[Rusty]

Swatch Group owns Hamilton. . . Swatch Group owns ETA/Valjoux. . . Hamilton watches come with ETA and Valjoux movements. . . would you be as interested in Hamilton if the watches did not have ETA/Valjoux movements?

 

[mgiraz]

Well I've had 2 SW200...One I kept the watch and swapped it out with am ETA 2824-2...The other I just sent the watch back. So the answer would be..... maybe. But I would not be with the "Hamilton Crazies" as we are sometimes referred to over here. The ETA movement is an additional testamony for the quality of the pieces.

 

[Tom Barry]

Probably not. One reason is that ETA still makes two hand-wound movements specifically for pocket watches and it would please me mightily if they re-created some of the old Hamilton pocket watches, especially if they used stainless steel rather than rhodium or gold-plated brass for the cases.

 

[Knight Watchman]

I now own two Hamiltons without ETA movements in them, and I am very interested in them!

 

[Rusty]

Eric,

That watch looks brand spankin' new. Oh, and btw, I am not certain ETA existed when your watch was born. . .

 

[BlueHawaii]

I'm just glad that the Hamilton name wasn't bought by a Japanese company and shipped over to Asia. I have both a Seiko and a Citizen auto, and while they work fine the attention to detail just is not there. Fit and finish on Hamiltons is fantastic for the price.

 

[jas32]

If it used a different Swiss movement, I think I would still buy it. If it came with a Seiko/Miyota movement, probably not. I feel that having a Swiss movement is one major thing that makes a Hamilton a great value watch. Their consistent great quality is another major thing I like about Hammys.

 

[pelikan3]

I am a great fan of the history of Hamilton as the first, best, American watch company. As with fountain pen companies such as Parker and Waterman, which are both owned and operated overseas, I see Hamilton as more of an expatriate American company than part of a Swiss conglomerate ("An American in Switzerland", if you will).

If Hamilton was still made in the U.S. and still manufacturing their own movements, I would still be very interested. If Hamilton made their own in-house movements NOW, I would still be interested. If Hamilton utilized another, well thought of supplier to the Swiss watch market, I would still be interested.

Though I do own Seiko (I have a Kinetic and a Seiko 5 Automatic), and know that that are very well made products and that their high end (Spring Drive and other luxury automatics) certainly compete in quality with some of the best Swiss watches, I still share many peoples prejudice against Japanese (and pretty much anybody else's ) movements, as being inferior to Swiss. So, if Hamilton, like Invicta, used Myota or any other non-swiss movements, I would lose interest (certainly in any watches made with those movements), even if they had a reputation for being good.

I like ETA movements. They are well made, reliable and in just about any Swiss watch from $50 (on eBay at least) to several thousand dollars. Interestingly enough, the ETA 2842 automatic movement, which is one of the more commonly used movements in mid to higher-end watches, is in the Swatch automatics. Interestingly enough, however, if you hang on timezone.com, you will notice a considerable bias against ETA as a mass-producer of movements. But, these are also people who wear $1000 "beater watches" to change their oil, wear their Pateks to the gym, and make posts like this one: http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=msg&th=941184&start=0&rid=26691 (had to save it when I saw it).

 

[eddiea]

Ahhh

Swatch Group owns Hamilton. . . Swatch Group owns ETA/Valjoux. . . Hamilton watches come with ETA and Valjoux movements. . . would you be as interested in Hamilton if the watches did not have ETA/Valjoux movements?

I will love to see them being made in our good old USA ...once again:thumbup:
ETA/Swatch is second best...good but. second best IMHO