Considering Hamilton’s long history and prominent position among American watch brands, it could very well be thought of as the most successful among them. And one of its most popular sub-brands would be the Khaki, which comes as the Khaki Field, Navy, and Aviation today.
Now, the Khaki comes in many forms but is generally known as a military watch, and Hamiltons have been present in several major conflicts. Founded in 1892, Hamilton watches were supplied to the US military during WWI and after the war continued their focus on wristwatches over pocket watches. Originally Hamilton supplied railroad watches to soldiers under the command of General Pershing, these were pocket watches converted to wristwatches for their use. For this, the US military gave the company the Army-Navy ‘E’ Awards for the quality of their products.
In-between the World Wars, Hamilton was notable for its forays into the aviation watch segment, supplying watches to the US Airmail Service and to Richard Byrd, the first person to fly to the North Pole in 1926.
WWII was when Hamilton military watch business really took off, focusing their entire production capacity on supplying over 1 million watches to the US military between 1942 and 1945. Hamilton also supplied 10,00 marine chronometers to the US Navy during the conflict. This reputation was solidified by the release of the 1951 movie The Frogmen, which featured the eponymous Hamilton and was inspired by the WWII Hamilton watches made for the US Navy’s Frogman teams. These were originally called Hamilton Buships, with civilian versions being mass produced in the early 1950s, coinciding with the release of the film.
WWII Hamilton Buships / Credit: WannaBuyAWatch
Less than two decades after Hamilton’s success in shifting to focus on military watches, the Vietnam War was the time of the Hamilton Khaki Field, with military spec watches like the GG-W-113 being supplied en mass to soldiers in the US military as of 1967. Several brands produced this spec along with others, among them Benrus, Bulova, and Marathon from Canada.
These early Vietnam War military spec watches are the basis of the almost identical Hamilton Khaki Field watch today. You can also see that the Frogman and several other modern Hamilton models, homages to a certain extent, also share many key features with the original watches that were used throughout various conflicts in the 20th century. A nice reminder of Hamilton’s prominent place in watch history – especially military watch history, with their last contract with the American military being fulfilled in the late 1980s.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical / Credit: Hamilton
Read more:
“Hamilton History.” Hamilton Watch, https://www.hamiltonwatch.com/en-int/timeline.html.
“Hamilton Military Heritage.” Hamilton Watch, https://www.hamiltonwatch.com/en-int/military-heritage.html.
“American Mil-Spec: A GG-W-113 Pilot Watch Buyers Guide.” 60 Clicks, https://www.60clicks.com/gg-w-113-pilot-watch-buyers-guide/.
“NOUVELLE HAMILTON KHAKI FIELD MECHANICAL : TRULY MILITARY.” Les Rhabilleurs, February 23rd, 2018, https://www.lesrhabilleurs.com/2017/12/hamilton-khaki-field-officer-mechanical/.