Standard Time Corporation – a Hamilton subsidiary based in the US Virgin Islands – produced Vantage watches as part of its team-up with Hamilton to combat the growing Quartz Crisis (brought on by Seiko, of course) during the early 1970’s.
Part of this effort? This full-serviced early 1970s Vantage Ref. A-20 “600 Feet” mechanical skin diver here. A great added bonus? This watch has a great military-esque stance to it!
Before this, and to stave off the Swiss monopoly created in the U.S. during WWII thanks to protectionist tariffs weakening the domestic American watch industry, Hamilton diversified its operations and became a conglomerate in 1952, and by 1959, Hamilton owned several subsidiaries.
But when is a Hamilton not a Hamilton? When its a Vantage watch, of course - in 1961, Hamilton purchased the Standard Time Corporation (STC) of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, in an effort to combat the Quartz Crisis. Hamilton management treated STC as a wholly owned subsidiary, and it produced movements for Hamilton’s line of Vantage watches, which debuted in 1962. The Vantage line continued to be included in the Hamilton catalogs up through at least the 1970's.
Of historical note, the Virgin Islands provided homes for Asian manufacturers to assemble watches for entry into the market dominated by Timex and Bulova’s Caravelle watches, usually to avoid onerous American tariffs and take advantage of less expensive labor.
To wit, in "Time for America: Hamilton Watch 1892-1992, "Vantage had been created in 1962 in response to two competitive challenges: first, the continuing popularity of Timex-type watches, and second, the introduction by Bulova of their Caravelle line…Both Vantage and Caravelle featured jeweled-lever movements, superior in quality to the pin-lever movements in 'dollar watches' and most Timex’s.”
“Vantage retail prices [were], definitely competitive, considering their quality. Prior to the transfer of some production to Pforzheim [West Germany] in 1968, Vantage movements had been made exclusively in the U.S. Virgin Islands, by Hamilton's newly acquired Standard Time Corporation.”
“The watches were then assembled in Hamilton's plant in East Petersburg, Pennsylvania, a facility that had first served as a fuse factory and then as an assembly plant for automotive clocks….After a slow start Vantage proved to be a winner, showing sales vitality into the mid-'70s. At its peak the line was sold through 9,000 retail stores nationwide and, eventually, parts came from Switzerland and Japan as well as Germany and the Virgin Islands.”
This Vantage mechanical comes on a leather-backed canvas strap, and with nylon strap, rugged travel case, and springbar tool.
Early 1970s Vantage Ref. A-20 600ft. Mechanical Skin Diver
DIAL: Fantastic matte Vantage-signed dial, with applied Arabic numeral hour indices and matching handset. Lume throughout the dial and handset continues to shine brightly, following exposure to strong light.
CASE: Stainless-steel case case measures 38mm (40.5mm w/crown) x 47mm.
CRYSTAL: Domed acrylic crystal, no cracks or deep scratches.
BAND: This Vantage comes on a leather-backed olive-drap green canvas strap; it also comes with a black nylon strap.
MOVEMENT: This Vantage watch is powered by a 17-jewel Standard Time Corporation manual-would movement, a reliable and easy to service mechanical movement. We have performed a full service on this Vantage skin diver.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel crown.