes. There is no date or occasion alongside the name. The flowing lettering occupies the smoother surface of the back, a different form of decoration from the rows of ribs around the front.
What stays with us is the way those small rows of ribs give the Roland its identity. The catalogue’s $52.25 is a useful historical anchor, but the shape makes that little entry worth remembering.
