History of Hamilton America: 1892–1969
The Hamilton Watch Company was established in 1892, when the Keystone Standard Watch Company was forced into bankruptcy and sold at a sheriff's sale to a group of Lancaster, Pennsylvania entrepreneurs whose "objective was to build only watches of the highest quality." During this same year, a merger took place between the newly established Lancaster based watchmaking concern and the Aurora Watch Company of Illinois. A decision was made to name the new company after James Hamilton, owner of a large tract of land which was granted to him from William Penn and included what is now the city of Lancaster. The new company would be known as The Hamilton Watch Company.
Hamilton Watch Company was housed on a 13-acre (53,000 m2) complex in Lancaster. Hamilton eventually took possession of 'Aurora's' machinery shortly after incorporation. With quality being Hamilton's primary goal, the company set out to manufacture "America’s Finest Watch." The first watch made under the Hamilton name was an 18-size 17-jewel pocket watch in 1893. Within the next six years, Hamilton had developed a reputation for creating pocket watches of the highest caliber of quality. During Hamilton's first fifteen years, only two size movements were produced — the 18-size and the smaller 16-size.
Its first series of pocket watches, the Broadway Limited, was known as the "Watch of Railroad Accuracy," and Hamilton became popular by making accurate railroad watches. Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch in 1917. This watch was designed to appeal to men entering World War I and contained the 0-sized 17-jewel 983 movement originally designed for women's pendent watches. The introduction of the 0-sized wristwatch was the start of a line of wristwatches that included some of the finest American wristwatches made. In 1928 Hamilton purchased the Illinois Watch Company for in excess of $5 Million from the heirs of Jacob Bunn and John Whitfield Bunn. Some of the most collectible early Hamilton wristwatches include: The Oval, The Tonneau, The Rectangular, The Square Enamel, The Coronado, The Piping Rock, The Spur, The Glendale, The Pinehurst, The Langley, The Byrd, The Cambridge, and The Flintridge. Many models came in solid gold and gold filled cases.
During World War II, production of consumer watches was stopped, with all watches manufactured being shipped to troops. More than one-million watches were sent overseas. The company was extremely successful in producing marine chronometers and deck watches in large numbers to fill the needs of the US Navy, and other Allied navies as well.
In 1951, Hamilton rebuffed a hostile takeover bid by the Benrus watch company. The fallout from the failed takeover action culminated in Hamilton Watch Co. v. Benrus Watch Co (206 F.2d 738, 740 (2d Cir. 1953), a Federal proceeding that is considered to be landmark in the realm of Federal anti-trust case law.
In 1957, Hamilton introduced the world's first electric watch, the Hamilton Electric 500.It was available in a variety of non-traditional asymmetrical case styles including the Ventura.
In 1962, Hamilton entered into a joint venture (60% owned by Hamilton) with the Japanese watchmaking firm Ricoh to produce electric watches meant primarily for the Japanese market. The electronic components were produced at Hamilton's Lancaster factory while production of the mechanical works and final assembly was undertaken in Japan. Although production levels of Hamilton-Ricoh watches was high (over 1000 per month), demand was low and consequently, the Hamilton-Ricoh partnership was unable to compete with the substantial market presence of Seiko. The partnership was dissolved in 1965, with the remaining Hamilton-Ricoh electronic movements (marked "Ricoh 555E") re-cased as "Vantage" and sold in the US.
Hamilton modern day: 1990s–present
The Hamilton name brand is currently owned by The Swatch Group Ltd.. Swatch Group Hamilton brand watches have grown increasingly popular. Modern Hamilton watches no longer use proprietary "in house" movements, instead using movements made by The Swatch Group's movement making subsidiary, ETA.
In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Hamilton began a marketing campaign that resulted in a comeback. Vintage designs were coming back in style and Hamilton had a large portfolio of popular designs from the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's to draw from. Playing on this resurgence, Hamilton replicated several of these original designs such as the Ardmore, Boulton, Cabot, Piping Rock, Spur, Wilshire, and the 1957 Hamilton Ventura. These reissued watches incorporate a modern Swiss made quartz movement.
In 2007, Hamilton introduced special editions of the Ventura to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the electric watch. For the US market, stainless steel quartz and automatic versions were released with a production of 1,957 each; for the Asian market, yellow and rose gold plated Ventura models were released with a total production of 1,000 each.
In 2009, Hamilton released three new Ventura models to celebrate what would have been the 75th birthday of Elvis Presley. Presley wore a Ventura in the movie Blue Hawaii. The automatic PVD version is an updated design of the Ventura.
Chinese vice president arrives at Canberra to continue his Australian trip
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived at Canberra, capital of Australia, Sunday afternoon, continuing his official visit to Australia.
During his stay in Canberra in the upcoming two days, Xi is expected to hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and meet Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce and parliament leaders. He is also scheduled to attend a business forum and meet some senior business leaders from China and Australia.
"I'm looking forward to meeting Australian leaders and friends and exchanging views on boosting bilateral relations and other issues of common concern," Xi said when he arrived at Australia a day earlier.
On Sunday morning in Melbourne, Xi visited the headquarters of Telstra, a telecom giant of Australia, attended the opening ceremony of Australia's first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and paid a trip to a farm in the outskirts of Melbourne.
On early Sunday afternoon, Xi and the Chinese delegation took a flight from Melbourne to Canberra.
Australia is the last leg of Xi's four-nation visits. Apart from Canberra, he is also scheduled to visit Darwin in Australia.
China to hold Sino-Arab economic, trade forum in September
The first Sino-Arab economic and trade forum will be held on September 26-30 in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Ningxia government said Monday.
The forum, to be held annually, will include events like meetings, commodity shows and an international halal food festival, Wang Zhengwei, chairman of the regional government, said at a press conference in Beijing.
The forum aims to promote all-round economic cooperation between China and the Arab League, said Wang.
Ningxia, the largest Muslim region in China, also hopes to attract investment from the Arab Leagues's 22 member states.
With efforts from both sides, the forum will be an important platform for all-round cooperation between China and the Arab nations, which have a common task of development, said Fu Ziying, vice commerce minister of China.
In 2009, bilateral trade between China and the Arab states hit 107.4 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 36.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2004.
Ningxia is home to 2.17 million Muslims. They make up over one third of the autonomous region's population and account for more than 10 percent of China's total muslim population of 20 million.