Recently, I was fortunate to get my hands on a 50th anniversary timepiece from Seiko that commemorates the brand’s first automatic chronograph movement launched in 1969. The Seiko Prospex Automatic Chronograph 50th Anniversary Limited Edition SRQ029J1 was made in honour of the Seiko Caliber 6139. It was a major milestone for Seiko but it also was part of a gigantic battle by big watch makers to come out with the first truly automatic chronograph. In fact, three competing designs were launched in 1969 by the three competing teams. The first team was Seiko, the second team was Zenith and the third team consists of Breitling, Heuer, Buren-Hamilton with the help of Dubois Depraz. I am happy to note that I also just gotten my hand on the 50th anniversary timepiece to commemorate the third team’s first automatic chronograph movement, the Caliber 11 Chrono-Matic. The Hamilton American Classic Chrono-Matic 50 Auto Chrono Limited Edition is the timepiece that Hamilton would like to remember that momentous event.Like the Seiko commemorative timepiece, the Hamilton design is actually an interpretation of a 1972 model called the Chrono-Matic E GMT Countdown instead of a model designed in 1969 (Seiko chose a 1970 model instead of a 1969 design for their commemorative timepiece). Nonetheless, it was a great choice by Hamilton as the Chrono-Matic E is a classic and much sought after by collectors today.
