Hamilton Ladies Watches Reviews: Vintage, Gold, Diamond, Automatic

Though Hamilton manufacture modern feminine collections (such as Lady Hamilton), it's vintage ladies watches that usually get the spotlight.

The reason lies, surprisingly, not in the movements – though vintage Hamilton mechanisms have a unique value of their own – but in the materials the company used to work with, more specifically precious metals and diamonds. These are essentially jewelry pieces, cast from gold, encrusted with stones, and designed according to fashion tastes of the 60s, 50s, and earlier decades.

What Hamilton offer ladies today veers significantly into casual and horological direction: stainless steel instead of gold, chronograph complications instead of diamonds, and only an occasional mother-of-pearl dial to remind of past chique.

Importantly, this shift reflects not only changes that took place in the watchmaking industry, but also those on a larger scale – political and feminism inspired transformation that led, for instance, to the development of unisex based designs.

This is a fashion line of watches where case and dials design take precedence over all other things. It's a small timepiece with a black or mother-of-pearl white face on which Arabic numerals and indexes spread calmly yet assertively. The stainless steel band, perhaps only slightly too solid (a feature some customers will appreciate), further accentuates the overall confidence of this classic tonneau watch.

One would be surprised that Hamilton can create something like this – it is, after all, mostly a casual&sports brand, yet here the company draws from its vintage tradition: Everest, Ardmore, Square, and other collections.

Such vintage collections as Benton, Dodson, and Square were revived in the eighties, and today comprise the “Timeless” department. These watches exist both in true vintage variations, and modern, completely new recreations.

In terms of design, rectangular shape dominates, while lugs and hands in patterns uncharacteristic of Khaki or even Jazzmaster watches become the norm. The seconds hand moves downward into a dedicated subdial at six o'clock.