Hamilton introduced another gorgeous looking — at least from the top-down view — new Intra-Matic based on the company’s historical chronographs.
Starting in 2017, Hamilton introduced a limited edition 42 mm automatic version of the retro-styled Hamilton Intra-Matic Chronograph. A year later they refined the look a bit and reduced the case size to 40 mm for the standard production automatic, which was an improvement.
This week, they debuted a new manually wound version called the Intra-Matic Chronograph “H” with a thinner mechanical movement. The dial looks great, in either panda (black on white), or reverse panda (white on black), and the price is not bad.
What’s offensive, is that the watch’s thickness. And we’re not talking about “thicc” — this watch is definitely “thick.” No side angles were provided in the press release, and none are visible on Hamilton’s website listings of the new manual Intra-Matic Chronographs. However, the official documentation does list the thickness of the manual versions at 14.35 mm, which is not even a third of a millimeter thinner than the 14.60 mm automatic version. Stack 3-5 sheets of paper and that’s about how much the thickness was reduced from the automatic to the manual version.
The measurements of a watch are very important to at least a certain segment of consumers, and this is underscored by the number of discussions on minor details like case diameter and thickness. Regardless of whether you obsess over the thickness of the case measurements on paper, or not, once you see it in person (or via accurate photos), the proportions of the entire case, become apparent.
In this instance, Hamilton has again listened to the public — and made a great-looking product — but they did not fully hear what was being said. Thanks to Hodinkee, we have a side view of the case, and you cannot even visibly discern the .25 mm difference in thickness.
Not to add insult to injury but it’s gotta be said, the pushers and crown could use a slight reduction in size as well — they protrude out quite significantly.
Ultimately, the Intra-Matic Chronograph H could use a reduction of 2 mm in case thickness would make this watch great. Unfortunately, instead of a run-away commercial success, the new launch comes with an asterisk, an asterisk that may be a deal-breaker for those of us that do care about the dimensions.
Retail is $2,045 on a leather strap or $2,095 on a steel bracelet.
