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Founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
Hamilton watches have come to represent a variety of uniquely American values — rugged
individualism, functional style, initiative, boldness, steadfastness.
Initially manufactured to provide the country’s railroads with reliable timing devices, the
Hamilton railroad pocket watch was adopted
as the official watch of the American Expeditionary Forces worldwide. A wrist
watch version of the railroad watch was issued to
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General
Pershing and his “doughboys” in WWI, accompanied
Admiral Byrd on his expeditions to the North and
South Poles, served the Picards well on their first
balloon ascent into the stratosphere, and was on the
wrist of the first American to scale
Mount Everest.
In the period between the wars, Hamilton stylishly
re-designed the conventional watch case going beyond
traditional round shapes
and introducing dramatic lines featuring
asymmetrical, square, and triangular cases. Aside
from the classic designs of the era such
as the Ardmore, Benton, Boutlon, Cabot, Contour and
Wilshire models, now faithfully re-created in
Hamilton’s American Classics
collection, the company also became known for
producing fashionable, decorativetimepieces for
women.
Other notable Hamilton innovations which forever altered watch technology included: the
development of a revolutionary
temperature-compensating hairspring alloy which resulted in much improved timekeeping
accuracy; the introduction of the world’s first
“electric” wrist watch powered by a small battery; and the introduction of “Pulsar”, the
world’s first electronic watch.
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