An icon remembered
Hamilton celebrates the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth with two special Ventura models
Hamilton is celebrating cultural icon, Elvis Presley, with two special models of the iconic Ventura watch, to mark what would have been the ‘King’s’ 75th birthday in 2010. The distinctive, shield-shaped timepiece, worn by Elvis in the 1961 movie ‘Blue Hawaii’, comes in two new interpretations – a replica of the original 1950‘s model and a XXL version. The Ventura Elvis Anniversary Collection promises to contribute a new chapter to two legends.
THE GOLDEN HISTORY OF THE VENTURA
Back in the 1950s a dedicated Hamilton team spent ten years making their dream of an electrical, battery-powered, watch come true. The launch press conference for Ventura, in New York’s Savoy Plaza Hotel on January 3, 1957, was a massive and flamboyant occasion. During the days that followed over 500 press articles flooded the US media. The groundbreaking technology and the stunning design of Richard Arbib caught the imagination of journalists and consumers alike and nearly 12,000 pieces of the original Ventura were sold. Its perfectly engineered movement could run for a minimum of one year on an Energizer the size of a tiny shirt button, using unimaginably small amounts of battery power. The world’s first electric watch also introduced a new simplicity as it contained one third fewer parts that automatic equivalents and eliminated the need for a winding mechanism or mainspring. The Ventura heralded a new era of technology and efficiency that has lived on to become a legend with a future.
COLLECTION
Ventura XXL Elvis Anniversary Collection
Having started its life as a pioneer, the Hamilton Ventura continues to make a bold statement over half a century later in the form of a limited XXL edition. This special timepiece integrates touches of the unexpected to give its classic inspiration a futuristic and rocky feel. The familiar shield shape of the gunmetal colored case gets a distinctively contemporary look through smoothed surfaces and XXL dimensions. The angular crown is integrated into the case
Fact Box
Material : Stainless steel PVD gunmetal
Dial Color : Black
Attachments : Black rubber
Movement : Automatic 2824-2
Crystal : Sapphire
Water resistance : 50 m
Ventura Elvis Anniversary Collection
The Ventura Quartz is a faithful tribute to the original 1957 model, which made watch-making history as the world’s first electrical, battery powered watch. Design detail of the case of the new model mirrors that of its 1950s ancestors and today comes in either stainless steel or a yellow gold PVD finish. A black dial also reminds of the 1950s Ventura timepieces, complete with digit markings all culminating in an embossed rounded point like the surrounds of the iconic wall-clocks of the era. These nostalgic looks enclose a modern Swiss quartz movement to ensure precision timekeeping for the 21st century.
The choice of attachment for the Ventura Quartz, with the possibility of a metallic flex bracelet or a bi-color leather strap in black paired with silver or gold color, has its own story to tell. The watch originally purchased by Elvis would have had a leather strap and archive material reveals that, at his special wish, the jeweller exchanged this for a metal bracelet to satisfy his celebrity customer.
Fact Box
Material : Stainless steel / yellow gold PVD
Dial Color : Black
Attachments : Two tones leather black and gold or black and silver / flex steel
Movement : Quartz 956.102
Crystal : Sapphire
Water resistance : 50 m
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