Hamilton Watch Company
Encyclopedia
The Hamilton Watch Company was originally formed to produce high quality pocket watch
es and wristwatches mid-range and luxury
. Hamilton would become a corporate conglomerate diversified in other operations. The Hamilton brand name still exists in name as a division of a major Swiss assembler of production grade mechanical and quartz wristwatches.
The Hamilton Watch Company was established in 1892 when the Keystone Standard Watch Company was forced into bankruptcy
and sold at a sheriff's sale to a group of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
entrepreneurs whose "objective was to build only watches of the highest quality." During this same year, a merger took place between the newly established Lancaster based watchmaking concern and the Aurora Watch Company of Illinois
. A decision was made to name the new company after James Hamilton
, owner of a large tract of land which was granted to him from William Penn
and included what is now the city of Lancaster. The new company would be known as The Hamilton Watch Company.
Hamilton Watch Company was housed on a 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) complex
in Lancaster. Hamilton eventually took possession of Aurora Watch Company's machinery shortly after incorporation. With quality being Hamilton's primary goal, the company set out to manufacture "America’s Finest Watch." The first watch made under the Hamilton name was an 18-size 17-jewel pocket watch in 1893. Within the next six years, Hamilton had developed a reputation for creating pocket watches of the highest caliber of quality. During Hamilton's first fifteen years, only two size movements were produced — the 18-size and the smaller 16-size.
Its first series of pocket watches, the Broadway Limited, was known as the "Watch of Railroad Accuracy," and Hamilton became popular by making accurate railroad watches. Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch in 1917. This watch was designed to appeal to men entering World War I and contained the 0-sized 17-jewel 983 movement originally designed for women's pendent watches. The introduction of the 0-sized wristwatch was the start of a line of wristwatches that included some of the finest American wristwatches made. In 1928 Hamilton purchased the Illinois Watch Company
for in excess of $5 Million from the heirs of Jacob Bunn and John Whitfield Bunn. Some of the most collectible early Hamilton wristwatches include The Oval, The Tonneau, The Rectangular, The Square Enamel, The Coronado, The Piping Rock, The Spur, The Glendale, The Pinehurst, The Langley, The Byrd, The Cambridge, the Barrel "B" and The Flintridge. Many models came in both solid gold and gold filled cases and, though rare, some wristwatches such as the Grant were made of silver.
During World War II
, production of consumer watches was stopped, with all watches manufactured being shipped to troops. More than one million watches were sent overseas. The company was extremely successful in producing marine chronometer
s and deck watches in large numbers to fill the needs of the United States Navy
, and other Allied navies as well. The Model 21 Hamilton was built first and had a chain drive fusee and then followed by the Model 22, this model had a traditional main spring this was in a traditional double box and in a deck watch. The Model 21 & 22 had a two day power reserve and the movements of both were marked U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships. The model 22 was also used by the U.S. Army and on the back of some it is marked U.S. Army, but all the model 22 movements are marked U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships. The Model 23 was a 16 size pocket watch case with a black dial, but this was a stop watch. The Model 4992b was in a 16 size case, black dial and was the pocket watch for U.S. Military, the movement was 21 jewel railroad grade.
In 1951, Hamilton rebuffed a hostile takeover bid by the Benrus
watch company. The fallout from the failed takeover action culminated in Hamilton Watch Co. v. Benrus Watch Co. (206 F.2d 738, 740 (2d Cir. 1953), a Federal proceeding that is considered to be landmark in the realm of Federal anti-trust case law.
In 1957, Hamilton introduced the world's first electric watch
, the Hamilton Electric 500. It was available in a variety of non-traditional asymmetrical case styles including the Ventura.
In 1962, Hamilton entered into a joint venture (60% owned by Hamilton) with the Japanese watchmaking firm Ricoh
to produce electric watches meant primarily for the Japanese market. The electronic components were produced at Hamilton's Lancaster factory while production of the mechanical works and final assembly was undertaken in Japan. Although production levels of Hamilton-Ricoh watches was high (over 1000 per month), demand was low and consequently, the Hamilton-Ricoh partnership was unable to compete with the substantial market presence of Seiko
. The partnership was dissolved in 1965, with the remaining Hamilton-Ricoh electronic movements (marked "Ricoh 555E") re-cased as "Vantage" and sold in the U.S.
The Buren (now Hamilton/Buren) Microtor was the first patented automatic wristwatch movement to eliminate the sizable external oscillating weight inherent to most automatic winding watches. Instead, it utilized a much smaller weight that was entirely integrated into the chassis of the movement. This design allowed for a substantially slimmer automatic watch that still retained a center sweep second hand. The Microtor concept was also conceived by Universal Geneve
for use in their famous Polerouter series of timepieces during this same time. The official title of "first Microtor movement" is still in dispute amongst some horology aficionados, even though Buren patented their design in 1954 while Universal Geneve applied for their patent in May 1955.
In 1969, the Hamilton Watch Company completely ceased its American manufacturing operations with the closure of its factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, shifting the entire balance of its manufacturing operations to the Buren factory in Switzerland.
From 1969 to 1972, all new Hamilton watches were produced in Switzerland by Hamilton's Buren subsidiary. In 1971, the Buren brand was returned to Swiss ownership and by 1972, the Buren-Hamilton partnership was dissolved and the factory liquidated, due to decreased interest and sales of the Hamilton-Buren product.
& Tissot
Holding Company Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère
(SSIH) purchased the Hamilton brand and utilized the Hamilton name for a number of branding efforts, including numerous quartz watches in the 1980s.
The Hamilton Watch Division became a subsidiary of HMW. The Hamilton Watch Company changed their name to HMW at the time they sold their Watch division to SSIH.
There has been much confusion as to who developed the Pulsar
, the world's first digital watch. The watch division that today is known as Hamilton, was not involved in the development of the Pulsar.
Through the enforced merger of SSIH and ASUAG Groups in 1984, Hamilton has become a subsidiary of the now denominated The Swatch Group Ltd..
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hamilton began a marketing campaign that resulted in a comeback. Vintage designs were coming back in style and Hamilton had a large portfolio of popular designs from the 1920s, 1930's, 1940's and 1950s from which to draw. Playing on this resurgence, Hamilton replicated several of these original designs, such as the Ardmore, Boulton, Cabot, Piping Rock, Spur, Wilshire, and the 1957 Hamilton Ventura. These reissued watches incorporate a modern Swiss-made quartz movement.
In 2007, Hamilton introduced special editions of the Ventura to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the electric watch. For the U.S. market, stainless steel quartz and automatic versions were released with a production of 1,957 each; for the Asian market, yellow and rose gold plated Ventura models were released with a total production of 1,000 each.
In 2009, Hamilton released three new Ventura models to celebrate what would have been the 75th birthday of Elvis Presley. Presley wore a Ventura in the movie Blue Hawaii. The automatic PVD version is an updated design of the Ventura.
followed suit and wore the Ventura in Blue Hawaii
. The Ventura reissue was prominently featured in the Men in Black
movies. To date Hamilton watches have appeared in over 300 movies.
The quality of the company's line and its prominent reputation even in the depths of the Great Depression
factored directly in the plot of the 1993 film King of the Hill
. The story recounts a boy's struggle to survive on his own in a fleabag hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis while his German immigrant father becomes a traveling salesman for the Hamilton Watch Company and away to such an extent that the boy could not be certain he would ever return.
In 2005 Nicolas Ivanoff
started competing with the world's leading aerobatic pilots in a branded Hamilton plane. The character Sylar
on NBC's Heroes
wears a modified Hamilton watch on which the "Hamilton" logo has been changed to "Sylar." In the Scrubs
episode My Dream Job, Dr. Bob Kelso
is seen holding a Hamilton watch. Also, from the early seasons of House
; Dr. House had the khaki king automatic.
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
es and wristwatches mid-range and luxury
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
. Hamilton would become a corporate conglomerate diversified in other operations. The Hamilton brand name still exists in name as a division of a major Swiss assembler of production grade mechanical and quartz wristwatches.
History of Hamilton America: 1892–1969
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and sold at a sheriff's sale to a group of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
entrepreneurs whose "objective was to build only watches of the highest quality." During this same year, a merger took place between the newly established Lancaster based watchmaking concern and the Aurora Watch Company of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. A decision was made to name the new company after James Hamilton
James Hamilton (Pennsylvania)
James Hamilton , son of the well-known Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton, was a prominent lawyer and governmental figure in colonial Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.-Life:...
, owner of a large tract of land which was granted to him from William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
and included what is now the city of Lancaster. The new company would be known as The Hamilton Watch Company.
Hamilton Watch Company was housed on a 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) complex
Hamilton Watch Complex
The Hamilton Watch Complex is a former industrial complex in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was owned by the Hamilton Watch Company and was used as their headquarters from the company's founding in 1892, until 1980. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982...
in Lancaster. Hamilton eventually took possession of Aurora Watch Company's machinery shortly after incorporation. With quality being Hamilton's primary goal, the company set out to manufacture "America’s Finest Watch." The first watch made under the Hamilton name was an 18-size 17-jewel pocket watch in 1893. Within the next six years, Hamilton had developed a reputation for creating pocket watches of the highest caliber of quality. During Hamilton's first fifteen years, only two size movements were produced — the 18-size and the smaller 16-size.
Its first series of pocket watches, the Broadway Limited, was known as the "Watch of Railroad Accuracy," and Hamilton became popular by making accurate railroad watches. Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch in 1917. This watch was designed to appeal to men entering World War I and contained the 0-sized 17-jewel 983 movement originally designed for women's pendent watches. The introduction of the 0-sized wristwatch was the start of a line of wristwatches that included some of the finest American wristwatches made. In 1928 Hamilton purchased the Illinois Watch Company
Illinois watch company
The Illinois Watch Company was founded on December 23, 1870, in Springfield, Illinois by John C. Adams, John Whitfield Bunn and various additional financiers. Twenty years later, Jacob Bunn, Jr. took over and ran the company until his death in 1926...
for in excess of $5 Million from the heirs of Jacob Bunn and John Whitfield Bunn. Some of the most collectible early Hamilton wristwatches include The Oval, The Tonneau, The Rectangular, The Square Enamel, The Coronado, The Piping Rock, The Spur, The Glendale, The Pinehurst, The Langley, The Byrd, The Cambridge, the Barrel "B" and The Flintridge. Many models came in both solid gold and gold filled cases and, though rare, some wristwatches such as the Grant were made of silver.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, production of consumer watches was stopped, with all watches manufactured being shipped to troops. More than one million watches were sent overseas. The company was extremely successful in producing marine chronometer
Marine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...
s and deck watches in large numbers to fill the needs of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, and other Allied navies as well. The Model 21 Hamilton was built first and had a chain drive fusee and then followed by the Model 22, this model had a traditional main spring this was in a traditional double box and in a deck watch. The Model 21 & 22 had a two day power reserve and the movements of both were marked U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships. The model 22 was also used by the U.S. Army and on the back of some it is marked U.S. Army, but all the model 22 movements are marked U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships. The Model 23 was a 16 size pocket watch case with a black dial, but this was a stop watch. The Model 4992b was in a 16 size case, black dial and was the pocket watch for U.S. Military, the movement was 21 jewel railroad grade.
In 1951, Hamilton rebuffed a hostile takeover bid by the Benrus
Benrus
The Benrus Watch Company Inc., was founded in New York City in the 1920s by Benjamin Lazrus. The name "BENRUS" originates from the combination of Benjamin Lazrus' forename and surname. In the 1960s, the Fair Trade Commission determined that Benrus marketing practices were misleading for a minority...
watch company. The fallout from the failed takeover action culminated in Hamilton Watch Co. v. Benrus Watch Co. (206 F.2d 738, 740 (2d Cir. 1953), a Federal proceeding that is considered to be landmark in the realm of Federal anti-trust case law.
In 1957, Hamilton introduced the world's first electric watch
Electric watch
Electric watch, which commonly means any watch that is powered by electricity, has become a generic term for the first generation of electrically powered watches which appeared starting in 1957, before the invention of quartz watches in the 1970s...
, the Hamilton Electric 500. It was available in a variety of non-traditional asymmetrical case styles including the Ventura.
In 1962, Hamilton entered into a joint venture (60% owned by Hamilton) with the Japanese watchmaking firm Ricoh
Ricoh
or Ricoh, is a Japanese company that was established in 1936 on February 6th, as , a company in the RIKEN zaibatsu. Its headquarters is located in Ricoh Building in Chūō, Tokyo....
to produce electric watches meant primarily for the Japanese market. The electronic components were produced at Hamilton's Lancaster factory while production of the mechanical works and final assembly was undertaken in Japan. Although production levels of Hamilton-Ricoh watches was high (over 1000 per month), demand was low and consequently, the Hamilton-Ricoh partnership was unable to compete with the substantial market presence of Seiko
Seiko
, more commonly known simply as Seiko , is a Japanese watch company.-History and ongoing developments:The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the...
. The partnership was dissolved in 1965, with the remaining Hamilton-Ricoh electronic movements (marked "Ricoh 555E") re-cased as "Vantage" and sold in the U.S.
Joint Swiss/U.S. operations: 1969–1972
In 1966, Hamilton acquired the Buren Watch Company in Switzerland, including all factories and technologies that had been developed by Buren up to that point. From 1966 to 1969, Hamilton Lancaster and Buren Switzerland were operated as a joint concern, with Hamilton using a number of Swiss movements for their "American" watches and Buren utilizing a number of components manufactured by Hamilton Lancaster. It was during this time that Hamilton started to selectively incorporate the highly innovative Buren Microtor (a.k.a. Micro Rotor/Microrotor) movement into small numbers of certain upper tier watches, in addition to their ordinary hand-wind and traditional automatic watches.The Buren (now Hamilton/Buren) Microtor was the first patented automatic wristwatch movement to eliminate the sizable external oscillating weight inherent to most automatic winding watches. Instead, it utilized a much smaller weight that was entirely integrated into the chassis of the movement. This design allowed for a substantially slimmer automatic watch that still retained a center sweep second hand. The Microtor concept was also conceived by Universal Geneve
Universal Geneve
Universal Genève SA is a Swiss luxury watch company, founded in 1894 as "Universal Watch".Since its beginnings, the company has produced complete watches with in-house movements, and throughout the 20th century, distributed many notable and important timepieces...
for use in their famous Polerouter series of timepieces during this same time. The official title of "first Microtor movement" is still in dispute amongst some horology aficionados, even though Buren patented their design in 1954 while Universal Geneve applied for their patent in May 1955.
In 1969, the Hamilton Watch Company completely ceased its American manufacturing operations with the closure of its factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, shifting the entire balance of its manufacturing operations to the Buren factory in Switzerland.
From 1969 to 1972, all new Hamilton watches were produced in Switzerland by Hamilton's Buren subsidiary. In 1971, the Buren brand was returned to Swiss ownership and by 1972, the Buren-Hamilton partnership was dissolved and the factory liquidated, due to decreased interest and sales of the Hamilton-Buren product.
Transitional Hamilton Watches: 1970s–1990s
In 1971, the OmegaOmega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
& Tissot
Tissot
Tissot is a luxury Swiss watchmaker company founded in 1853 by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile Tissot who established the Tissot factory in the Swiss city of Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel area of the Jura Mountains....
Holding Company Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère
Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère
Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère was the second most important Swiss Watch Group, holding Omega and Tissot.It was created on February 24, 1930 in Geneva by Tissot et Omega, to be joined as from 1932 by Lemania Watch Co & A...
(SSIH) purchased the Hamilton brand and utilized the Hamilton name for a number of branding efforts, including numerous quartz watches in the 1980s.
The Hamilton Watch Division became a subsidiary of HMW. The Hamilton Watch Company changed their name to HMW at the time they sold their Watch division to SSIH.
There has been much confusion as to who developed the Pulsar
Pulsar (watch)
Pulsar is a brand of watch and a division of Seiko Watch Corporation of America . While Pulsar was the world's first electronic digital watch, today Pulsar watches are usually analog...
, the world's first digital watch. The watch division that today is known as Hamilton, was not involved in the development of the Pulsar.
Through the enforced merger of SSIH and ASUAG Groups in 1984, Hamilton has become a subsidiary of the now denominated The Swatch Group Ltd..
Hamilton modern day: 1990s–present
The Hamilton name brand is currently owned by The Swatch Group Ltd. Swatch Group Hamilton brand watches have grown increasingly popular. Modern Hamilton watches no longer use proprietary "in house" movements, instead using movements made by The Swatch Group's movement making subsidiary, ETA.In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hamilton began a marketing campaign that resulted in a comeback. Vintage designs were coming back in style and Hamilton had a large portfolio of popular designs from the 1920s, 1930's, 1940's and 1950s from which to draw. Playing on this resurgence, Hamilton replicated several of these original designs, such as the Ardmore, Boulton, Cabot, Piping Rock, Spur, Wilshire, and the 1957 Hamilton Ventura. These reissued watches incorporate a modern Swiss-made quartz movement.
In 2007, Hamilton introduced special editions of the Ventura to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the electric watch. For the U.S. market, stainless steel quartz and automatic versions were released with a production of 1,957 each; for the Asian market, yellow and rose gold plated Ventura models were released with a total production of 1,000 each.
In 2009, Hamilton released three new Ventura models to celebrate what would have been the 75th birthday of Elvis Presley. Presley wore a Ventura in the movie Blue Hawaii. The automatic PVD version is an updated design of the Ventura.
Hamilton in popular culture
The first movie to portray Hamilton product was the Oscar-nominated Frogmen in 1951 when the diving expertise of the characters and watches were put to the test. In the 1960s Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
followed suit and wore the Ventura in Blue Hawaii
Blue Hawaii
Blue Hawaii is a 1961 musical film set in the state of Hawaii and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical. The movie opened at no...
. The Ventura reissue was prominently featured in the Men in Black
Men in Black (film)
Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film was based on the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature effects...
movies. To date Hamilton watches have appeared in over 300 movies.
The quality of the company's line and its prominent reputation even in the depths of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
factored directly in the plot of the 1993 film King of the Hill
King of the Hill (film)
King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...
. The story recounts a boy's struggle to survive on his own in a fleabag hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis while his German immigrant father becomes a traveling salesman for the Hamilton Watch Company and away to such an extent that the boy could not be certain he would ever return.
In 2005 Nicolas Ivanoff
Nicolas Ivanoff
Nicolas Ivanoff is a French pilot and flying instructor, who currently races in the Red Bull Air Race World Series under the number 7...
started competing with the world's leading aerobatic pilots in a branded Hamilton plane. The character Sylar
Sylar
Gabriel Gray, more commonly known by his assumed name of Sylar , is one of the primary antagonists and antiheroes in the NBC drama Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers...
on NBC's Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
wears a modified Hamilton watch on which the "Hamilton" logo has been changed to "Sylar." In the Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
episode My Dream Job, Dr. Bob Kelso
Bob Kelso
Robert "Bob" Kelso, M.D. , is a fictional character played by Ken Jenkins in the American comedy-drama Scrubs....
is seen holding a Hamilton watch. Also, from the early seasons of House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
; Dr. House had the khaki king automatic.
External links
- Official site
- Will Roseman's Comprehensive Mechanical Wristwatch Information covering 1917–1936
- Electronic version (pdf) of Watch Factories of America Past and Present: A complete history of watchmaking in America, from 1809 to 1888. By Henry G. Abbott Illustrated with 50 engravings. Chicago: Geo. K. Hazlitt & Co., Publishers 1888.