Rarely see people discuss Hamilton watches here. Thinking about getting a field watch. Their new field mechanical just came out and I personally think it looks great. Should I go for the new one or stick with their old officer mechanical?Thoughts?
Before becoming interesting in Omega and Longines, the Hamilton brand is what got the spark lit for me in terms of watch collecting. Of the 30+ watches that are in my collection, probably half are Hamilton. I'm not particularly interested in the modern Hamiltons (1970s to present) or the Lancaster-assembled watches with Swiss movements. To me, a real Hamilton has an in-house movement made in Lancaster, PA.
One of my pride and joys in my Hamilton line-up is my Electric "Meteor." The watch was actually a gift from my watchmaker. He knows me as "the Hamilton guy," since that is what I mostly bring him to service or repair. About 30 years ago, he purchased the Meteor in a box of junk watches and parts. He held on to it for some reason and decided to get it running again; knowing that I would give it a good home. I was quite speechless and beyond thankful when he presented it to me working and cleaned up. He showed it to me a few weeks earlier to ask my opinion on it. I told him it was worth around $1000 and he should fix it up and try to sell it. It was certainly a shock when he gave it to me as a token of our friendship.
It's an early 60s model with a cal. 500 movement (Hamilton's first version of their electric movement) in a 10kt yellow gold-filled asymmetrical case created by the famous designer Richard Arbib. These movements are notoriously unreliable and it loses about 5 minutes a day, but I still love it! Arbib was the creator of many of Hamilton's asymmetrical cases for their electric watches, such as the legendary Ventura. This watch was only produced for two years (1960-62), with 1500 made in the black dial and 3000 made all together.
Those are some long NATO straps! 😎
I just acquired this Piping Rock.
Before becoming interesting in Omega and Longines, the Hamilton brand is what got the spark lit for me in terms of watch collecting. Of the 30+ watches that are in my collection, probably half are Hamilton. I'm not particularly interested in the modern Hamiltons (1970s to present) or the Lancaster-assembled watches with Swiss movements. To me, a real Hamilton has an in-house movement made in Lancaster, PA.
One of my pride and joys in my Hamilton line-up is my Electric "Meteor." The watch was actually a gift from my watchmaker. He knows me as "the Hamilton guy," since that is what I mostly bring him to service or repair. About 30 years ago, he purchased the Meteor in a box of junk watches and parts. He held on to it for some reason and decided to get it running again; knowing that I would give it a good home. I was quite speechless and beyond thankful when he presented it to me working and cleaned up. He showed it to me a few weeks earlier to ask my opinion on it. I told him it was worth around $1000 and he should fix it up and try to sell it. It was certainly a shock when he gave it to me as a token of our friendship.
It's an early 60s model with a cal. 500 movement (Hamilton's first version of their electric movement) in a 10kt yellow gold-filled asymmetrical case created by the famous designer Richard Arbib. These movements are notoriously unreliable and it loses about 5 minutes a day, but I still love it! Arbib was the creator of many of Hamilton's asymmetrical cases for their electric watches, such as the legendary Ventura. This watch was only produced for two years (1960-62), with 1500 made in the black dial and 3000 made all together.
