Hamilton Introduces the Khaki Field Titanium in a New 38mm Case Size

Hamilton is back with new versions of their Khaki Field Titanium, first introduced back in February of 2020. Hamilton is a brand with a long history spanning decades, continents, and an impossibly wide array of watch styles, but the field watch feels very much like the brand’s bread and butter. Simple watches that prioritize reliability and legibility in a format that hasn’t changed much in nearly 100 years is a surefire way to get a certain crop of enthusiast collectors excited, and it helps that Hamilton always has an eye toward providing tangible value for money as well. The new watches on offer from Hamilton are pretty close to what was issued 2 years ago, but in a size that should make them more enticing for a larger group of collectors. 

When Hamilton launched the Khaki Field Titanium there were some grumblings from what amounts to the peanut gallery (actually, Instagram) that at 42mm, the cases were too large. This, I think, is a legitimate gripe for a field watch, even if the 42mm size in this particular case shape actually wore pretty well. These new titanium watches come in at 38mm, which is much closer to the earliest military spec field watches that Hamilton is basing their design on, and make a lot more sense given the historical use case. 

A field watch, as the name implies, is meant to be used in the “field,” battle or otherwise. The key word here is “use,” as these are utilitarian objects at their core, and not meant to be decorative or beautiful. As such, the size is actually really important – this is not a watch you’d want getting in the way of whatever it is you might be doing if using it as originally intended. We’re potentially talking about life and death situations here. Even in a modern, non-battlefield context (say, a solo hike in the mountains), you want your watch to be ready to be called upon if needed, but not an intrusion on your activity. You have more important things to be concerned with, and a big watch getting in the way could lead to all kinds of undesirable scenarios. 

The new watches in 38mm are available in three different variants: a brushed titanium case with either a black or khaki colored dial (which reads as a pale military green in these Hamilton supplied press photos), and a black PVD coated case with a gray dial that has interesting texture that Hamilton has designed to resemble concrete. In these three watches, you have both classic representations of what a field watch would have looked like generations ago, but also a stealthy modern take with the black version. All have dials with the classic field watch layout consisting of easy to read Arabic numerals on multiple tracks, minutes at intervals of 5 at the perimeter, with a large 12 hour scale directly inside of it, and smaller 24 hour scale in the inner sector. 

The 38mm cases are 11.68mm tall and have 100 meters of water resistance. They run on the Hamilton H-10 automatic movement, which has an impressive 80 hour power reserve and Nivachron balance spring that greatly reduces the impact of magnetism. It’s worth noting that in addition to these three entirely new 38mm watches, Hamilton is simultaneously introducing two new 42mm dial variants, one in khaki and the other in blue. Retail prices on the 38mm watches are $895 for those with the brushed titanium case and $945 for the PVD coated version, while the 42mm watches are each priced at $945. Hamilton Watch