Khaki Field       Khaki Field       Khaki Field       Khaki King I/II     Khaki Navy      Khaki X-Wind

38mm wind-up    38mm Auto      42mm Auto       38/42mm Auto    41mm Auto        44mm Auto

All watches are compared with stainless cases and stainless bracelets/ black faces

Picture were not able to be uploade and save by the eBay server, I'm visually sorry. Hamilton watches was the inventor of the modern wristwatch.  It all came about from the fact that soldiers during World War I could not keep their rifles sighted in on a target and look at their pocket watch at the same time.  Of course soldiers are creative, so people began seeing some inventive souls wearing modified pocket watches bound to their wrists by various means including cloth and twine even rope.  I have shown a display of the basic designs that these watches come in.  The watches shown are all stainless steel, with black faces, many can be purchased with different multi-colored faceplates and all come with different colored leather straps, steel is just easiest to show side by side and is the most durable.

Watch no. 1 from the left is the field wind up hamilton.  This watch was distributed by the Army and Marines during World War II and produced well, like candy.  That is quickly and as many as possible so that as many troops as possible could have one.  Most were Olive drab green with tritium (a glow in the dark and slightly radioactive) hands and hour markers.  These watches were state of the art until the automatic watch number 2.  These were quickly purchased by officers and non- commissioned officers because of there reliability and ease of operation.

After World War II these watches were ever more popular with former GIs during the 50's and the 60's because people around the world had been exposed to the fine quality of Hamilton.  As the last third of the 20th century approached Hamiltons faced some changes, consumers wanted to have larger watch face and to have scratch-proof sapphire crystals.  So out came watch number 3 the 42mm field automatic with a sapphire crystal. 

This brings Hamilton into the 21st century, where military buyers want all the feature and reliabilities of a premium swiss watch comparable to a breitling or an omega but at a reasonable price of a hamilton.  The Swatch Group now owns hamilton and watch making manufacturing techniques are shared throughout the corporation.  Now the premium watches start to roll out.  Watch number 4, the Navy is specifically designed for Navy SEALS and underwater demolitions teams as well as civilian  divers, etc.. The King,(watch number 5), is a 42mm automatic updated version of the older 38mm field auto.  The shape of the watch has been refined and it now has a day of the week dial on the face and a glass back, exposing the automatic movement.  This watch is more like a high end tissot or an omega than any other watch hamilton makes.  The last of the military style khaki watches are the aviation watches which also include the x-wind series.  Watch number 6, sorry I could only find a silver face,but they are top quality in the flight world .  The aviation watches are most closely like a breitling watch but at 1/4 of the price.  Every calculation needed to pilot a plane can be done on an aviator or an x-wing.  

There is one side note about one of  these watches; in 2003 Hamilton designed the King 2  42mm, which previously happened to only be available in a 38mm case, at that time as the King.  Trying to clone an omega, hamilton smoothed the lines on the 42mm case and put sapphire crystals on the front and back of the case.  Gaskets were installed and the watch was filled with nitrogen gas, in hopes that the oxygen free environment would prevent rusting in the automatic movement therefore extending service intervals.  Very few(<100) of these watches left hamilton's factory and very few can be found.  The nitrogen has a tendency to expand at high altitudes causing the crystals to break out.  Hamilton discontinued manufacturing this King2and just filled with low pressure air and calls it the khaki king.  The only way to tell the difference is to check the watch number on the back of the case. Khaki King with air will have the number ending in 133 a King 2 will end in 0 and only come in stainless steel.  If the King@ has been sent back to hamilton then they have removed the gaskets or replaced the crystals and refilled with air.  This is a collectors piece, but must be in new or next to new condition with some paper trail.

All of the hamiltons originate from the original WWII wristwatch that was wound by hand.  The newer watches have great, super accurate automatic movements that stay functional long after the watch has been removed.  All of these watches have similarities and differences such as movements; hand wound, quartz, and various automatics (better with each year),  watch face color; green, black, blue and silver,  bracelet; stainless steel, rubber, OD green web, multi-color leather, etc.,  Water Resistance depth;  50m-200m.  The Khaki watches are beloved by all allied military personnel no matter what branch of the service they served in from WWII through Iraqi Freedom.  They are Swiss Made, meaning that 50% of the parts come from Switzerland and that it is assembled in Switzerland.  Hamilton is owned by the Swatch corp.  The largest Swiss watch company in the world.  Generally these watches are not counterfeited like Omegas, Rolexes, Tags and Gucci, but better to be safe than sorry.  All new hamiltons or new ones since 2003 come in a round black box with clear top that has a locking crown, lined with black velvet, it comes with a black hamilton box the case fits perfectly inside of.  Hamilton provides a 2 year parts and labor warranty, and many authorized dealers provide free extended warranties to show the precision craftmanship that goes into these watches.  Sometimes these watches are difficult to find new.  Princeton watches carries a good supply of hamiltons as does tourneau, but tourneau while great supply wise is terribly expensive.  If you willing to assume some risk, then eBay is a good way to go since this is a low counterfeit brand, though still be leary of anything coming form Asia or eastern europe.  For a look at most watch specs go to hamiltonwatch dot com.    FYI- forgive the grammar and typos and for Info about the King2 you are going to have to dig around like I did, talk to people at hamilton who have worked there since 1995. Contact them through vintage watches on the hamiltonwatch.com website. Use auction houses/antique dealers, as many people don't know what they have, though you must check service record through hamilton.  I was only able to find two with proper serial numbers and service records.  Tourneau offered to build me one that would be similar, but that they would have to tear apart 2 separate watches and cost nearly$1000, and still would be nitrogen free.  Lorraines Antiques.com had one with an unknown service record and no registered owner historically.  I have interests in rare hamiltons myself. I have been looking for an original WWII hamilton wind-up issued to the cactus airforce (the Marines) and have found it impossible through the internet and estate sales, flea markets, watch auctions,w holesalesr..etc, but I'll keep looking.  I am willing to have the watch restored as long as face plate and case are intact.  Good luck in your quest, you will not go wrong in choosing a hamilton, they make a fine watch. stick with the khaki and go with stainless to keep the most value in your watch.  Other than that, let personal preference lead the way.