Hamilton Watch Company

Hamilton pocketwatch, ca. 1904

The Hamilton Watch Company was an American manufacturer of high quality pocketwatches and wristwatches. The Hamilton brand still exists in name as a Swiss assembler of low to mid level quartz and automatic wristwatches.

History of Hamilton America- 1892-1969 (First Generation)

The Hamilton Watch Company was established when the Keystone Standard Watch Company was forced into bankruptcy in 1892 and sold at a sheriff's sale to a group of Lancaster 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, PA 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. [1]

Hamilton Watch Company was housed on a thirteen acre complex in Lancaster. Hamilton eventually took possession of 'Aurora'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. [2]

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. 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, and The Flintridge. Many models came in solid gold and gold filled cases.

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 chronometers and deck watches in large numbers to fill the needs of the US Navy. This achievement was a milestone in industrial history and represents the only time a true precision timekeeper was produced on a mass production scale.

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. [3]

In 1957, Hamilton introduced the world's first battery-powered watch, the futuristic, Richard Arbib designed Ventura. [4] This watch design is in production today under the new Swatch Group Hamilton brand, with a quartz movement.

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 Hamiltons Lancaster, PA 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 US. [5]

Joint Swiss/US Operations- 1969-1972 (Second Generation)

Hamilton/Buren Microrotor

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 incorporate the highly innovative Buren Microtor (aka Micro Rotor/Microrotor) movement into certain upper tier watches (in addition to their ordinary hand-wind and traditional automatic watches).

The Buren (now Hamilton/Buren) Microtor was the disputed first 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. The official title of "first Microtor movement" is still in dispute, in spite of remarkable similarities that exist between the Universal and Buren designs.

In 1969, the Hamilton Watch Company completely ceased its American manufacturing operations with the closure of its factory in Lancaster, PA, shifting the entire balance of its manufacturing operations to the Buren factory in Switzerland.

Transitional Hamilton Watches- 1970's-1990's (Third Generation)

From 1969 to 1972, all new Hamilton watches were produced in Switzerland by Hamiltons 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. [6] In 1972, SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) purchased the Hamilton brand and utilized the Hamilton name for a number of branding efforts, including numerous Quartz watches in the 1980's. The Hamilton brand was eventually purchased by The Swatch Group Ltd. in the late 1990's.

Hamilton Modern Day- 1990's-Present (Fourth Generation)

File:Nicolas Ivanoff.PNG

Ivanoff's Hamilton-designed plane racing in Berlin

The Hamilton name brand is currently owned by The Swatch Group Ltd.. Swatch Group Hamilton brand watches have grown increasingly popular, with several of its watches being product-placed in movies like Blue Hawaii (Ventura model), Men in Black, Lethal Weapon, Into the Blue, Fantasic Four, The Pink Panther, The Producers. Modern Hamilton watches no longer use proprietary "in house" movements, instead using movements made by The Swatch Group's movement making subsidiary, ETA.

Hamilton currently sponsors Red Bull Air Race World Series pilot Nicolas Ivanoff. His Extra 300S is painted with a distinctive orange background.

References

• Hamilton Watch Co. - America's Finest Watch by Will Roseman - Comprehensive Early Hamilton Reference Guide
• American Pocket Watches Identification and Price Guide Beginning to End ... 1830 - 1999 by Roy Ehrhardt and William "Bill" Meggers
• The Watch of the Future by René Rondeau
• Hamilton Wristwatches, a Collector's Guide by René Rondeau

External links

• Official site
• Mechanical Wristwatch Information covering 1917 -1936 website
• Electric Wristwatch Information website
• 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.