Hamilton Watch
Posted on April 18, 2009 |
Hamilton Watches – A Century of Cutting Edge Fashion
The Hamilton Watch Company was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892. It produced its first watch, designed by H.J. Cain, in 1893. (Now that is a very desirable vintage pocket watch for anyone to add to their antique pocket watches collection.) Also that year, Hamilton Watch Company introduced “The Broadway Limited”, a railroad pocket watch known for its reliabiltiy and used extensively by the railroads. It was so good, a version was adoped for the American Expeditionary Forces worldwide. A wristwatch version inteoduced around WWI where it was used as the timepiece of choice for many adventures – including being the first watch to scale Mount Everest, used by Admiral Byrd on his North and South Pole expeditions and by many other famous early 20th century adventurers. In 1928, the Yankees won the World Series and Hamilton Watch celebrated by introducing the Yankee Wrist Watch along with another famous watch of that time period, the Piping Rock – both quality, cutting edge timepieces of the day. In 1940, Hamilton Watch closed their doors to consumer sales and concentrated exclusively on developing watches for the military. During the WWII era, close to one million Hamilton Military Watches were produced. In 1957, Hamilton Watch creates one of the most dramatic changes ever to watch design when it introduced the Hamilton Electric – the first electric watch. This marked the beginning of the end for windup watches (although there are still a small number of high end watches that still require winding.) And in 1959, they deveped the Venture, a sleek watch designed via the inspiration of the Cadillac tailfins of the 1950s. This watch rapidly becomes the in watch for the cool people of the 50s – even being chosen by Elvis Presley as the watch he wore in his movie Blue Hawaii. Since that time, Hamilton Watch designs have continued to be cutting edge and very desirable to own and collect.
The Historical Hamilton Watch – How a Hamilton Watch Saved Lives
As a result, there were fifty separate times that were used by the railroad companies. Under these conditions, it is no surprise that catastrophic railroad accidents happened all the time. It was obvious that the personnel required precise watches. Hamilton watch Company represented one of the solutions. By supplying railroad companies with amazingly accurate timepieces, the Hamilton watch helped to save countless lives. What also helped was the adoption of a standard time plan. The four time zones, namely Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific were set up. The Hamilton timepieces also played an important role in railroad safety at that time. As a proof of this stands the fact that the Hamilton watch was called “The Watch of Railroad Accuracy”. The beginning of this watch maker’s history is also marked by the watch book it published. The Timekeeper included descriptions of all the models, as well as relevant data about the timepieces that were produced at that time by Hamilton. The personnel of the railroad companies were not the only ones to wear these watches. The railroad inspectors were also among the customers of the Hamilton watch company. More than that, while satisfying the needs of the railroad company workers, Hamilton watch also produced timepieces that were adequate for many other people who were looking for a top quality watch. It is obvious that at that time, that pocket watches dominated the market. In January 1957, this watch manufacturer launched the world’s first electric wristwatch. There is no doubt that Hamilton continued to successfully serve the railroad company workers to this day. Its long experience has really made the Hamilton watch a trustworthy timepiece. By Steven Chabotte