Hamilton Jazzmaster Regulator Cinema Explained

Short answer: The Hamilton Jazzmaster Regulator Cinema (reference H42605731) is an automatic watch Hamilton released in 2018 for its tenth Behind the Camera Awards and its 86th year in film. On its regulator dial, the hours and seconds turn on two separate displays shaped like vintage film reels, while a long central hand shows the minutes. The case is 42 mm, water resistance 50 metres, and the movement is the H-12.

In this story we explain why the watch is called "Cinema", how to read a regulator dial and what its specifications are. One note: the photos in this story do not show the Regulator Cinema. The cover shows Hamilton's Jazzmaster Maestro chronograph and the inline photo shows a different Hamilton automatic; we could not find a suitably licensed photo of this model.

What is a regulator dial?

On an ordinary watch, the hour, minute and seconds hands all sit on the same central post. On a regulator dial these three displays are separated: usually the minutes stay on the long central hand, while the hours and seconds move to their own small subdials.

This layout is much older than the wristwatch. Watchmaking workshops kept one of the most accurate clocks of the day, a regulator clock, in a place where every watchmaker could easily see it, and watchmakers set and tested their watches against it. Their job was to read the minutes and seconds precisely, so the minutes got the biggest hand and the displays were separated so the hands would not overlap.

Today the regulator dial is mostly a design choice. It takes a little getting used to: to tell the time you first check the small hour display, then the large minute hand.

How do you read the Regulator Cinema's dial?

According to Monochrome Watches' review, the Regulator Cinema is a cosmetically modified version of Hamilton's standard Jazzmaster Regulator Auto. Every change is a nod to film:

• Hours: A large, matte silver film reel turns at 10 o'clock. A red triangle on the reel acts as the hour hand, with Arabic numerals every two hours on the subdial beneath it.
• Seconds: A smaller reel between 4 and 5 o'clock spins continuously. Numerals printed every ten seconds show through its spokes, and again a red triangle points to the seconds.
• Minutes: A long silver central hand sweeps over the reels out to the edge of the dial.
• Dial: A black, textured background, with "HAMILTON" and "AUTOMATIC" at the upper right inside a silver film strip.

Hamilton describes the design the same way on its own site: the layout that frees the minutes from the hour display recalls the turning reels of vintage movie cameras.

The film theme carries on at the back. A black 35 mm film strip is printed on the glass of the sapphire caseback window, and the movement is visible between its frames.

Why "Cinema"? Hamilton and the movies

Hamilton's relationship with film goes back to 1932. According to the brand, Hamilton watches first appeared on the big screen in Shanghai Express, starring Marlene Dietrich. Since then they have featured in more than 500 films and TV shows. Some of the best known:

• Blue Hawaii (1961): The Ventura on Elvis Presley's wrist. We told its story in Hamilton Ventura.
• Men in Black (1997): Agents J and K also wore the Ventura, and the watch returned in the sequels.
• Interstellar (2014): The "Murph" watch from the film was later released as the Khaki Field Murph.
• Tenet: A bespoke watch was made for the film, based on the Khaki Navy BeLOWZERO.

In 2006 Hamilton also launched an awards ceremony called the Behind the Camera Awards. Held in Los Angeles, it honours people who work behind the camera: screenwriters, editors, prop masters and costume designers.

The Regulator Cinema was made for the tenth edition of these awards. The watch was given to presenters and honourees at the ceremony on 4 November 2018 and was also offered for sale. It marked Hamilton's 86th year in film, counting from 1932 to 2018.

The kind of film reels the dial draws on: vintage projectors on display at the Cinema Museum in London.