It may be an unorthodox choice for many, but the one watch I’d never sell is my trusty Hamilton Ventura.
Hamilton Ventura - Credit Guest Author
I’ve been on a bit of an interesting journey of collecting watches over the years - my first was a white dial and brown strap square dial Lorus I had bought as a birthday present absolutely yonks ago, and it’s one watch I don’t own any more, ashamedly. Since then, it’s been a couple of Skagen fashion watches, a couple of Citizen Eco Drives, and then into some bigger, perhaps more left-field choices from the likes of Rado and Hamilton.
The Ventura is probably my first encounter with the whole ‘love at first sight’ principle. I went into an Ernest Jones outlet in November 2021, on the hunt for a Christmas present for my mum - she ended up getting a lovely set of Chamilia x Disney charms on a bracelet at a ridiculous discount for those interested. During that visit, I got distracted by the watch that the store manager was wearing. It was this oddly shaped triangular watch that looked sublime on his wrist, and a watch I swore I had seen somewhere before. I immediately fell for the Ventura that day, and ended up staring at the manager’s wrist as he put the charms into a small bag.
Hamilton Ventura - Credit Guest Author
A conversation ensued, and he told me what the watch was, and I said I loved it. A few weeks later, and Christmas rolls around. It’s always been a somewhat big occasion for our family, given there are only a handful of gifts under the tree. That year, the ‘big’ gift I got was the hallowed Ventura. With previous watches I’d gotten by that point I hadn’t worn them frequently, but with the Ventura, I took my Mum’s advice to wear it every day I could. It’s the only watch I wore throughout my three years at university; it’s the watch I wore when I graduated university back in July 2023. Since getting it a couple of years ago, it’s always either been on my wrist, or sat on my bedside table waiting to be worn on any given day.
Its smaller 32.3mm case size andtriangular shape makes it quite an odd choice compared to more conventional shapes and sizes, but it’s because of the strange nature of the Ventura that I was drawn to it in the first place. It’s a watch that Hamilton first launched in 1957, and its left-field design speaks of the space-age Mid Century design language that engulfed American products from the mid-1950s onwards. The Ventura’s design was a product of its time, but it remains endlessly cool today, in the same way that the first-gen Ford Thunderbird does. Add in a connection to Elvis Presley with the Ventura spotted on his wrist during his 1961 classic film Blue Hawaii and the Ventura somehow becomes even cooler.
Hamilton Ventura - Credit Guest Author
As well as having that Elvis connection, the Ventura is also the first electrical battery powered wristwatch ever released fully. That’s quite fascinating in itself, preceding Seiko’s Astron by a full twelve years, although it is the introduction of the more affordable, battery-powered quartz movement that nearly killed the Swiss watch industry in the 1970s. Ironically that very principle also saved the Swiss watch industry with the advent of Swatch in 1983. The predecessor to the wider Swatch Group, SSIH, then compromising Omega and Tissot, purchased Hamilton in 1974, and used their knowledge and expertise to expand the lineup of quartz watches into the 1980s and beyond.
Today, the Ventura is a cornerstone of Hamilton’s lineup, being offered in a range of sizes, styles and fits. There are the XXL variants, for a bigger Ventura with more presence, or the Elvis80 variants, which adds in an automatic in-house H10 movement with 80 hours of power reserve in a nod to the watch’s release at the time of Elvis’ 80th birthday. You can get it on a bracelet or leather strap, in a chronograph form, or in gold, brown and silver.
Hamilton Ventura - Credit Guest Author
However, my Ventura is none of these special types. It’s most akin to the original model from 1957, with a dainty, curved stainless steel case that sits especially well on the wrist. Its deep black dial is offset nicely by a white zig-zag pattern line across the centre, accented by the thin silver lines that lead to applied half-spherical hour markers. The length of each individual line conforms to the shape of the case, while its dagger handset completes the look. The leather strap is comfortable, and its deployment clasp is especially convenient to use.
It might not be a watch for everyone at all, but the Ventura remains one of the most interesting and daring designs of the twentieth century to my eyes. Being able to look down to my wrist every once in a while and admire its quirky nature is a wonderful feeling, and it’s that feeling alone that makes the Ventura the watch that’s never leaving my side.
