The New Models Of The Hamilton Intra-Matic Chronograph H Are Ready To Go Racing (incl. Video)

With more than a century of watchmaking under its belt, Hamilton has more than earned its place in history. The brand has ventured into many areas of the industry, and has launched a fair share of iconic watches, such as the Ventura, Pulsar and Chrono-Matic. Military-issued and -inspired watches like the W10 and the Khaki Aviation, Khaki Field and Khaki Navy also play a big role in the brand’s past. It’s also been part of the consortium of companies that developed the famous Calibre 11. And then there’s Hollywood. Making its on-screen debut back in 1932, Hamilton has appeared in hundreds of movies, and can be seen in TV shows, video games and comic books as well. And even though these new Intra-Matic Chronograph H models are not related to anything on the Big Screen, they do look movie-star-good.

As part of the American Classic line of Hamilton’s portfolio, the Intra-Matic Chronograph series continues the brand’s legacy in perfect form. We’ve seen many stylish and fresh iterations, including dials in Light Green, Panda and Reverse Panda iterations, and stealthy black ones. This new trio taps into the Golden Age of motorsports for inspiration, the 1960s and 1970s. A time in which Hamilton has also left an indelible mark on watchmaking history with its involvement in the Calibre 11, one of the very first automatic chronograph movements.

The overall design of the case is pretty straightforward but very nicely done. At 40mm across and 14.3mm in height, you might argue that it’s a tad on the tall side, but it wears great on pretty much any wrist. The fully polished case looks quite stout and comes with plenty of charming retro details. Faceted lugs, a sloping bezel, pump-style pushers and a nicely proportioned knurled crown. It’s all very sensible, but very good! On top, there’s a domed sapphire crystal, and there’s a solid caseback on the other side.

In line with the design of the Panda and Reverse Panda options we know and love for a couple of years now, we now get vintage race-inspired colours that seem to come straight from the past: Matte Blue, Warm Brown and Hunter Green. All come with contrasting silver subdials, applied markers and hands with beige Super-LumiNova inserts and a tachymeter scale on the outer perimeter.

The hands in the subdial and for the chronograph central seconds are either black and cream, or bright orange, depending on the dial. All in all, it looks clean and legible, and packs a lot of that lovely vintage charm of the glory days of motor racing, and a historic era in chronograph watchmaking.

Speaking of which, underneath the solid caseback, there’s no derivative of the fabled Calibre 11, sadly. Instead, and this benefits reliability as well as serviceability, Hamilton opts for its Calibre H-51 hand-wound chronograph. This is based on the Valjoux 7753 architecture and is specifically developed for Hamilton by ETA. It’s wound by hand, as indicated by the ‘H’ in its name, and holds up to 60 hours of power reserve. It runs at a rate of 28,800vph, and as opposed to its automatic sibling, does not show the date.

With these three new additions to the Intra-Matic range, it becomes a bit tougher to choose a favourite. The most race-ready is the blue one, thanks to the bright orange hands. The most “vintage” is the gradient brown one, due to its red-brownish Tropic-like tones. And then there’s the gradient green, which perhaps feels the most neutral but is every bit as good as the other two.

Whichever way you go, the new Hamilton Intra-Matic Chronograph H models will deliver in style and substance. Each one comes on a perforated leather strap with a steel pin buckle and with an additional stainless steel mesh bracelet with a folding clasp. It retails for EUR 2,295 regardless of which colour you go for, which to us sounds very fair for what you get: an honest, but very good-looking racing-inspired chronograph with retro touches and reliable mechanics under the hood.

For more information, please visit HamiltonWatch.com.