Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical White Dial
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Currently exclusively through Topper Jewelers
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As I've learned recently the topic of Field Watches can bring on some heated and passioned discussions among watch enthusiast. Depending on who you talk to there are varying opinions as to what constitutes a field watch even among the various horological review sites. Views on what are correct dial layouts, case sizes, and strap configurations seem to go all over the place. Given this, I'm going to avoid that area altogether and focus on the watch currently adorning my wrist. This would be the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical white dial. I don't believe any camp would exclude this watch from the field watch designation except for its inclusion of a non-MIL-W-3818B white dial and not black. As noted by Cole Pennington (Editor from Hodinkee) "Before those initial specifications were issued there were plenty of soldiering watches featuring white dials. In fact, many early Hamilton Army Ord. Dept. watches had white dials, so this new Khaki Field Mechanical does, in fact, draw on some legitimate history." For this writeup, I'm not going to get caught up on what it's not, but what it is.
Let's start with the measurements and these may not jive with what you've seen elsewhere, but they are what I got when I measured the watch.
Case: 38mm
Length: 47mm
Lug width: 20mm
Thickness: 9mm
Weight: 58gm (w/nylon strap)
Pin-to-Pin(spring pin): 45mm
Gap (spring pin to case): 3mm
Water Resistance: 50m
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These measurements make for an incredibly light and balanced watch on the wrist assisted by the curved lugs which set the bottom of the spring pin in line with the bottom of the case. This set up makes the gap between the spring pin and the case look and function bit bigger than it measures out at. The positive side of this is NATO style straps can be taken on and off very easily (even thicker ones) without having to pull a spring pin out. The negative, if you are of a similar view as me, is conventional straps sit too far away from the case to look right (except a bund or Gas Gas Bone strap that the watch can sit on). I tried a whole host of conventional 20mm straps on it including rubber, sailcloth, and varying thicknesses of leather in many finishes and nothing looked right to me. The good news is this watch looks fantastic on NATO straps of nearly any color. The bead blasted case looks very industrial and along with the white dial, it opens up an extensive range of colors that will work with this watch.
(Continued)
Read the full review with pictures posted here: Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical White Dial Mini Review
Currently exclusively through Topper Jewelers
As I've learned recently the topic of Field Watches can bring on some heated and passioned discussions among watch enthusiast. Depending on who you talk to there are varying opinions as to what constitutes a field watch even among the various horological review sites. Views on what are correct dial layouts, case sizes, and strap configurations seem to go all over the place. Given this, I'm going to avoid that area altogether and focus on the watch currently adorning my wrist. This would be the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical white dial. I don't believe any camp would exclude this watch from the field watch designation except for its inclusion of a non-MIL-W-3818B white dial and not black. As noted by Cole Pennington (Editor from Hodinkee) "Before those initial specifications were issued there were plenty of soldiering watches featuring white dials. In fact, many early Hamilton Army Ord. Dept. watches had white dials, so this new Khaki Field Mechanical does, in fact, draw on some legitimate history." For this writeup, I'm not going to get caught up on what it's not, but what it is.
Let's start with the measurements and these may not jive with what you've seen elsewhere, but they are what I got when I measured the watch.
Case: 38mm
Length: 47mm
Lug width: 20mm
Thickness: 9mm
Weight: 58gm (w/nylon strap)
Pin-to-Pin(spring pin): 45mm
Gap (spring pin to case): 3mm
Water Resistance: 50m
These measurements make for an incredibly light and balanced watch on the wrist assisted by the curved lugs which set the bottom of the spring pin in line with the bottom of the case. This set up makes the gap between the spring pin and the case look and function bit bigger than it measures out at. The positive side of this is NATO style straps can be taken on and off very easily (even thicker ones) without having to pull a spring pin out. The negative, if you are of a similar view as me, is conventional straps sit too far away from the case to look right (except a bund or Gas Gas Bone strap that the watch can sit on). I tried a whole host of conventional 20mm straps on it including rubber, sailcloth, and varying thicknesses of leather in many finishes and nothing looked right to me. The good news is this watch looks fantastic on NATO straps of nearly any color. The bead blasted case looks very industrial and along with the white dial, it opens up an extensive range of colors that will work with this watch.
(Continued)
Read the full review with pictures posted here: Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical White Dial Mini Review
