Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Hamilton Chrono-Matic 50 Auto Chrono Limited Edition, now in Blue
The racy, two-timing Chrono-Matic 50 is back with new livery and its mighty 1970s spirit intact.
Hamilton’s US chapter is marked by its legendary field watches for the US Army, interpreted in the popular Khaki line, and its impressive amount of Hollywood screen debuts. On the horological front, perhaps the most exciting moment in Hamilton’s history took place in Switzerland, where it participated in the race to develop the world’s first automatic chronograph movement – known as the Calibre 11 or Chronomatic. Today, Hamilton returns to the fore with a vibrant and colourful interpretation of its maxi-sized Chrono-Matic 50, based on the more complex 1970s Chrono-Matic GMT Count-Down.
In 1966, Hamilton acquired the Swiss manufacture Buren and closed its American operations shortly after. The Buren years saw Hamilton’s involvement in Project 99, a code name for the development of an automatic chronograph movement uniting Hamilton-Buren, Heuer, Breitling and movement specialist Dubious-Depraz. Although Zenith crossed the finish line in January 1969 with its El Primero calibre, in March 1969, Hamilton and partners followed with their Chrono-Matic/Calibre 11.
One of the peculiarities of the Chrono-Matic or Calibre 11 was the location of the pushers on the left side of the case opposite the crown. The 1970s Chrono-Matic GMT Count-Down, also known as the Chrono-Matic E, was an offshoot of the Chrono-Matic calibre and combined a chronograph with a GMT function. Although the new Chrono-Matic 50 jettisons the GMT complication, it retains the count-down function and captures the spirit of the 1970s sports watch to perfection, just like the black non-limited edition did in 2019.
Retaining the helmet-shaped case and enormity of its 1970s ancestor, the Chrono-Matic 50 is a colossal piece of hardware – nothing has changed on this side, compared to the classic black panda. Its stainless steel case has a 48.5mm diameter, a length of 51.1mm and a prodigious girth of 16.05mm. Groovy yet functional, the helmet-shaped case shields the pushers and crowns from accidental knocks and, combined with the closed caseback, ensures the 100m depth rating. The entirety of the case is radially brushed and features recessed areas to accommodate the orange pushers flanking the crown on the right and the black pusher and crown on the left side of the case.
Like the original, the case retains five crowns, but the modern H-31 chronograph movement means the crown and pushers are now on the right side; the black pusher on the left is a quick date corrector, and the second crown is for the countdown bezel.
With its eye-popping 1970s colour scheme, the Chrono-Matic 50 has a reverse panda dial with white sub-dials, a blue background and lively orange accents. A blue tachymeter scale on the sloping flange is followed by the blue and white rotating countdown bezel activated by the crown on the left case flank. A lighter blue precision minutes/seconds track leads to the darker blue dial with its two sub-dials relaying the small seconds at 9 o’clock and 30-minute elapsed times at 3 o’clock.
The short, polished hour markers and hour and minute hands are filled with luminescent material, and the central seconds hand is bright orange, matching the hands in the sub-dials and the numerals of the countdown scale. Completing the functions, there is also a round date window at 6 o’clock. The Chrono-Matic 50 is powered by the automatic calibre H-31 (based on Valjoux 7753 architecture) with an extended power reserve of 60 hours.
Matching the colour scheme of the dial, the Chrono-Matic 50 comes with a blue rally-style leather strap with perforations revealing the orange lining. The watch is a limited edition of 150 pieces and retails for CHF 2,495, EUR 2,620 and USD 2,545. More information at HamiltonWatch.com.
