The Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer watches hands-on

Introduction

If you browsed the Hamilton collections just a month ago, you might have noticed the brand needed a contemporary contender in the steel sports watch arena, just like a Khaki, a Ventura, or an American Classic model compete in their respective product categories.

From aerobatic race flights to deep diving, including the seventies’ inspired digital watchmaking’s legacy, Hamilton has covered every angle of the product offering, with the exclusion of the most wanted ever, i.e. a contemporary luxury sports watch in steel. The Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer is now filling the gap and opening a new chapter for the brand and the Jazzmaster collection, aiming to introduce the brand to a new audience.

Why the Jazzmaster Performer

Every Hamilton watch has a close link to an experience, comes with a historical military foothold, or it’s a guest star at cinemas; in this regard, the Jazzmaster Performer is a unicorn and holds no apparent source of inspiration, thus hopefully attracting an audience in search of an entry-price watch with a contemporary appeal and no nostalgia.

The “deja vu” effect is what designers tried to avoid; while the proposal enters the mainstream product category every brand won’t miss (the demand for such timepieces has skyrocketed in the last years), the execution is less trivial than expected, as you close up on the product’s details. The new collection hits the market with four chronographs and seven time-only watches, whose sizes range from the Chronos 42mm to a 34 mm three hands’ 34mm, with a 38 mm model standing in between.

The Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer Chronograph

Here is the collection’s highlight, and the model pictured here is its hero, in our opinion. Designing a V-shaped three-counter chronograph is always challenging since such a configuration represents a constraint. We weren’t given the whole collection during the photo session, but the model on display is more than enough to tell how the collection’s most complicated model feels.

The Performer Chronograph arguably mixes several sources of inspiration: it’s first and foremost a classic racing chronograph with traditional accents out of a modern case design from every angle; you can spot it by turning the case on its side to appreciate how it tapers towards the case back, whose closing ring surrounds the see-through crystal.

The lugs are narrow and slightly tapered towards the wrist. With a 42 mm diameter, the distance between the lugs totals 22 mm. Consequently, the lugs improve comfort, as does the strap, whose size allows the case to be secured onto your wrist consistently and with no gap.

The strap comes in leather and offers a “Rally strap” look and feel. As our eyes slide alongside the lugs up to the mirror-polished case profile, the two Chrono pushers pop up while looking hidden to the view from atop; they are bigger than they look once you flip the watch on its side and the case back, then, whose opening displays the Hamilton H-31 calibre, hence an original 7750 pimped up to 60 hours of total power reserve equipped with a Nivachron™ hairspring for enhanced accuracy.

That’s a robust, mass-produced mechanical movement that ensures reliability and performance over time. The new Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer is also waterproof up to 100 meters, something you could hardly exploit on such an OEM leather strap; there is neither a replacement sports strap nor a quick-release device. It’s a missed opportunity, something you can only cover with an aftermarket one.

The Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer

The entry-level proposition offers seven “time only” models pairing purity and admirable build quality: a no-date, no-frills timepiece with applied indexes, smooth lines, and an almost zero gap between the assembled parts. The case section mimics the chronograph, and the ice blue dial option, exclusively available in a 34 mm size, is our cup of tea.

Please don’t get fooled by the specs sheet; on a steel bracelet, it looks bigger than it is. It measures just 11,18 mm (11,47 mm on 38 mm models), but the dial’s opening is wide thanks to the thinnest bezel.

The ice blue edition is our hero and where the collection is at its full potential. Hats off to the bracelet’s design; it offers good build quality, although we’d go for something different than the standard three-link design. The hidden butterfly clasp is covered by a clasp whose quality is top-notch.

The full-brushed surface finish, bezel included, makes it a two-tone watch and a better-looking timepiece than its black-bezel sibling. The 34 and the 38 mm models house the H-10 calibre with 80 hours of power reserve and a Nivachron™ balance spring; here is the ETA-manufactured state-of-the-art self-winding movement.

Final thoughts

The new Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer revolutionized the original collection, making it a more sports-watch-equipped offering. The Performer stands as the contemporary outsider and includes several iterations, like, for example, a Gold PVD-treated case (not our favourite option, though). The full-steel configurations are lovely, and the tone-on-tone options are our favourite.

Hamilton worked hard to raise the bar and offer a higher level of detail and perceived quality while aggressively pricing them all, especially the base models: you can get a base model for about 1200 Euros while paying twice as much for the chronograph, whose threshold price is not as aggressive.

(Photo credit: Horbiter®)

Editorial team @Horbiter®