Six watches in 30 and 34 mm, in plain steel, engraved steel or gold PVD, draw on the 1926 Cushion models and introduce the H-42, a hand-wound calibre.
Hamilton was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and is now part of the Swatch Group. Some of its first wristwatches, around 1919, already had a cushion case, a square shape with rounded corners and sides that was used in many Art Deco designs of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1926 the brand launched two models with that case: the Cushion Plain, with a smooth case, and the Cushion Engraved, with an engraved one.
La colección Hamilton American Classic Cushion, que la marca presentó a principios de octubre, se basa en esos dos modelos, y Hamilton la relaciona con el interés creciente por los relojes vintage y por las medidas más pequeñas. Monochrome y Gear Patrol señalan además que toma como referencia el Hamilton de caja cojín de los años treinta que lleva Cillian Murphy en Oppenheimer, la película de 2023.
Technical Specs
| 30 mm references | H36109710 (steel, enamel-style white dial with Roman numerals), H36109720 (steel, sandblasted beige dial) and H36119520 (gold PVD, sandblasted beige dial) |
| 34 mm references | H36129730 (steel, black dial), H36139520 (gold PVD, beige dial) and H36149710 (engraved steel, silver sunray dial) |
| Case | Plain or engraved stainless steel, or steel with yellow-gold-colour PVD; 30 × 30 mm or 34 × 34 mm; 8.1 mm thick; 34 or 38 mm lug to lug; 16 or 18 mm lug width |
| Crystal and back | Sapphire with anti-reflective coating; display caseback |
| Water resistance | 5 bar (50 m) |
| Dial and hands | Small seconds at 6 o'clock; Super-LumiNova on the numerals and on the hour and minute hands; glossy black lacquered hands |
| Caliber | Calibre H-42, hand-wound, based on the ETA 7001; 3 Hz (21,600 vph); Nivachron balance spring; 57-hour power reserve |
| Strap | Black or brown cowhide leather, Easy Click quick-release spring bars and pin buckle |
| Price | USD 995 in plain or engraved steel and USD 1,095 in gold PVD |
| Availability | Permanent collection; listed as available soon in the United States |
Six versions, two sizes
The lugs are short and barely extend past the outline of the case, so measured lug to lug the watch is only four millimetres longer than it is wide. The dial follows the same outline as the case, as it did on the Cushion models of the mid-1920s.
On five of the six versions the numerals are square-cut Arabic, and a railroad minute track sits along the edge of the dial: the minute scale is drawn between two parallel lines, with the divisions laid out like the sleepers of a railway track. The hour and minute hands are cathedral-style, with an openwork outline reminiscent of a Gothic church window.
The only version with Roman numerals is the 30 mm with an enamel-style white dial. The plain steel models have a sandblasted beige dial or a black one; the gold PVD models pair the beige dial with a brown strap, and the engraved steel model has a silver sunray dial, with fine lines radiating from the centre.
The H-42 calibre
The H-42 is based on the ETA 7001, a hand-wound calibre descended from the Peseux 7001, introduced in the 1970s. According to Hamilton, the slim profile of that calibre allowed it to make 30 and 34 mm watches.
The brand kept the architecture of the 7001 and changed two things. The balance spring, the fine coil that regulates the watch together with the balance wheel, is a Nivachron spring, made of an alloy that, Hamilton says, resists magnetic fields and temperature changes better than a conventional one. The power reserve, a little over 40 hours on the 7001, reaches 57 on the H-42. As a hand-wound calibre it has no rotor, and the display caseback shows the whole movement.
Pricing and boutiques in Mexico and Spain
Hamilton's official Mexican site sells the collection online, VAT included: the plain steel versions cost MXN 22,890 and the gold PVD versions MXN 25,490, with no difference between the two sizes. Each product page also links to a finder for authorised retailers. In Spain, the brand's site lists EUR 995 for the plain and engraved steel versions and EUR 1,095 for the gold ones.
The engraved 34 mm case
The engraved steel version is the one that revisits the 1926 Cushion Engraved, with Art Deco motifs engraved across the whole case. Hamilton prices it the same as the plain steel models, and gold PVD adds USD 100 in either size.
With it, the collection covers both 1926 models: the Cushion Plain in the five plain-case versions and the Cushion Engraved in the engraved one, all fitted with the H-42.
