Pennsylvania Series 801

The Pennsylvania Series is born in 2007 around the Caliber 801, the first high-end mechanical movement designed and produced in series in the United States since 1969, the year Hamilton Watch Company had closed its mechanical production in Lancaster to move to Switzerland. The name chosen by Roland Murphy, "Pennsylvania", is no coincidence: it pays homage to that very watchmaking tradition of the state, of which Murphy himself, a former Technical Director at Hamilton, considers himself a direct heir.

The Caliber 801 is a hand-wound movement developed entirely in-house, with a bridge layout and winding mechanism that deliberately recall the aesthetic of early-20th-century American pocket watches. The case, with a ridged ("coin edge") flank and straight lugs that continue the case's line, deliberately takes up the proportions of a pocket watch adapted to the wrist, in the classic 43.3 mm size (later joined by a more compact 40 mm version for a wider audience).

The line's most representative model is the Classic Enamel, with a dial in genuine Grand Feu enamel made up of three distinct elements — outer ring, central disc and seconds counter — individually crafted and fired multiple times to achieve the depth and transparency typical of this artisanal technique. Over the years the same base has produced skeletonized variants (801 Skeleton) and themed executions, such as the series dedicated to aviation (801 Aircraft) and baseball (PS-801-BB "Baseball in Enamel"), as well as the COE (Corps of Engineers) version with a continuous-sweep seconds hand, presented in 2017 for the brand's 25th anniversary.