It is something of a disappointment, but it's better than the fates of many other American watches.
Hamilton, at least, bears a resemblance to it's former self and has not been relegated to the bling and novelty departments(or worse) like
Elgin,
Benrus,
Waltham, and
Gruen.
"Post note; currently, some companies are using the names of a classic (defunct) watch companies like Elgin, Benrus, Waltham, and Gruen to market new watches. They sometimes purchase the rights to the brand names, and other times they simply use the brand names of companies where the trademark has expired. These watches may hold the name, and are sonetimes styled exact replica's [sic] of the original, but should not be confused with an orignal "vintage" watch. The watches are very different from the originals. Internally they use mostly quarz [sic] (battery) movements, instead of a mechanical one, and may not have the same quality or essence as the original. Please understand that I am not recommending against the purchase of these watches, only stating that the buyer should understand the difference."
http://thewatchguy.homestead.com/pages/elgin.html
Things could have turned out a lot worse for Hamilton.
Actually,
Timex is the only American watch company to survive the Japanese quartz blitz intact.
