Hamilton Pulsar ads from the 70s

I love all the LED love recently! Such an overlooked and undervalued part of watch history.

Agree ... this thing must have been mind blowing at the time, so revolutionary

Great to see some vintage LED love being doled out. The Pulsar is one of my grail watches. Here is my post on the Hamilton PSR, including information on it’s history and the original Pulsar.

https://www.watchcrunch.com/WatchWookiee/posts/ww-s-vintage-led-week-5-hamilton-psr-digital-quartz-h52414131-222617

I’m on board with the LED Hamilton! It’s such a welcome time-warp for me.

⏱️

And now I want one again 🤦‍♂️

Did you ever wonder why the PSR doesn’t say Pulsar on it? Or why Seiko owns Pulsar now?

It’s because HMW never sold Pulsar to the company that later became Swatch. The Hamilton owned by Swatch has never had any interest in Pulsar, whether by ownership, development or marketing.

As you see in the original marketing for Pulsar, it is a division of HMW. HMW used to be Hamilton until they sold the Hamilton name. But they only sold the name, not any other divisions held by the parent HMW conglomerate, such as Pulsar.

Swatch is banking on people seeing a “Hamilton Pulsar” and losing their shit while conveniently ignoring the historical facts. It’s very much a case of stolen valour.

My father had one when it was launched. The 14 year old me was fascinated with something so different from anything I had seen so far

Have you had one and sold it?

So HMW sold the Hamilton name to what became swatch but kept producing watches under HMW? How did the pulsar name end up with seiko?

Love the connection to 2001 a space odyssey, such an icon of sci-fi cinema. Me loving space and sci-fi, the fact that it has a pulsar engraved on the caseback... I just wish it hat a regular fold over or came with half links but I'll still get one 😄

Nvm I read that hodinkee article, fascinating history. As for swatch making a quick buck on a reissue of a watch they didn't create

... thats the case woth many reeisues of vintage watches, right? Lots of watchmakers were sold because of the quarz crisis. I think the original tissot seastar was released before the swatch acquisition? I don't see any fault in this strategy by swatch. I'd still rather have a "PSR" by hamilton than a "pulsar" by seiko (even if it looked like the original)

Yes. The original Hamilton Watch Company had become a massive conglomerate primarily working on military contracts, bomb timers and timing fuses, etc. When they decided to sell the watch division to SSIH, they renamed the the parent company HMW (Hamilton Metals Wallace). Pulsar was a separate division within the parent company. It was basically an adaptation from the digital timing military research in the Hamilton Technology division.

Once HMW was created, all the existing divisions remained with HMW except for the watch division which was incorporated as a new company called Hamilton Watch Company Inc. Hamilton had already ceased USA production and all Hamilton watches were produced at HMW’s Buren facility in Switzerland. There was little to sell except the name and the watch division’s IP.

HMW continued to market Pulsar for several years until they sold it in 1977 and it subsequently passed to Seiko in 1978.

As for the original Hamilton Watch Company, it continued on as HMW for years, spinning off lesser divisions until being bought in a hostile takeover by Clabir and folded into the General Defence corporation.

No I've just always wanted one

I mean… I still bought one in full knowledge of the history.

Great videos, thanks for the share!