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This watch is missing from my collection. I’ve always wanted it, it’s one of the watches I loved from the beginning of my horological journey. Why don’t I have it? – Because I’m waiting for the moment when I will stop in front of the window, I will see it and it will speak to me: “I want to go home with you!“. Then I will know that is the right time for the Hamilton Pan Europ Auto to be mine.
The origin of this watch starts in 1969 when Hamilton and Büren (part of the Hamilton) started to work on the first Pan Europ Chronograph, released in 1971 and equipped with the famous Caliber 11 (the first automatic chronograph movement). Now, almost 50 years later, the Pan Europ has the same lines and can be easily recognised like any other great timepiece from the watch history.
The Pan Europ Auto, Ref. H35405741, is part of the Hamilton American Classic Collection – a lovely collection of ladies and gentlemen watches inspired by Hamilton’s history in the US. The Pan Europ is an easy to spot timepiece for a series of reasons that made me fall in love with it.
The watch comes standard with a striped textile NATO strap, Ref. H600.354.101 and a black leather with round cut-outs strap, showing a red inner lining, the Ref. H600.354.104. Both straps are gorgeous and fit perfectly the sporty look of the watch. The lug width is 22mm.
The textile straps come with a brushed stainless steel buckle with the “Hamilton” engrave and the leather strap comes with a butterfly clasp.
The 42 mm diameter (10.41mm height) stainless steel case is water resistant up to 5 bar (5 m) / 73 psi (164ft). The case is covered with a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment and it has an open case back offering a view to the beautiful H-30 (explained later).
The case is gorgeous – a series of brushed finishes: on top there is a sun ray brushing, the sides have horizontal brushing and the lugs ending have vertical brushes. This combination makes the entire case interesting, giving a modern touch to a classic shape.
The edges are beveled and mirror polished and together with the blue/polished steel bezel make a nice contrast. The crown respects the same line of combination between brushed and polished surfaces featuring the “H” logo.
The dial is the one I love the most: a perfect shade of blue on a sunburst background with 3D steel hour indexes mounted on the inner bevel with red and black painted seconds indexes (the red painted seconds indexes are for the first 15 seconds/minutes) that fit great with the white minute indexes with Roman numeral for every 5 minutes.
The hour and minute hands are highly polished steel with luminescent inlay and the second’s hand is a red painted indicator that almost touches the second’s indexes from the inner bezel. At 3 o’clock are placed the Day and Date indication – black font on white background.
Behind the dial stays the Hamilton Caliber H-30.
The H-30 movement is based on the ETA2836-2/C07.111 and it was developed together with ETA having a series of modification from the ETA2836 base.
The caliber H-30 is an automatic 11½”’ type (25.60mm diameter) with 25 jewels, it has a heart beating at 21,600vph (3Hz), offering a power reserve of 80 hours (double as the 4Hz Eta2836).
The movement has perlage finishes on the main plate and bridges and the rotor weight “is distinctively skeletonized with an “H” shape and aviation-inspired cut-outs” – Hamilton calibers.
The Pan Europ Auto Ref. H35405741 comes with a strap changing tool so you can choose yourself what strap do you like to wear. In the Online Store, the price for this watch is 1,195USD.
There is also another version of this watch, for the ones who like a “darker” watch, with a grey sunburst dial and black ring bezel – the Ref. H35415781. This version comes with another colour combination for the NATO strap – REF. H600.354.105.
The Pan Europ Auto Ref. H35415781 has the same price in the Online Shop as the blue dial version – 1,195USD.
Both watches can be bought from the Hamilton Online Shop or from the Official Retailer’s Boutique.
Please visit the Hamilton Website for more information about their current collection and their heritage. For the market prices, you can also check Chrono24. Advisable would be to buy from an official and trusted seller.
I would like to thank Hamilton Watches for the images and information.