Hamilton Watch Co. - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. The Hamilton Watch Company is a Swiss manufacturer of wristwatches based in Bienne, Switzerland. Founded in 1892 as an American firm, the Hamilton Watch Company ended American manufacture in 1969. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the Hamilton Watch Company eventually became integrated into the Swatch Group, the world's largest watch manufacturing and marketing conglomerate.

Hamilton succeeded three watch firms manufacturing timepieces in the same facilities in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, US, 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. Aurora Watch Company of Illinois also merged into Keystone during the same year. 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 stockholders was called in November 1892 and a new name selected. The company was named after James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, a Scottish born attorney who laid out and founded Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was the original owner of the Lancaster site on which the factory was situated. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Watch_Company

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