When you work in the watch industry, one of the questions you get asked over and over again is “What’s the best watch for $XXX?” The dollar amount is constantly shifting depending on who is asking the question or their level of horological curiosity, but over time I think most of develop a stock answer to questions like these. My favorite recommendation for almost anyone asking about watches under $1,000 is some version of the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical. These are, and have always been, fantastic watches. They’re affordable, easy to read, and now come in a variety of sizes, dial colors, and case metals to suit just about any taste. But the not-so-secret weapon, in my opinion, is the manually wound movement. If using a watch like this everyday, dutifully winding it as needed, doesn’t hook you on this hobby, I kind of don’t know what will.
My own admiration for the mechanical versions of these watches aside, it comes as no real surprise that Hamilton would want to expand the potential reach of the Khaki Field by offering an even easier to wear quartz version. And that’s what we have here. It’s a somewhat strange proposition, taking a watch whose identity, such as it is, is based around a mechanical caliber, and removing it entirely from the equation, but it turns out that even in a quartz configuration the Khaki Field retains a lot of its character.
The new Khaki Field Quartz watches are available in both the familiar 38mm and a new 33mm size in white, blue, and black dial options. All have “old radium” colored lume material on the traditional Arabic numerals and hands, except the blue which has accents in white. All are shipped on a textile strap with leather accents in complementary colors, but these, of course, are proverbial “strap monsters,” and take well to all kinds of leather colors and textures.
The best thing about these watches, aside from a design that is (overused watch writer cliche alert) timeless, is the price of entry. All references in 33mm and 38mm sizes retail for $395. That’s nearly impulse buy territory for many, and it feels like a lot of watch for the money when you consider Hamilton’s long history, and the way the Khaki Field in particular has worked its way into watch culture. Hamilton
