# Ken's Amtex Electric



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Ken (dombox40) sent me an Amtex Electric to sort out for him....and he asked me to post a few pictures of the finished watch before sending it back to him.

I'm not sure who Amtex were but their watches all seem to date from the mid 1960's and there are always a few on eBay, although not electric ones. They are definitely at the cheaper end of the market and this watch is no exception. Having said that, this Amtex is a little beauty IMHO and has something rather special about it...more on that in a minute.

It is powered by the Standard Time Corp. 310E electric movement. This company is a Hamilton company in disguise. They established this company to make electric movements for their Vantage branded watches --- the connection between Vantage and Hamilton was deliberately kept obscure; Vantage had cheap base metal cases and Std Time Corp movements while Hamilton had gold and s/steel cases with Hamilton movements. However, this 310E movement shares all the same electric components as the Hamilton 505 and the electric parts are fully interchangeable between the two movements...all electric parts for both movements were made in the US while the mechanical parts on this 310E were made in Japan (unlike the 505 where all parts, electric and mechanical, were made in US).

As well as Hamilton's Vantage range, the same 310E movement was used in other watches...like Ken's Amtex here but also in Stratford, Andre Bouchard and several others.

So what makes this Amtex a little unusual :huh: ? It has a display back :thumbsup:! Hamilton released the very rare "Clearview" model with a display back, but this is the first electric watch with a Std Time Corp 310E movement with a display back that I've seen.





































And my Hamilton Clearview for comparison, containing a Hamilton 505 movement:


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## mrteatime (Oct 25, 2006)

paul is there any reason why the crown is at 4.30? i think ive seen a few that has the crown at this position.....is there a reason for this or is it just cosmetic?

thats a little beaut BTW


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

mrteatime said:


> paul is there any reason why the crown is at 4.30? i think ive seen a few that has the crown at this position.....is there a reason for this or is it just cosmetic?


I read in some early literature that they moved the crown from 3 to 4 or 4:30 on the early electrics to remind people that this was a special, new fangled watch that did not need winding or time correction....and therefore there was little need for the crown, except once a year when the battery was changed. :blink:


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> mrteatime said:
> 
> 
> > paul is there any reason why the crown is at 4.30? i think ive seen a few that has the crown at this position.....is there a reason for this or is it just cosmetic?
> ...


great job- love the display back


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## Barreti (Apr 18, 2008)

I really like that, oddly because I think the face is lovely rather than because of the display back.

Can you actually see anything moving in there - apart from when you're adjusting the hands?


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Barreti said:


> I really like that, oddly because I think the face is lovely rather than because of the display back.
> 
> Can you actually see anything moving in there - apart from when you're adjusting the hands?


Oh most definitely! 

Compare 3rd photo with 4th photo. 3rd one is with the watch running and the balance is oscillating back-and-forth at 18,000BPH to produce a blur...so in this photo you can make out the word "Standard". 4th photo shows movement stopped...so balance is stationary....you can see coil in top right of balance and counter weight in bottom left of balance ... covering the word "Standard".

I really need to do a movie or animated GIF of this....because a display back on one of these is much more interesting & visible than a normal mechanical watch.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

So, question time...

Presumably when they were designing these movements they could have chosen any 'beat' they wanted ( within reason ) but they used 18,000,the same as most mech movements, so are these movements a existing mechanical with the powered aspect designed on top ( hence the traditional 18k ) or a ground up new movement design that they decided to give the same balance beat for historic reasons...


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

jasonm said:


> So, question time...
> 
> Presumably when they were designing these movements they could have chosen any 'beat' they wanted ( within reason ) but they used 18,000,the same as most mech movements, so are these movements a existing mechanical with the powered aspect designed on top ( hence the traditional 18k ) or a ground up new movement design that they decided to give the same balance beat for historic reasons...


The latter....although I'm not sure how the watchmaker eventually decides on what beat to go for....

There are a few similarities between these movements and conventional ones but the balance serves a very different purpose. On a spring driven movement, the balance controls the unwinding of the mainspring via the escapement. On these electric movements, the balance is the motor and drives the gear train...there is no escapement.


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## Zessa (Apr 9, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> There are a few similarities between these movements and conventional ones but the balance serves a very different purpose. On a spring driven movement, the balance controls the unwinding of the mainspring via the escapement. On these electric movements, the balance is the motor and drives the gear train...there is no escapement.


Learn something every day - cheers Paul.

Love the pic of the balance in motion!

Cheers,

Mike


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## dombox40 (Oct 20, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> jasonm said:
> 
> 
> > So, question time...
> ...


Hi paul I have just seen the pictures and i must say you have made a cracking job of my watch. Question how do you think this watch got to America where I purchased it from on the bay for the princley sum of $26 as it was assembled in Hong Kong and the movement was made in japan tourists perhaps who could not afford a hamilton. I assume they were made for the far east market. that being the case I an suprised that not more of them turn up they seem to find plenty of TitusF300 over there. Anyway I like the picture of the watch in working mode looks great.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

dombox40 said:


> Question how do you think this watch got to America where I purchased it from on the bay for the princley sum of $26 as it was assembled in Hong Kong and the movement was made in japan


I think they were sold in the US....I've seen quite a few watches with the 310E movement being sold by US sellers....most are Vantage branded but others as well.


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

as usual :thumbsup: very nice examples paul


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## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

Very nice. I really need to get an electric but I want one with a display back now


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