A question for Khaki Field owners,

I owned the mechanical and the automatic. The black dials tend to stick out way more with the lack of AR coating. Its not the best but its not the worst I’ve seen.

I believe the new Khaki Expedition Field has AR coating and looks substantially better in pics on various watch sites.

I think I’m going to have to keep my eye out for the ones that come with AR, nothing ruins a piece more than horrible lens reflection and hard readability for me.

This is the favorite watch in my collection, reflection or not. You can check out my gallery to see if the reflection is a problem. ✌️

Have two versions, I really do not notice it. It would be a different story of I was photographing it, but for every day use, it remains one of the best.

I do allot of outdoor work and I’ve had to move some pieces out of my collection already due to horrible dial reflection lol, but I love the Hamilton history as I have family who live in Lancaster PA. I’m going to grab one but hopefully I find one that comes with AR lol.

I’ll wear it tomorrow and take a picture for you on my walk into work

Appreciate it, let me know if you think the extra money for the AR version is even something I should worry about lol.

Oh, I would say the leather strap is pretty stiff. I wore my quite a bit and it never really softened. I swapped it with a leather strap from my Sternglas, which surprisingly, is much softer.

If you can afford it, I would say yes. My only worry is that since you do a lot of outdoor work, you’re going to wear through the coating quickly. Since it’s my favorite watch, I don’t wear it when I’m doing a lot of manual labor for fear of destroying it. The polished surface of the bezel will get scratched up though, no matter how much you take care of it.

I had one and sold it. The lugs are long IMO on this watch.

It's not a problem my friend not unless your incapable of moving your arm it reflects light as most do slight turn of your wrist then it doesn't 🤣👌ie buy it it's a bad boy

this watch is incredible even without AR coting. of course if it's too important for you don't buy it but you could regret it.

The reflection is quite horrible with the black dial variant. Especially under bright indoor lighting and outside. You could get a aftermarket crystal with AR coating and it makes a huge difference to the whole watch.

Never not been able to read the time on any watch due to reflections. Sometimes I think the whole "legibility" thing is just something for YouTubers to say to stretch their videos out a bit longer?

I've had 4 Hamilton's ( khaki king auto, king quartz, Murph & X-wind automatic chronograph) & never kept any longer than a month because of shite legibility. Gutted 😢

I have and older 42mm and a new 38mm. Both reflect but neither are ever hard to read. The 2023 purchased 38mm has much less though, so I am wondering if Hamilton has started to add anti-reflective coating.

I own this khaki and I have used it on a daily for about two years now. Yes, there is reflection but not to a point where you can't read the time. Most of these comments come from people that expect a perfect world. If you hve some reflection twist you wrist a few degrees and that is it, you fox the issue quicker than you realize the reflection. The only regret I personally have is not going for the 42mm, besides that there are no issues and absolutly love the watch.

My Khaki Field really has a lot of reflection, but it is perfectly legible. What bothers me is that indoors, the sapphire crystal is always slightly whitish due to the white walls and therefore the black dial doesn't look so black. Outside, even in the sun, nothing bothers me.

My critique is coming from a place of love. I love watches, and I want more people to also love watches. But I also want the industry to do better. I think we all deserve that.

Just like a dive watch MUST be water resistant, there is also a minimum expectation for a field watch: that it is legible in the field.

*42mm khaki field owner here and former Soldier, here.

A field watch that is not legible in the field is as useless as a self-licking ice cream cone. It can still be a great watch. But calling it a field watch is like calling the Panerai Luminor Due a "dive watch" with its 30m water resistance.

I really wanted to love my khaki field. But allowing a field watch to ship with no anti-reflective coating is negligent. The Swatch Group made $1.3 Billion in profit last year.* Hamilton/Swatch Group can afford to fix this issue. They just choose not to.

(*USD, converted from CHF1.20 at today's exchange rate, source: Swatch Group Financial Statements)

The other issue is the syringe needle hands against the black dial. When you're fighting through the glare and you can't see the final third of the minute hand, you just give up on wearing the watch in the field. It stops being a field watch at that point.

"Just twist your arm" is not an acceptable option for people who earn their paychecks in the field. Someone who might actually need a field watch might find themselves working in a sniper/spotter tandem, forward observing, or manning a reconnaissance OP. "Just twist your arm more" is not an acceptable option when your survival depends on absolute stealth. A field watch needs to be legible with minimal or no movement, period.

I get that it's a bit silly to expect the khaki field to have been a tactical watch with its polished bezel, but that's another reason it can't be taken seriously as a field watch.

The watch looks great indoors, or with my arm uncomfortably contorted to reduce the glare. It's also one of the most accurate watches I have. It ranges between a perfect 0s/d or occasionally 2s/d. But I'm still having a really hard time bonding with it.

I've got that exact watch...no problems

I love this watch so much. Hamilton makes really high quality watches, and this is the quintessential field watch. Glare has never been a problem for me. I would argue that it’s the best watch under $1000.

Ill pitch in my $0.02 as well—ive owned 3 different black dial hamilton khakis including the K. Field auto… I’ve sold all 3 of them; 2/3 I sold due in *part* to the reflections spoiling my expeience with them, the 3rd was a since 86’d khaki aviation with a very simple 3-6-9-12 layout… that was the only one the reflections didn’t bug me on.

For me, it wasn’t a deal breaker, but it did mean I didnt love the reference you posted in person as much as I did in photos. Otherwise. I think that dial rocks—it’s just plain cool.

BUT! If were buying one today, id maybe look into upgrading the crystal, it’s 2023 and the resources are out there if you want to spend the time and money… or, maybe a white dial instead? (But the black is cooler)

Thank you for your service 💪🏻

I’ve had 3 Khakis and I’ve never noticed a dial glare in daily wear. Maybe it’s there at some angle but I’ve never noticed. My three… 1 auto 42mm (blue) and 2 manuals 38mm (white and brown).

I’ve also heard that the older Explorers had bad glare and no AR coating, but that’s actually one of the quirks that people like about it!

I wear mine almost every day. No problems here.

Get a white dial mechanical - no glare apparent on it 👍

I have the 38mm version with steel strap and black dial but the reflection only bothers me if i have to photograph the dial, absolutely no problem in daily use. However, it is a very beautiful watch, very comfortable, thin, one of the ones i use the most.

I confirm!

Its true the dome sapphire crystal needs more AR, still an amazing #hamilton