The New Hamilton Jazzmaster Quartz Octet

February 04, 2015

Tell me, do you prefer bebop over cool jazz, fusion over hard bop, or are you more the swing type? No matter the answer, the top artists in any of these genres can be considered jazz masters. Now, please welcome to the stage the Hamilton Jazzmaster Quartz Octet! Eight watches in two sizes with six dial colors to choose from. But you cant choose the rhythm section. The new 40mm and 32mm Jazzmasters all have a quartz movement. Say what you will, but it guarantees tight, locked-in timekeeping. Take it away!The eight Hamilton Jazzmaster Quartz watches give me a swing vibe. Theyre clean and crispy, and although somewhat playful with color, theyre too clean to be labeled bebop. Theyre just more Woody Herman than Charlie Parker. But thats okay; swing is feel-good music to dance to, and a bit of dancing never hurt anyone. Just dont try to perform any moves like the Airplane Spin or a Flipping High.Introducing the Hamilton Jazzmaster Quartz in two sizesComfortable proportions and a mainstream look make the eight new Jazzmaster Quartz iterations easy to wear and easy on the eye. The Jazzmaster collection is the most refined series of watches in the Hamilton catalog. The collections name links to the Swiss brands American origins, and the watches are versatile and perfect for everyday use. The eight new 40mm and 32mm steel quartz watches, all with a 7.8mm profile, are modern, accessible timepieces created to attract a new generation of jazz/watch lovers. They are contemporary dress watches with a streamlined look, melodic and flowing like swing, not complex and frantic like bebop.The case Jazzmaster Quartz features horizontal brushing, vertical brushing, and polished chamfers. That level of finishing is a nice touch for the eight new watches, priced at CHF 395. It offers a bit of extra subtle swagger to a watch that doesnt want to stand out like a saxophone player starting a 10-minute solo but, instead, like a trumpeter inserting a subtle ad-lib while playing the main melody.Shades of the Jazzmaster QuartzThe Jazzmaster Quartzs sunray-brushed dials blend classic restraint with contemporary energy. The more traditional shades available are black, silver, and Arctic Dawn Blue - colors you can wear with virtually everything. But there are also more virtuoso-like dials with expressive hues, such as warm rose and bright turquoise. The skeletonized dauphine hands are a traditional yet not introverted touch. Sword-shaped hands have an undeniable presence. Like jazz hands (pardon the pun), they glide past a mix of applied and printed indexes. 40mm H32461161 H32461121 H32461131 H32461141 The 40mm and 32mm Jazzmaster Quartz models all come equipped with a three-row bracelet. I wont bring up the likeness to the OP if you quickly glance at these new Hamiltons, but now the damage is done anyway. Still, in this price category, having a slight visual similarity to an aspirational benchmark hardly disqualifies a watch. 32mm H32301141 H32301161 H32301171 H3230118 You can count on the quartz movement inside the new Jazzmasters to keep things tight and precise. There s not much to say about the Swatch Group movement that keeps the beat, and thats a good thing. After all, you dont buy any of the new eight Jazzmasters because of whats ticking inside the 50m-water-resistant case.What not to do with your Hamilton Jazzmaster QuartzNow, a final word of advice regarding the press images provided by Hamilton. The pics are cool, but they do portray an unfavorable treatment of watches at an airport. When going through security, never - and I repeat, never - put your watch exposed in the tray in the way the pictures show. The risk of not finding your watch after you ve gone through the metal detector and after your stuff on the tray has passed through the X-ray machine is simply too high. Fratello advises either wearing your watch through the scanner or putting it safely in a jacket pocket or the bag on the tray. Thank you for your attention.Watch specifications Brand Hamilton Model Jazzmaster QuartzReference 40mm: H32461161 (mint green), H32461141 (beige), H32461131 (black), H32461141 (Arctic Blue Dawn) / 32mm: H32301141 (Arctic Blue Dawn), H32301161 (turquoise), H32301171 (pink), H32301181 (silver)Dial Sunray-brushed finish, applied and printed indexes, dauphine handsCase Material Stainless steel with horizontal and vertical brushing and polished chamfersCase Dimensions 32mm (diameter) 7.8mm (thickness), 16mm lug spacing / 40mm (diameter) 7.8mm (thickness) lug width 20mmCrystal Sapphire with antireflective coatingCase Back Stainless steel Movement QuartzWater Resistance 5 bar (50 meters)Strap Three-row steel bracelet (16mm width for 32mm models, 20mm width for 40mm version) with butterfly clasp and pushersFunctions Hours, minutes, secondsPrice CHF 395