"Pulsar Watch" John Bergey Hand Signed FDC Dated 1973 Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction
"Pulsar Watch" John Bergey Hand Signed First Day Cover Dated 1973.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-9165
The
Hamilton Watch Company
is a
Swiss
manufacturer of wristwatches based in
Bienne
,
Switzerland
. The Hamilton Watch Company had its genesis as an American watch design and manufacturing company, which incorporated in 1892 and produced its first watch in 1893. After its formation, the Hamilton Watch Company went on to manufacture and market
pocket watches
and
wristwatches
, ending American manufacture in 1969. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the Hamilton Watch Company became a diversified
conglomerate
itself and was subsequently integrated into the
Swatch Group
. Today the brand is one of more than twenty watch brands belonging to the Swatch Group, the world's largest watch manufacturer and marketer. Brown is also on the prestigious Prix Galien USA Committee that "recognizes the technical, scientific and clinical research skills necessary to develop innovative medicines". The inauguration of the Prix Galien in the US, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in this field, was in September 2007, and the winners were selected by a preeminent scientific and learned committee that included seven Nobel laureates, of which Brown was one. Hamilton succeeded three watch firms manufacturing timepieces in the same facilities in
Lancaster, PA
, including the Lancaster Watch Company. The precursor to the Hamilton Watch Co., the
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
based
Keystone Standard Watch Co.
, was started by
Abram Bitner
in 1886 with the purchase of
Lancaster Watch Company
's factory. Keystone manufactured watches featuring a patented "Dust Proof" design that used a small mica window to cover the only opening in the plate of the movement.
[
Keystone existed until 1891 when the company was sold to Hamilton Watch Company. The Hamilton Watch Company was established in 1892 after Keystone Standard Watch Company was purchased from bankruptcy. During the same year, Aurora Watch Company of
Illinois
also merged into Keystone. The name of the new company was originally to be "Columbian," but when it was discovered the Waterbury Watch Company had trademarked that name, a meeting of stock holders was called in November 1892 and a new name selected.
The company was named after James Hamilton son of (lawyer)|Andrew Hamilton, a Scottish born attorney who laid out and founded Lancaster, and was the original owner of the Lancaster site on which the factory was situated.
During the expansion of the railroads in the U.S., Hamilton maintained over 56% of the market. Railroads purchased all of Hamilton's production. As the market switched from pocket watches to wrist watches after
World War I
, the company manufactured wrist watches. During
World War II
, Hamilton retooled its business model to serve the military, dropping its consumer products. The Hamilton Watch Company was housed on a 13-acre (53,000 m
2
)
complex
in Lancaster. Hamilton eventually took possession of Aurora Watch Company's machinery shortly after incorporation. The first watch made under the Hamilton name was an 18-size 17-jewel pocket watch in 1893. During Hamilton's first fifteen years, only two size movements were produced — the 18-size and the smaller 16-size.
The company's first series of pocket watches, the Broadway Limited, was marketed as the "Watch of Railroad Accuracy," and Hamilton became popular by making accurate
railroad watches
. Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch in 1917, designed to appeal to men entering World War I and containing the 0-sized 17-jewel 983 movement originally designed for women's pendent watches. In 1928 Hamilton purchased the
Illinois Watch Company
for in excess of million from the heirs of
John Whitfield Bunn and Jacob Bunn
. Some of the most collectible early Hamilton wristwatches include The Oval, The Tonneau, The Rectangular, The Square Enamel, The Coronado, The Piping Rock, The Spur, The Glendale, The Pinehurst, The Langley, The Byrd, The Cambridge, the Barrel "B", and The Flintridge. Many models came in both solid
gold
and gold-filled cases and, though rare, some wristwatches such as the Grant were made of
silver
. In 1971, the
Omega
&
Tissot
Holding Company
Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère
(SSIH) purchased the Hamilton brand and utilized the Hamilton name for a number of branding efforts, including numerous quartz watches in the 1980s. The Hamilton Watch Division became a subsidiary of HMW. The Hamilton Watch Company changed their name to HMW at the time they sold their Watch division to SSIH. A team led by John Bergey of Hamilton Watch in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
developed the
Pulsar
, the world's first digital watch.
Through the merger of SSIH and ASUAG Groups in 1984, Hamilton became a subsidiary of
The Swatch Group
.