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Here's your Weekly Roundup!
The time is now (pun intended) to pick your one-of-a-kind Vortic Watch. Our team has been working hard to provide you with a variety of unique timepieces. Take a look, there's something for everyone!
Click the images of the watches to learn more about them. Make sure to check the website at 12 PM Mountain Time for the Watch of the Day! They tend to sell quickly.
Today we bring you this gorgeous watch from the Hamilton Watch Company, our very own Lancaster 114. The soft feel of the case is the first thing that draws us in, taking time to focus on the finer details of this wonderfully aged dial. We love the look of these gold-colored numerals that have worn down slightly with age and decided to pair our gold-plated crown and hardware to bring attention to them. These spade hands are absolutely stunning and contrast the soft look of the dial nicely.
The movement inside of this watch is one of our favorites to work with, the 912 grade from Hamilton. These distinctive Geneva lines that have been machined across the different build plates are something we really enjoy about these movements, as well as the spiral patterns on the mainspring barrel and crown wheel. 17 screw-set jewels and stainless steel hardware throughout add to the visual appeal of the beautiful watch. Originally produced in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1924, this watch proves itself time and time again over the course of its life and continues to impress us to this day.
The Hamilton Watch Company was named after James Hamilton who was the son of Andrew Hamilton. Hamilton was a Scottish-born attorney who had originally laid out and founded Lancaster County. He was also the original owner of the property that the company owned and operated on.
We are happy to present this incredibly special timepiece from the Illinois Watch Company, our Springfield 447. This stunning watch grabs your attention immediately and draws you in to take a closer look at the amazing details of this dial. It always amazes us to find such intricate design work and craftsmanship from these watches that were made almost 100 years ago. The gold colors of the center of the dial sit perfectly inside of our bronzed-titanium case, accented beautifully with our gold-plated crown and hardware. Our stout strap completes the look and we couldn’t be happier with how this one turned out.
As we turn the watch over and reveal the movement within, we are yet again blown away by the quality and visual appearance of this watch. The Criterion was another one-off run of the 406-grade watches that Illinois produced at this time, with only 700 watches being made in this particular run of 19 jewel movements. They didn’t hold back at all when completing this run, with gold-plated gears, brass balance wheel, and brass hardware all throughout. The copper inlaid text adds to the precious metal that completes the visual appeal of this beautiful watch.
Originally manufactured in Springfield, Illinois in 1926, which is also the same year that the United States numbered highway system was established. US Route 20 is the longest highway in the United States, traversing a total of 3,365 miles from Oregon to Massachusetts. The original highway ended at Yellowstone park and was not intended to go from coast to coast, however, it was extended in 1940.
We are incredibly excited to bring you this stunning watch from the Elgin National Watch Company, our Chicago 444. We are always surprised by how popular this style of watch is for our lineup, and get excited when we find a bright white dial with large, bold numerals. The clean and elegant look of this watch continues to prove itself timeless, and will always stand out and gather attention. We went with our machined titanium case and nickel-plated crown to continue the modern feel and finished it off with our black cordovan strap and nickel-plated hardware throughout.
\As we turn this watch over we are immediately drawn to the gold-plated gears that shine through beneath this ¾ bridge plate. Additional gear patterns machined onto the crown wheel and mainspring barrel add more visual interest as they slowly turn. Adorned by 17 screw-set jewels and controlled by this Moseley regulator, this watch continues to provide accurate timekeeping almost 100 years later.
The Elgin National Watch Company made more pocket watches than any other American watchmaker, creating more than 60 million watches in their 100-year reign. This watch was originally manufactured in Elgin, Illinois in 1924, with this particular production run of approximately 28,200 watches.
We are excited to bring this amazing watch to our lineup, originally manufactured by the Waltham Watch Company, this is our Boston 408. Immediately we are attracted to the perfectly clean appearance of this beautiful dial, uniquely designed to feature the minute indicators around the outside of the hours in red. These very fine spade-style hands do a nice job of not detracting from the appearance and keep in line with the very simple and elegant feel. We decided to place this watch in our bronzed titanium case to give it a luxurious feel, topped off with our copper crown and oxblood cordovan strap.
We love the visual movement all throughout this movement, with this amazing damaskeening pattern that has been carefully machined onto the different layers of build plates. 17 jewels are screw-set into raised settings, spread out to help the different gears move smoothly and keep everything on track nicely. Gold-plated gears and a brass balance wheel bring a subtle touch of precious metal to give a visual balance of different elements to this stunning timepiece.
This watch was originally manufactured in Waltham, Massachusetts all the way back in 1908. This year also marks the official launch of Ford’s Model T automobile. The very first one to leave the assembly line happened on September 27, with an initial retail price of only $850 US dollars.
We proudly present this gorgeous watch from the Hamilton Watch Company out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, our Lancaster 112. This watch was originally manufactured in 1923 in a small batch of just over 260,000 pieces. The dials in these batches always vary, and this one, in particular, is something that we don’t see often. We absolutely love the fine details of the bouquet of flowers displayed in the center. The off-white tone of the dial lets the bold numerals stand out nicely, sitting perfectly in this machined titanium case. The maroon teardrop hands bring a lot of character to the appearance of this watch, paired with this merlot strap that completes the look.
As we turn the watch over, we are immediately captivated by the machined Geneva lines that take over the entire build plate surface. We see these gold-plated gears hiding beneath this large ¾ build plate and love the way they catch our attention. The crown-wheel and mainspring barrel have been wonderfully machined with a spiral pattern that stands out against the rest of the build design and matches the glimmer of the stainless steel hardware that holds everything in place.
During the time when this watch was made, Hamilton was building its brand as being known for adventure, placing a lot of advertisements in National Geographic magazines, and trying to portray the watch campaigns around explorers and exciting professions. They began transitioning their demographic from the railroad customers around 1908 and were doing their best to breach the high-profile luxury-seeking customer base.