Hamilton

Hamilton was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the premises of the bankrupt Keystone Standard Watch Company. It built its reputation on railroad pocket watches held to strict accuracy standards, and during the Second World War turned its output almost entirely to military wristwatches and marine chronometers for the US forces. In 1957 it launched the Hamilton Electric 500, the first electric wristwatch, whose asymmetrical Ventura case by Richard Arbib is still in production; in 1970 a Hamilton team unveiled the Pulsar, the first digital LED watch, which went on sale in 1972.

The Lancaster factory closed in 1969 and production moved to the Buren works in Switzerland. The brand was sold to SSIH in 1974 and has been part of the Swatch Group since the group's formation in 1983, with headquarters in Biel/Bienne. Current lines include the Khaki Field and Khaki Aviation, the Jazzmaster, the Intra-Matic and the Ventura, mostly on movements derived from ETA calibres.