Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New, Futuristic Hamilton Ventura Edge Skeleton
Hamilton's edgy, futuristic model just got a whole lot edgier.
Most of us associate Hamilton with robust military field watches employed by the US Army during WWII and their successful second lease of life in the Khaki collections. One of the quirkier models to emerge from Hamilton’s American era was the Ventura, the world’s first publicly available battery-powered watch, with a crazy, futuristic, asymmetrical case that received an enormous boost thanks to its cameo on Elvis Presley’s wrist in Blue Hawaii. As edgy as they come, the latest Ventura Edge Skeleton amplifies the angles of the case and reveals parts of its movement thanks to the skeletonised dial.
For a short window in watch history, battery-powered watches that did not need winding were the next best thing to sliced bread. Hamilton’s 1957 Ventura captured the high-tech mood of the mechanics with a radical, boomerang-shaped design by Richard Arbib, the American designer for General Motors and others. Although inaccuracy and battery drain plagued the first models, the Ventura bounced back into the limelight in 1997 with a quartz engine in the blockbuster Men in Black. Now available with quartz and automatic movements, including the sturdy Swatch Group Powermatic 80, aka H-10, the Ventura’s edgy looks never cease to amaze.
The Ventura Edge Skeleton is not for the faint of heart. With its 51mm x 47mm steel case and a thickness of 13.8mm, this 50m water-resistant watch is going to get noticed. Available in sandblasted steel or black PVD-coated sandblasted steel cases, the signature stepped profile has been replaced with bold, geometric surfaces. More spaceship than boomerang, the juxtaposition of triangles and sharply delineated shapes gives the watch a very edgy personality.
The openworked dial is protected by a gradient sapphire crystal that transitions from dark to smoky transparency. Highlighting the angular case, the hexagonal sapphire crystal is box-shaped, rising prominently above the bezel. Beneath the dark skeletonised bridges, which also replicate the angular case, components of the H-10-S automatic movement can be seen. Surrounding the round, brushed and skeletonised brass mainplate, the mineral crystal lower plate is decorated with an intriguing, hammered finish. With no indices to mark the hours, the skeletonised hour and minute hands are treated with Super-LumiNova filaments, and the central seconds hand has a red tip.
The sapphire crystal on the reverse exposes the incombustible H-10-S (aka ETA C07.611 or Powermatic 80) skeletonised automatic movement with an 80-hour power reserve, a frequency of 21,600vph and a Nivachron balance spring. While the finishings are obviously industrial, the partially openworked rotor features the brand’s logo.
The Ventura Edge Skeleton is paired with a black rubber strap and a pin buckle, featuring a lug width of 23mm. The black PVD version retails for CHF 1,675 or EUR 1,995, while the steel version retails for CHF 1,575 or EUR 1,895. More information at hamiltonwatch.com.
