Hamilton Releases the New Khaki Field Quartz Watches

Now available in a 33mm size as well as the versatile 38mm, Hamilton taps into a new smaller-wristed audience with eight new Khaki Field Quartz watches

Wherever you look throughout America’s rich tapestry of watchmaking, Hamilton’s threads of innovation and expertise are present. The company, founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892, has played an integral role in forging Swiss expertise and American heritage together. In particular, the brand’s association with the American military is evident in collections like the Hamilton Khaki Field. That story is still unfolding and is evident in releases like these eight new Hamilton Khaki Field watches, which we’re going to take a closer look at today.

The Story of Hamilton’s Military Field Watches

From the railroad pocket watches that Hamilton once supplied to America’s locomotive industry to these functional and highly legible tool watches for battle, how did Hamilton become such a master in this niche category of watchmaking? The key is in the brand’s innovative idea to re-engineer its pocket watches, fitting them to watches with soldered lugs and smaller cases. These rugged military instruments were utilized vastly across the US Armed Forces before the brand made a bold move to cease all its civilian products to focus on the mass production of watches for the military during the war in the 1940s. Having developed more than a million watches for the military over those following few years, Hamilton continued to supply tools for the military throughout the 1950s and 1960s. These models adhered to a strict set of requirements, shaping the future Khaki Field watch. In 1974, Hamilton was acquired by the Swatch Group, where the brand’s revival of historically significant military timekeepers formed the beginnings of the Khaki umbrella. Today, Hamilton produces a range of Khaki watches, including those with a Navy focus and an Aviation spec.

The Hamilton Khaki Field watch collection has always been a modest group of timepieces aimed at anyone who loves the field watch look. The models are available in a compact 38mm size, making them particularly appealing for those with smaller wrist sizes. Despite smaller dimensions, Khaki Field watches from Hamilton are every bit masculine, appealing to the masses with their legible dials characterised by a 24-hour track and robust steel cases. These watches have remained at the forefront of the vintage revival boom too. They’re well crafted and ooze retro charm, taking the wearer back to a time when tactical watches like this were critical in their role of precision timekeeping – a time when every decision became a life or death scenario.

Up until now, Hamilton has tended to focus on improving and modifying its mechanical range of Khaki Field watches. When you look at other quartz-operated options from the collection, the date windows were not always colour-matched and somehow they appeared a lot busier than these new releases. Hamilton has launched a total of 8 new releases – four of which measure 38mm and the other four of which experiment with a much smaller case – a 33mm diameter.

The New Hamilton Khaki Field Quartz

Side by side, there are some notable differences between these new modern interpretations of the Khaki Field watch and the brand’s vintage watches from yesteryear. To start with, those much older models featured a “GS” marking on their dials, which referred to the “General Service” members that Hamilton produced watches exclusively for. That has now been replaced with the “Khaki” logo above the 6 o’clock location. Secondly, Hamilton is clearly experimenting with more colour choices in these new designs. These new colours are fresh and exciting and, additionally, the Hamilton logo now sits underneath the “H” reference at 12 o’clock.

What has barely changed at all is the large, legible Arabic numeral hour markers and the instantly identifiable railroad minute track around the periphery of the dial. One small change, however, is the luminous pips that mark the five-minute intervals around the track. These have been updated to neat little squares that help give the dial a clear and coherent look. Before this, the heritage models had a mix of rectangular and circular markings. You may see some resemblances to the Hamilton Khaki Pioneer model too, though this is the first time all of these features (along with the quartz movement) have been brought together in this way within the Khaki Field line.

There are white, blue and black dial options to choose from within the new slew of Khaki Field Quartz watches recently released by Hamilton. They all come paired with stylish NATO straps that lean into the military roots of this collection. Several of the models also feature a heavy dose of faux-tina on the Arabic numeral hour markers and the hands. While this material massively aids legibility, it also gives the watch a nice yesteryear look. They look similar to the mildly radioactive material used in vintage military watches in the past.

As already mentioned, these new releases are all powered by quartz movements as opposed to mechanical ones and feature a stainless steel case, equipped with a 50-meter water resistance. The cases have all been executed with a really nice sandblasted finish too. The 38mm size of four of these new Khaki Field watches is a “Goldilocks” size for many wrists and it’s really great to see more brands returning to smaller and more compact sizes after a long run of large, oversized timepieces. What may intrigue you more, however, is how the 33mm watches will look. There is no suggestion that these new 33mm watches are aimed at either men or women in particular. Moreover, a size that suits is the right size, no matter what that size may be.

I love how these new Hamilton Khaki Field watch releases will appeal to a whole new audience. Hamilton extends the olive branch to the smaller-wristed community of luxury watch wearers and this is great to see. What’s more, being quartz-powered, these timepieces are very reasonably priced and the designs channel vintage-inspired aesthetics through a new modern lens.

If you’d like more information on the new Hamilton Khaki Field Quartz watches, call and speak to a member of our Jura Watches sales team today on 01335 453453 or email us on help@jurawatches.co.uk.