Western Fashion Trends

Established in 1892, the Hamilton Watch Company is long-time player in the luxury watch market. The brand has a rather odd beginning. In the early 1890′s the Keystone Standard Watch Company in Pennsylvania (United States) began having serious financial difficulties and was eventually declared bankruptcy. The watch company, or what holdings were left of it, were sold at an auction and purchased by some folks from Lancaster, PA. This group shortly thereafter merged their interests with another watch manufacturer from Illinois called the Aurora Watch Company, and they decided to name their newly formed company after a historical figure named James Hamilton who is known in Pennsylvania.

The Hamilton Watch Company began making pocket watches in 1893 and the quality of these pocket watches was renowned by their customers and those who were familiar with the watch making industry. For fifteen years the Hamilton Watch Company made only pocket watches, and only with two different sizes of movements. Some watch companies are famous for being associated with particular industries. Breitling made airplane chronometers, Panerai made Navy timepieces, and Hamilton became famous for their Railroad Watches. In fact, their brand has become so famous that fake Hamilton watches are prevalent online.

In 1928 Hamilton bought another watch company, this one called the Illinois Watch Company. During the Second World War Hamilton made timepieces exclusively for the military and stopped all production for regular consumers. Fake Hamilton watches had not yet become common but the increase in demand certainly helped raise the brand profile. After the war they invented and produced the first mass market electric watch, which was a model known as the Hamilton Electric 500. In the early 1960′s Hamilton partnered up with Ricoh, a Japanese watch making company, in order to mass market their new electric watch line in Japan.