[mgiraz]

that Hamilton lasted longer than any other American watch company? In fact, purists believe Gruen and Bulova not to be true American watches because they imported their movements.

 

[bullosa]

that Hamilton lasted longer than any other American watch company? In fact, purists believe Gruen and Bulova not to be true American watches because they imported their movements.

Can you give us more details? I know that Hamilton now employs ETA movements and the company is owned by Swatch. Thx in advance for enlightening.

 

[mgiraz]

During Hamilton's American wristwatch years (1920's - 1969) they were known as making a very high quality watch at a fair price..Not the lowest price but fair for what you got..While the other American watch companies (Bulova, Benrus, Elgin, Gruen to name a few) cased a lot of their watches in base metal cases with SS backs and imported cheap Swiss movements.....Hamilton made their own movements with high quality standards and cased them in gold, gold filled or rolled gold cases. After 1969 all Hamiltons were made in Switzerland and was purchased by the Swatch Group (who also owns ETA) around 1998.

 

[GradyPhilpott]

This is from the Timex website.

1980s: Alone among all domestic watchmakers, only Timex survived the brutal 1970s watch industry shakeout caused by new digital watch technology and fierce price competition from the Far East.

http://tinyurl.com/3b93jm