Vantage was a brand set up by Hamilton in the 1960’s to address the bottom, cheaper end of the market. They consisted of both mechanical and electric models; in the latter case, those bold Richard Arbib case designs were nowhere to be seen; the Vantage watches were plain in design and usually the cases were made of cheap plated base metal.

The electric movements were based on the Hamilton 505 and some of the parts, such as the balance and coil, are interchangeable. However, to further blur the connection between Hamilton and Vantage, these movements were marked “Standard Time Corp”, a company Hamiton set up to assemble mechanical movements from imported Swiss parts. The Standard Time Corp 310E movement has its electric parts made in Lancaster, PA. while the mechanical parts are made in Japan.

The Andre Bouchard and Stratford watches on this site also houses the electric Standard Time Corp. movement; were they a Hamilton brands as well? I’m not sure.

At least one electric pocket watch was produced in the Vantage range as well as a small desk clock : see below.

Wrist Watches

A small selection of Vantage electric wristwatches. All are characterised by chromed base metal cases and the Standard Time Corp. 130E movement.

Pocket Watches

A very rare item…the Vantage Electric Pocket Watch!

The Hamilton Electric Pocket Watch (“Nautilus 403“) is much sought after by collectors but does turn from time-to-time on a well known auction site. However, this Vantage version is almost unknown and wasn’t catalogued.

It contains the Standard Time Corp. 130E movement.

Clocks

Very similar to the Hamilton Electric Clock except that it contains the Standard Time Corp. 130E instead of the Hamilton 505 movement.

These small desktop clocks use identical movements, dials and hands as the similar styled wrist watches. The cases of both this and the Hamilton are marked as made in West Germany.