« Rock 'n Roll for your wrist »
Elvis Presley not only had a formative influence on music. His fashion sense also inspired many fans – and continues to do so today. In this article, we present a timepiece that the King of Rock 'n' Roll personally wore on his wrist and which he even helped to achieve worldwide fame with a film appearance: the legendary Hamilton Ventura , also known among connoisseurs as the Elvis watch .
Innovative music meets innovative technology
Although Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, died at the age of 42, he remains one of the world's most successful solo artists, with sales of an estimated more than one billion records. As a musician, singer, and actor, he shaped an entire generation and also provided significant impetus for musical development in the decades to come. And it's no exaggeration to say that the entire rock and pop culture of the 20th century would probably have looked very different without him.
His music, his style and his charisma inspired millions of people and when people simply talk about the “King”, everyone knows who they are talking about.
Given his innovative and influential role in music, it's no surprise that Presley chose a watch model that broke new ground both in terms of design and technology. The Ventura model, later known as the Elvis Watch, surprised audiences at the time with its unusual triangular case and the fact that it was an electrically powered wristwatch.
Electricity in the wristwatch: Hamilton writes watch history
Hamilton was originally a highly successful American watchmaker from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which grew rapidly since its founding in 1892 and eventually became the most important American manufacturer of timepieces by the 1940s. The brand, now part of the Swiss Swatch Group, is credited with several milestones in watchmaking history, including the first electronic quartz watch with an LED digital display and the first electrically powered battery-powered wristwatch.
It was the result of a collaboration with the German company Vereinigte Uhrenfabriken Ersingen (VUE), which lasted from 1955 to 1960. Through this collaboration, Hamilton's watchmakers were able to benefit from the technical developments of Helmut Epperlein, the owner of VUE. Epperlein was particularly interested in the possibility of an electric drive for wristwatches.
The first wristwatch with an electric drive and balance wheel was Hamilton's Ventura model, based on the "Electric" prototype, which finally came onto the market on January 3, 1957 – about a year after Presley's breakthrough as a leading figure in rock 'n' roll. The Electric's balance wheel featured an elongated coil, and its magnetic system consisted of three magnets.
Epperlein's invention was initially registered as a German utility model in January 1958 and transferred to the Hamilton Watch Company in September 1959. The company combined the drive, unusual for the time, with a no less unusual triangular design. This marked the birth of the Ventura, which, after a brief hiatus, has been a continuous part of the Hamilton watch collection since 1988.
The Presley watch as a film prop: Ventura's appearance in “Blue Hawaii”
In addition to his successful career as a musician and singer, Elvis Presley appeared in numerous roles as an actor. When the musical "Blue Hawaii" was released in 1961, it was already the eighth feature film in which the "King" appeared.
To this day, Blue Hawaii, in which he plays one of the two main characters, is considered his most successful film. The fact that he visibly wears a Ventura on his arm in this film helped the striking model achieve worldwide fame, so much so that it is still considered the quintessential Presley watch and, like no other timepiece, expresses the attitude to life of the young generation in the early 1960s.
And just as the King's numerous songs have survived his untimely death on August 16, 1977, and perhaps even gained in popularity since then, his style-defining role remains vividly remembered for generations to come, thanks to the Elvis watch. Whether in an Elvis Anniversary special edition or one of the various standard versions, the Elvis watch on the wrist is a clear statement for anyone who wants to bring a little rock 'n' roll into their life. Aside from the now legendary appearance in Blue Hawaii, there are also numerous other photographs, including several snapshots from Presley's military service, that show him with the famous Elvis watch on his wrist.
Source: Clock Instinct