Watch Description
The Lancaster 097 is the 97th one-of-a-kind piece in Vortic's "Lancaster" line of the American Artisan Series. This watch contains the original movement (timepiece), dial (face), and hands from a vintage (1880’s – 1950’s) pocket watch. The American Artisan Series is a line of fully American Made wristwatches powered by restored, U.S. made pocket watch movements.
What makes the Lancaster 097 Unique: We are absolutely elated to present today the stunning Lancaster 097. This watch was originally manufactured by the Hamilton Watch Company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and truly lives up to its name, The Masterpiece. The dial of this watch is absolutely impeccable, with this very clean face and crisp gold-colored numerals. Of course, we had to pair our gold-plated crown and hardware to match these lovely gold hands as well. The soft look and feel of the sandblasted titanium case let the rest of the spectacular elements of this watch truly stand out. This top-of-the-line Masterpiece from Hamilton is truly a head-turner that begs to be shown off. This watch boasts 23 jewels, both screw set as well as friction set, to power this movement to perfection. The Masterpiece movement is one of the rarest and most valuable pocket watch movements any American pocket watch company produced, hence the name. This Masterpiece has a very unique bridge design that sets it apart from other Hamilton watches, with finger bridges over the escapement wheels and a delicately machined spiral pattern all across the entire build plate. The rose-gold gears beneath show through easily and add to the flare of this especially beautiful timepiece. There were only 2,000 Masterpiece movements and we've only made a handful of watches with this movement, one of which is worn daily by one of our co-founders. This watch was first produced in 1929, the same year that the very first color television was introduced. H. E. Ives and colleagues held a public demonstration at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York, with the very first images being a bouquet of roses and an American flag.
1929
3012046
Movement Manufacturer Information
The movement inside of this watch was made by Hamilton Watch Company. We call this model "The Lancaster" because the company was located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Hamilton is named after famous Pennsylvanian Alexander Hamilton and is the result of multiple re-organizations of attempted watch companies in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1892, Hamilton had a reputation for superior quality and maintained half of the railroad watch market share during some of the most prolific years of American railroad history. During World War II, Hamilton was integral to the production of accurate timepieces for the Military. Deemed "the watch that won the war," the company established an employee-run newsletter so that employees turned soldiers could keep up with life at the factory. While the original factory still stands as luxury apartments, the company stopped producing watches in the US in 1969. Hamilton now produces watches in Switzerland and is owned by the Swatch Group.
Legal Disclaimer: All product and company names, logos, brands, and other trademarks featured or referred to within Vortic's products and services are the property of their respective intellectual property rights holders, if any. Those intellectual property rights holders, other than Vortic, LLC, are not affiliated with Vortic, LLC, our products, or our website. They do not sponsor or endorse our materials.
Watch Specifications
- Manufacturer: Vortic Watch Company
- Model Year: 2021
- Warranty: Full 1-Year Warranty
- Case Dimensions:
- Diameter: 47mm
- Thickness: 12mm
- Lug to Lug: 55mm
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Case Material: Sandblasted Titanium
- Crown/Hardware: Gold Plated
- Water Resistance: 1 ATM
- Crystals: Sapphire
- Case Back: Stainless Steel
- Strap: Leather
Movement
- Manufacturer: Hamilton Watch Company
- Serial Number:
- Manufacture Year:
- Function: Manual Wind
- Jewels: 23 Jewels
- Hands: Original
- Size: 12s
- Power Reserve: ~36 Hours
The Lancaster 097 is the 97th one-of-a-kind piece in Vortic's "Lancaster" line of the American Artisan Series. This watch contains the original movement (timepiece), dial (face), and hands from a vintage (1880’s – 1950’s) pocket watch. The American Artisan Series is a line of fully American Made wristwatches powered by restored, U.S. made pocket watch movements.
What makes the Lancaster 097 Unique: We are absolutely elated to present today the stunning Lancaster 097. This watch was originally manufactured by the Hamilton Watch Company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and truly lives up to its name, The Masterpiece. The dial of this watch is absolutely impeccable, with this very clean face and crisp gold-colored numerals. Of course, we had to pair our gold-plated crown and hardware to match these lovely gold hands as well. The soft look and feel of the sandblasted titanium case let the rest of the spectacular elements of this watch truly stand out. This top-of-the-line Masterpiece from Hamilton is truly a head-turner that begs to be shown off. This watch boasts 23 jewels, both screw set as well as friction set, to power this movement to perfection. The Masterpiece movement is one of the rarest and most valuable pocket watch movements any American pocket watch company produced, hence the name. This Masterpiece has a very unique bridge design that sets it apart from other Hamilton watches, with finger bridges over the escapement wheels and a delicately machined spiral pattern all across the entire build plate. The rose-gold gears beneath show through easily and add to the flare of this especially beautiful timepiece. There were only 2,000 Masterpiece movements and we've only made a handful of watches with this movement, one of which is worn daily by one of our co-founders. This watch was first produced in 1929, the same year that the very first color television was introduced. H. E. Ives and colleagues held a public demonstration at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York, with the very first images being a bouquet of roses and an American flag.
1929
3012046
Let customers speak for us
The Movement
The engine that powers this watch is an antique American pocket watch movement. All the gears and springs that make it tell time are roughly 100 years old on average. We call these watches the American Artisan Series because we're celebrating the history and legacy of the artisan watchmakers who built this engineering marvel a century ago in the United States.
The Story
Today most pocket watches are scrapped for the gold or silver of the case (the outside of the antique timepiece), leaving the inside (what we call the "movement") as trash.
We take pride in upcycling these pieces of American history by salvaging as many as we can, then preserving them inside our wristwatches.
Our expert team of watchmakers restores the antique movement and then we manufacture a custom wristwatch case here in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The Strap
We partnered with Worn & Wound to produce a custom set of straps for our American Artisan Series watches. We now have 15 different colors to choose from including our two Horween Shell Cordovan options. These straps are made in the USA and are based on the Windup Model 2 Premium strap that Worn and Wound offers.
