Timex Dial Indicator

[FanMan]

So I was at an antique shop today with my wife, and amongst a bunch of other uninteresting junk were three dial indicators, two of which worked. One was a .0005" graduation Federal, one was a .0001" graduation Timex, and the broken one was made by the Hamilton watch company. I didn't really need them, but I bought the two working ones anyway for $3 each, but... Timex? Hamilton? Makes sense, I guess, the required manufacturing capability is similar, but since when did they ever make such things?

 

[18w]

Never came across a Timex but Hamilton made nice indicators as is the Federal. Nice find!

 

[extropic]

Just a wild guess, but I'm thinking WWII production. Makes sense to me. As you say, kind of up their alley. Go back and get the Hamilton. Probably repairable and worth a ton to a rare tool or Hamilton collector.

 

[Cactus Farmer]

I have several "hole guages" made by Hamilton and other watch makers. A tapered shaft with a window in the body (think old ink pen). There is a button that allows the shaft to move out of the body and then you push it into an unknown size hole. It will stop on the body and ,thus you read the size in the window. There are a set of three, from 0.020 to 0.125, 0.125 to 0.250 and0.250 to 0.375. They came with standards for calibrating too. Pictures when I get to my shop tomorow. Drilling a well today.
There is a fellow here that repairs indicators too. Send me the Hamilton and I'll have Bill Murry take a look. He's fixed a few for me. He owns a BIG machine shop (drilling rig parts)and does the repair work on the side for fun. Inexpensive too. I made him some small parts as his machines are all large. Some day he may actually charge me for the repairs he has done, right now we trade!

 

[FanMan]

We'll see... the shop as a ways away from here, I don't get out that way often. Searching online finds a few hits for Hamilton dial gauges, with some indication (no pun intended) it might be worth a bit, but absolutely zero for Timex. The Federal seems a solid useful gauge but nothing special, plenty of them found online (though for a good bit more than $3!), but the Timex seems a bit more rare...

 

[extropic]

The dial of the Timex reads "MADE EXPRESSLY FOR U.S. TIME CORPORTION". Now I'm thinking that it was owned/used by Timex, not manufactured by Timex for resale. They must have used many such indicators and marking them would help prevent them walking away. There must be some Timex aficionados out there that would love to add such rare survivor to their collection.