Transform your watch game with these 5 beauties from Hamilton

Hamilton Watch Company makes beautiful watches to suit every wrist, but it is not all about the looks. Hamilton has such a strong watchmaking backstory, in fact, that it seems a little bit unfair on the competition. No watch company did more to help conquer the West than Hamilton, to name just one example. It was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1892, as the US railroads were busy opening up the whole country to trade. But there was a desperate need for accurate watches to make sure trains ran to schedule and didn’t crash into each other – a giant problem in the early days of rail. The reliability of Hamilton’s trainmaster’s watch helped keep the passengers safe, and saw it awarded the title The Watch of Railroad Accuracy.

But taming the trains wasn’t enough for Hamilton, and it went on to become official supplier to US troops in both WWI and WWII, and in the 1930s supplied watches to all of America’s major commercial airlines. In the 1950s Hamilton made the world’s first battery operated watch, the Ventura, then in the 1960s was part of a joint venture to make the world’s first automatic chronograph. As if that wasn’t already more than enough watch cred for one brand, Hamilton also caught the eye of a slim-hipped young Elvis Presley.

Now owned by Switzerland’s Swatch Group, Hamilton still has the pioneering spirit of its American founders, but now benefits from the most cutting-edge Swiss technology, and is constantly working to get the maximum performance out its watches.  With many great watches to choose from, here are some of the best Hamilton designs worth checking out.

Those with an eye on the skies need look no further than the Hamilton Khaki Aviation Converter, an automatic watch that doubles as an ingenious flight computer. As you rotate the bezel the logarithmic markings interact with the dial-markings like a slide rule and allow a pilot to make crucial calculations to determine speed, fuel usage and the rate of climb or descent. For the non-pilot the bezel can also be used to convert kilos to pounds and metres to feet – handy when speaking to an American or anyone born when the metric system was viewed with suspicion outside of France. The Aviation Converter has a 42mm steel case and there are two 44mm versions: a GMT and a Chronograph model. All three watches have anti-magnetic automatic movements with an impressive 80 hours of power reserve and are water-resistant to 100 metres.

For anyone who likes a bit of retro-chic, the Intra Matic Auto Chrono is a modern take on a classic Hamilton chronograph from the 1960s. It now comes with the option of stylish Milanese bracelet and whilst the looks are certainly retro, the watch benefits from modern performance like a 60-hour power reserve and 100-metre water resistance. The classic look has been carried over into a non-chrono version, the Intra Matic Automatic, which also has a 40mm stainless-steel case, and has the two-tone dial of the chrono version, but is instead a three-hand automatic with a date and 80-hour power reserve.

For a bold, gold statement like no other, there is the Hamilton PSR, which celebrates the company launching the first ever commercially available electronic digital watch. When it came out in the 1970s, the Hamilton Pulsar P1, with its solid-gold case, cost as much as a family car. This year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world’s first digital watch, Hamilton launched the new PSR which is an update  on that classic and is thankfully more affordable. There are two versions to choose from: one in stainless steel; and a limited edition version in steel coated with yellow-gold PVD. Back in the early 70s the original P1 caught the attention of Elvis, who snapped up one of just 400 examples – but that wasn’t Elvis’s first Hamilton.

If you want watch that looks out of this world, the three-cornered Ventura is perfect. Elvis wore a Ventura in the 1961 film Blue Hawaii, helping to make the watch an icon. Following a tradition of Hamilton watches in the movies that stretches back to the 1930s, the Ventura went on to take another role that would cement the legend further, when it became part of the distinctive uniform of the alien-hunters in the Men in Black franchise. In the latest film, Men in Black: International, new recruit Agent M, played by Tessa Thompson, wears a Ventura Automatic with H-10 automatic movement visible through the cut-out dial.

The dark theme continues with the Khaki King Black, a solid, no-nonsense watch inspired by Hamilton’s military background. The 40mm case is black PVD-coated and a black dial and black leather strap complete the stealthy-yet-legible look to suit the tough, silent type. The King Black contains an H-40 automatic movement with 80-hour power reserve, far more than is offered by similar-priced competitors. That is part of Hamilton’s commitment to continually improve its watches. Because while it may have loads of great history, nobody could ever accuse Hamilton of living in the past.