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FSOT: Hamilton Chrono-matic Cal.11 (circa 1969) *PIC*

A beautiful condition Hamilton Chronomatic Cal 11.

A bit of history stolen from the web:

The 1960s saw the race for the development of the world's first automatic chronograph : Two groups were fighting in this race : The group of Movado/ Zenith versus Heuer/ Breitling/ Hamilton/ Dubois Depraz. Both groups achieved their aims at about the same time and exhibited their new developments at the Basel Fair in 1969. Both claimed to be the first to introduce the first automatic chronograph in the world. However, the caliber 11 by the group of Heuer/ Breitling/ Hamilton/ Dubois Depraz beat the Movado/ Zenith team.

1965 : the chronograph specialists Breitling and Heuer-Leonidas with Hamiliton-Bruen and Dubois Depraz, who started the development of their project . When the delegation of the four companies met together for the first time in 1965, they were so obsessed with keeping things secret that they gave their project a confidential code name: 99.

During this meeting, the role each house would play was distributed :

Bruen would be in charge of the special automatic mechanism (adapted from Bruen’s "Intramatic" Caliber : Planetary rotor of heavy winding in both direction via gliding pinion)

Dubois-Depraz would be responsible for the chronographic module (chronograph unit 8510 with coulisse-lever switching, equipped with a 12-hour and a 30-minute counter) as well as the oscillating pinion invented by Edouard Heuer.

Breitling and Heuer would develop the other components and oversee the design of the watch dial and case.

22nd of september 1967 : Heuer/ Breitling/ Hamilton/ Dubois Depraz ask for the patent of the Caliber 11

By 1968, the group had carried out the first conclusive tests and developed experimental prototypes. The winding-mechanism and the caliber 11 chronograph, worked marvelously well, even under extreme conditions, with an accuracy close to the norms required of a chronometer

September 1968 : Breitling manufacture a first pre-serie of the Chronomatic : this is the VERY FIRST automatic Chronograph in the world.

3rd of March 1969 : after 500,000 Swiss francs spend, the world first automatic chronograph was unveiled, over a month before Basel fair 1969 where the El Primero was introduced.

31st of August 1972 : the patent of the caliber 11 is officially published.

The Caliber 11 movement:

Beating at 19,800 bps, 13 ¾ lines, "Chronomatic" consists of a basis movement unit and a chrono-section unit. These two units are attached with screws, one on top of the other. The design required that the winding stystem with the crown had to be removed to the position of the 9, at first what it seems like a surprising innovation that all firms agreed would be the best. Since obviously this watch does not often need to be wound up by hand, it follows that the chronograph buttons would be better located on the right side of the case.

A suitable winding mechanism is required for this automatic chronograph. The heavy microrotor that winds the mainspring is housed in the basic movement and has a pointed dead angle of only 11 degrees, which means that even the relatively inactive wearers can always depend on the watch being wound up.
In addition, a special regulator setting was developed for the watch, with excentric setting and moveable spiral block, which allow precise regulation and the smallest error in the timing. These developments are also patented.

The Hamilton Chrono-matic:

One of the first watches to use the new chronograph, the Hamilton Chrono-Matic is a watch unto its own. Elegant, understated, yet slightly sporty, it is impossible to mistake the open lug design for anything other than a Hamilton.

The case measures 37mm across, excluding cown and pushers, 41mm lug to lug, and 14mm thick. It is slightly larger and thicker than a typical man’s watch of the period, and it wears very nicely.

The Hamilton Chronomatic Cal 11 was introduced in 1969 and was produced for only one year, being replaced by the Cal 11-I in 1970. The Cal 11-I Chronomatic is recognisable by an I stamped on the underside of one of the lugs.

My watch is in excellent condition with a beautiful unmarked dial which has all tritium plots present. There are no nasty dinks or dents on the case. Time-keeping is excellent and all chrono functions work perfectly. To add to the rarity of this package the watch comes complete with its seldom seen Hamilton box.

The watch comes on a black pirlon Nato which suits it superbly, but I will also include a generic black leather strap for anyone not keen on nato's.

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