Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Review

I’m a big fan of field watches, so it was only a matter of time before a Khaki Field ended up in my possession. I opted for the brown, or tropical, dial version. I thought this was the most interesting version available in stainless steel, and for those interested, the reference number is H69439901. So far, the watch has exceeded my expectations.

My First Impressions

I was initially concerned about a few things with this watch: the smaller 38mm case and the faux patina of the lume. When I first laid eyes on the watch itself, however, those concerns evaporated. In most instances, the dial isn’t really a chocolate brown, but more of a taupe, gray-brownish color. The faux lume actually looks great in person and I think the watch would be worse off without it – especially for this version with the brown dial. In direct sunlight, the dial’s color transforms more into a rich, chocolaty color – it really pops.

Regarding the smaller case size, I immediately fell in love with the proportions once I popped the watch on my wrist. The relatively long 47mm lug-to-lug length allows the watch to take up more presence on wrist, and it feels more like a 40mm watch to me. The way the NATO strap juts out likely adds to this as well.

The NATO strap itself is particularly nice. I’ve never been a fan of NATO straps personally, but this one is different. There’s no long, overflowing tail to it like most standard NATOs, it tucks nicely into the second keeper for a cleaner look. The khaki color of the nylon fabric, coupled with brown leather accents, accommodates the watch perfectly. The colors of the NATO strap compliment the color of the dial and faux patina. Hamilton made sure that chocolate-brown leather was added to the part of the strap where the holes are, as well as at the tail, to help prevent fraying – a nice touch.

The Archetypal Field Watch

When I think field watch, this watch comes to mind. It’s the archetype. The 24 hour dial, lack of a date feature, non-reflective satin-finished case with drilled lugs, and manual-winding movement are icing on the cake. Winding the watch is a pleasure – I wish my Speedmaster was this buttery-smooth. Seriously, winding this watch is awesome. There are some reports out there of the H-50 movements having problems, most notably about the winding mechanism snapping, so I’ve been very careful to stop when it’s fully wound. 

The case is beautiful, and its matte texture refrains from reflecting any light whatsoever. Coming back around to the strap, one thing I noticed was the tang buckle (which is also nice, signed with “Hamilton”) doesn’t share the nice matte, satin-finished texture found on the case. It appears to be plain brushed stainless steel. No big deal to me, but it would have been nice to see a uniform finishing touch on the buckle as well. The thinness of the case adds to the wearability and it’s one of the things I like most about the Khaki Field Mechanical.

A signed crown tops things off, along with a domed sapphire crystal. The crystal itself is cool, but it also leads me to some of the negatives about the Khaki Field that are already starting to jump out at me.

Too Much Flecto?

The Khaki Field’s domed sapphire crystal is a lot cooler than a flat crystal, but it’s also the source of one of my biggest gripes about the watch. I don’t think Hamilton added any anti-reflective coating to its surface whatsoever. I constantly have to wipe off fingerprints and smudges as well. That’s on top of the insane reflections, or “flecto”, that makes the watch almost unreadable under certain conditions, such as under the lights in my office. Call me crazy, but I think this watch calls for an old-school Hesalite crystal. A domed Hesalite crystal ideally.

I know most people will disagree, but the warmth that Hesalite crystals add to the dial of a watch is amazing, and you don’t really need to worry about reflections like you do with sapphire. It would have made this watch that much cooler and that much more authentic. The Omega Speedmaster isn’t the only watch that still utilizes Hesalite, either, so it’s not that crazy of an idea. Look at Certina’s DS PH200M dive watch or the Longines Conquest Heritage for some modern Swatch-owned examples with nice domed Hesalite crystals.

Hesalite just “looks the part”, and the best part (besides no crazy reflections) is that almost any scratch can be buffed out rather easily with Polywatch. I know this from experience – my Speedmaster’s Hesalite crystal still looks brand new after a quick once-over with a small dab of the stuff.

I fully realize that most owners want a sapphire crystal. It would have been nice if Hamilton could have at least provided AR coating on the underside of the Khaki Field’s crystal for this watch, though. The reflections are a minor gripe, given how great the overall package is, however.

Wrapping Up My Thoughts So Far

Despite my minor irritations with the highly reflective crystal, I have no other negatives to bring to the table here, other than accuracy. My watch is losing -6 seconds a day so far, which is a little annoying, but acceptable I guess.

My complaints about the crystal are really just me nitpicking. This is the perfect field watch in my opinion. The dimensions can’t get any better and the finishing is much better than I was expecting. The dial is beautiful and looks incredible when it’s illuminated by direct sunlight.

There’s something charming about the watch taken as a whole that’s hard to put in words. The whole package comes together to provide a watch that’s just fun to wear, and would be no matter the brand name on the dial or price. It’s an icon. I guess the best way to put it is like this – if you want this watch, no other watch will quite scratch that itch.