The Hamilton Ventura not just concerns the brand but also forms an important part of the American watch-making history. A very special model to say the least, it’s unconventional, striking and iconic – perhaps the most among all wrist watches ever designed in the US! Else, it wouldn’t have been able to be around since 1957.

The Hamilton Ventura has shown its face in the Hollywood move MIB (Men in Black), so that’s another reason why you should own it. It also makes the Hamilton Ventura a period-style watch – futuristic, exotic, spacey, shield-y – and it has been so for the last 50 years! However, the Hamilton American Classics Ventura Automatic H24515551 is funny in the sense it got engineered backwards i.e. this mechanical version was built later than the electronic (not quartz) version! Now, even that’s quite a good amount of exoticness.

This 50th anniversary Hamilton Ventura Chrono a skeletonised – though partially - face through which the ETA 2824-2 automatic movement shows, bringing quite a good bit of a retro, space-age theme. The shape has stayed the same but it’s a matter of personal taste whether you like this consistency or not. So you hate it or you love it; you can’t stay indifferent and that’s for sure.

All that said, now when it comes to Swiss watches, everyone is interested about the movement. Here, it’s the ETA 2824-2 - the 25-jewels, 28,800 bph/8bps/4Hz movement that’s more accurate than standard Japanese movements, which are usually a hertz lower and hence, beat slower than the ETA. This affects the accuracy and the ETA is way more accurate.

There’s also a crowd who would be interested in the aesthetics of the calibre the Ventura is running on, so here’s a couple of notes for them. The ETA 2824-2 comes with gold plating and a very high grade of polish on its mechanics. It’s best visible through open heart designs; here, you just get a glimpse of it through the exterior surfaces.

What about the jewels then? The ETA 2824-2 consists of synthetic rubies, a total of 25 of them and more than efficient in reducing friction at the pivotal parts but that goes without saying. On an average, you can’t expect more than 17 but well, the extra ones are not mere bling but have their own utility.

The Hamilton Automatic can store 40 hours of power within when the mainspring is fully wound, which one might call slightly lower, given some of the Jap automatics go up by a few hours more. But you got to choose between accuracy and power reserve if you want this ETA; however, using ball-bearings for the rotor to move, it wins way faster than any other self-winding movement. So, less wrist time than the Japs! An excellent shock resistance comes from the Incabloc technology, which allows the jewels to float up in case of sudden, intense impacts. Levitation on your wrist, what say?