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Lip in France in close collaboration with the Elgin company in the USA were the first to publicly present a battery driven watch, however the first to develop a sellable electric wristwatch was Hamilton in Lancaster USA. They launched their electric wristwatch the 03.01.1957 after several years of development.
One of the main difficulties in developing the electric calibre was to find a battery suitable for powering the movement of a wristwatch, a problem which will haunt all electric and electronic wrist watch developments until the 1970s. Hamilton found the solution with the help of the National Carbon Company (now Energizer) which developed a specific battery (1).
At Hamilton, the study of a mechanical watch powered by a battery began in 1946 under the guidance of George Luckey, head of research and development. The appearance of miniature batteries opened up new perspectives in many fields in terms of miniaturisation (1).
The development based on ideas by Philip E. Biemiller and James H. Reese progressed under the name ‘Project X’. A team led by John Van Horn was formed to design a wristwatch with a battery that would last at least one year. Hamilton developed its electric calibre by manufacturing all the components in-house. At that time, the company machined all the parts of its watches – movement, dial, hands, indexes, etc. – except for the cases and the batteries (1).
Initially two movement systems were designed: one using electro magnets (EM-1) and one using permanent magnets (PM-1). Whereas the Lip and Elgin system worked with a fixed coil and of course an oscillating balance, Hamilton decided to integrate the coil into the balance wheel. Finally, due to better electrical efficiency the PM-1 system was privileged over the EM-1 and the first Model 1 (proof of principle) went through several stages until the development of Model 2 in 1953 (2).
This Model 2 was a functional prototype of which 23 were made and given to senior executives to be test – worn. This version shows several differences compared to the later commercialised caliber 500. Apart of the distinctive red lightning on the dial, it has an epoxy resin balance, large flat magnets and a primitive contact system. Despite the quite good performance the contacts were temperamental and the epoxy resin balance were very sensitive to humidity variations (2). Picture credit (3)
The next prototype phase would be the primitive caliber 500 with 17 jewels (5 more than the final product). One example of this functional prototype is shown below.
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Hamilton, Van Horn, Cal.: 500, Prototype, 1956
Category: functional prototype
Description: Gilt brass cased prototype. Screwed, gilt brass case back company info stamped on the inside and company logo and instructions ‘do not open’ on the outside. Brass movement retaining ring with recess for the battery. White copper dial gilt, raised, triangular 5 – minute indexes, gilt, round minute marks and a raised, gilt Arabic ’12’. ‘Hamilton’ printed in black underneath ’12’. Silvered, raised, triangular hour indexes. Gilt, ‘alpha’ hands. Pictures credit (4)
Dimensions: 35mm, lug – lug: 43mm, lug width: 18mm
Movement: Hamilton cal.: 500 prototype, #349L
Additional info: This is one of about 160 functional prototypes given to general employees to test – wear. Employees were given strict instructions not to open the watch, as evidenced by the engraving on the case back. About 43% of the watches failed within the first month, and the indexing system was re-designed. The index mechanism does not advance the hands consistently, which was the major problem of this design. This prototype survived in complete condition and even retains its original strap and buckle (4).
The Van Horn model was one of the original two watch models introduced the 03.01.1957, when Hamilton announced the first battery powered watch to the world. It was named after John Van Horn, the director of Research and Development for Hamilton, who spearheaded the electric watch project (4).
Provenence: Ex René Rondeau collection
Published: Rondeau R.; The Watch Of The Future, 2006; Pages 41 – 43
Ref.:
- Watchonista, through Clinique Horlogère
- Electric Watches
- Rondeau R.: The Watch Of The Future, 2006
- Unwind in Time
Electric Watch Prototypes 