I’ve always had a great appreciation for Hamilton. Helped by the fact they are manned under the large Swatch Group umbrella, the Swiss watchmaker has provided a decent range of entry-level designs for pretty much every type of hobbyist. The Khaki Field is arguably their best-known model, suited to the wrists of outdoor adventurers. Then you have the Khaki Aviation pilot’s watch, the dressy Jazzmaster and the iconically shaped Ventura.
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
It feels like most of their line-up is fairly well-known in the watch space, aside from one particular collection: the Boulton. Maybe I’m totally alone here, but until more recently, I was entirely unfamiliar with the Hamilton Boulton family. According to the brand, the Boulton has been a true American classic since the 1940’s and today’s line-up is a modern interpretation of its Art Deco predecessors.
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
- Regular price
- $139.00 AUD
- Regular price
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- Sale price
- $139.00 AUD
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- Regular price
- $139.00 AUD
- Regular price
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- Sale price
- $139.00 AUD
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- Regular price
- $139.00 AUD
- Regular price
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- Sale price
- $139.00 AUD
- Unit price
- per
It wasn’t until last June, with the premier of the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie, that the Boulton watch became familiar to me. The design was launched as a gold-plated quartz watch with a crisp silver dial to accompany Indy on screen for his final adventure. From what I can remember, it was a watch that received some mixed reviews – sure, it’s a watch with an aesthetic worthy of the film’s time, but would Indiana Jones not consider something more robust than a 30-metre water resistant gold watch for his escapades?
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
Shortly after the release of the Boulton Indiana Jones watch, Hamilton surprised us with another set of Boulton references. One of the models felt much less suited to Indy’s wrist and more to those with a love of cocktail parties and brightly coloured, Art Deco-inspired watches. Named the Hamilton Boulton Macaron collection, the four novelties were each named and designed after a flavour of macaron. It’s a fun and playful collection and one I was desperate to look at more closely, which leads us here...
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
As mentioned, the Hamilton Boulton Macaron watches come in four variations. The first is reference H13321861 which hosts a lovely peppermint blue display and black outlined Roman numerals. There’s also reference H13321821 with a vanilla-beige dial and lavender-coloured numerals, and reference H13321812, that arrives with a more classic pearly white dial and lemon-yellow numerals. Finally, the model found under reference H13321813 utilises the same iridescent white backdrop but pairs it with pistachio green Roman characters.
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
All four are undeniably pretty and fit nicely into the current trend for pastel watch dials. I think my personal favourite out of the four would be the peppermint blue H13321861 model; it’s a beautiful shade of light blue and very reminiscent to the coveted shade of “Tiffany Blue” that many watch collectors have raved about this past year. Each dial has the same layout and it’s one that is clearly inspired by the 1920’s, with large, angled Roman numerals, slim nickelled hands and a sunken small seconds dial at 6 o’clock.
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
The case is also resolutely vintage with its elongated rectangle shape and flowing, tear drop-shaped lugs. They are perfectly sized for those of us with smaller wrists, or those who simply have a love of smaller watches, measuring to 23.5mm wide and 27.4mm tall. Thanks to the Swiss made quartz movement inside, it also has a thickness of only 8.64mm. The cases are engineered from stainless steel and have polished finishing, sapphire crystal glass and a water resistance of 50 metres.
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
- Regular price
- $139.00 AUD
- Regular price
-
- Sale price
- $139.00 AUD
- Unit price
- per
- Regular price
- $139.00 AUD
- Regular price
-
- Sale price
- $139.00 AUD
- Unit price
- per
- Regular price
- $139.00 AUD
- Regular price
-
- Sale price
- $139.00 AUD
- Unit price
- per
The Hamilton Boulton Macaron watches are completed by a range of calfskin leather straps to suit their dials. The straps connect via incoporated stainless steel pin buckles and utilise Hamilton’s EasyClick system for instant strap replacement.
My only wish for the Hamilton Boulton Macaron watch is to see it enjoy a mechanical movement rather than one of quartz. It seems the Boulton collection used to host mechanical movements once upon a time, but these references are all discontinued now. Hopefully the Swiss watchmaker will reconsider bringing automatic or even manual winding calibres back into the line-up. It’d be refreshing to see more mechanical movements placed within a range of watches like this.
HAMILTON BOULTON MACARON - Credit Hamilton
That said, the quartz movement does help keep the price of the Hamilton Boulton Macaron reasonably low with each model retailing for £640. This is pretty reasonable when you compare it to similarly styled watches like the Cartier Tank or the Baume et Mercier Hampton which have price ranges well up into the thousands.
Technical Specification:
- Brand: Hamilton
- Model: Boulton Macaron
- Price: £640
- Material: Stainless steel
- Movement: Quartz
- Complications: Hours, minutes, small seconds
- Dial: Peppermint blue with black numerals / Vanilla beige with lavender violet numerals / Pearl white with lemon yellow numerals / Pearl white with pistachio green numerals
- Size: 23.50mm x 27.40mm
- When the reviewer would personally wear it: The peppermint blue reference would make a fun addition to my collection, and it would be worn frequently as a dress watch to add some playful colour to an outfit.
- A friend we’d recommend it to first: Someone who likes designs like the Cartier Tank or Baume et Mercier Hampton but has a little less budget to play with.
- Best characteristics of the watch: The overall Art Deco vibe is spot on, and the choice of dial colours is fun.
- The worst characteristics of the watch: As someone who prefers a mechanical watch, I’d love to see them do designs with these dimensions equipped with an automatic movement.
