Watch Description
What makes the Lancaster 103 unique:
The Lancaster 103 brings a quietly poetic energy to the American Artisan Series, pairing refined elegance with celestial inspiration. Its silver-toned dial features a soft, brushed surface that reflects light like moonlight on water—enhanced by the sharp taper of black, slightly pointed numerals and a clean railroad-style minute track. A recessed sub-seconds dial at 6 o’clock adds crisp functionality with a concentric-circle texture that mirrors the engraving on the movement. Hovering above the dial, a pair of heat-blued moon-style hands complete the composition, reinforcing the lunar motif with their sweeping arcs and slender taper.
Inside, this timepiece houses a 23-jewel Hamilton movement from 1929. The mechanical beauty of this piece reveals itself on the reverse, where elegant Geneva stripes meet rose-toned gears and polished screws. The bridges are decorated with delicate concentric ring engraving, offering a harmonious counterpoint to the circular geometry found on the dial side. Every element of the movement feels deliberate and balanced—engineered to endure and designed to inspire.
The case is crafted from sandblasted titanium, giving it a cool, matte texture that complements the watch’s moonlit palette. It features our signature angled bezel, also sandblasted, for a clean, architectural silhouette. The vertically grooved crown in machined steel adds a final note of industrial strength. Paired with a rich ebony-toned American-made leather strap, the overall look is minimalist yet bold—perfect for those who appreciate timeless design with subtle storytelling.
In 1929, the same year this Hamilton movement was produced, the American stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression. But even in that time of economic uncertainty, Hamilton Watch Company continued to produce high-grade timepieces—many destined for use in railroad, aviation, and military applications. This watch reminds us of that perseverance and the enduring value of American manufacturing.
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.
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Watch Specifications
- Manufacturer: Vortic Watch Company
- Model Year: 2025
- Warranty: Full 1-Year Warranty
- Case Dimensions:
- Diameter: 45mm
- Thickness: 12mm
- Lug to Lug: 50mm
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Case Material: Sandblasted Titanium
- Crown/Hardware: Titanium
- Water Resistance: 1 ATM
- Crystals: Sapphire
- Case Back: Stainless Steel
- Strap: Leather
Movement
- Manufacturer: Hamilton Watch Company
- Serial Number: 3011744
- Manufacture Year: 1929
- Function: Manual Wind
- Jewels: 23 Jewels
- Hands: Original
- Size: 12s
- Power Reserve: ~36 Hours
What makes the Lancaster 103 unique:
The Lancaster 103 brings a quietly poetic energy to the American Artisan Series, pairing refined elegance with celestial inspiration. Its silver-toned dial features a soft, brushed surface that reflects light like moonlight on water—enhanced by the sharp taper of black, slightly pointed numerals and a clean railroad-style minute track. A recessed sub-seconds dial at 6 o’clock adds crisp functionality with a concentric-circle texture that mirrors the engraving on the movement. Hovering above the dial, a pair of heat-blued moon-style hands complete the composition, reinforcing the lunar motif with their sweeping arcs and slender taper.
Inside, this timepiece houses a 23-jewel Hamilton movement from 1929. The mechanical beauty of this piece reveals itself on the reverse, where elegant Geneva stripes meet rose-toned gears and polished screws. The bridges are decorated with delicate concentric ring engraving, offering a harmonious counterpoint to the circular geometry found on the dial side. Every element of the movement feels deliberate and balanced—engineered to endure and designed to inspire.
The case is crafted from sandblasted titanium, giving it a cool, matte texture that complements the watch’s moonlit palette. It features our signature angled bezel, also sandblasted, for a clean, architectural silhouette. The vertically grooved crown in machined steel adds a final note of industrial strength. Paired with a rich ebony-toned American-made leather strap, the overall look is minimalist yet bold—perfect for those who appreciate timeless design with subtle storytelling.
In 1929, the same year this Hamilton movement was produced, the American stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression. But even in that time of economic uncertainty, Hamilton Watch Company continued to produce high-grade timepieces—many destined for use in railroad, aviation, and military applications. This watch reminds us of that perseverance and the enduring value of American manufacturing.
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.
