Baselworld 2018 Hamilton Khaki 50, image courtesy of Ruckdee Chotjinda, WOW Thailand.

A Swiss watch brand now based in Bienne, Switzerland, the Hamilton Watch Company had its genesis as an American watchmaking enterprise incorporated since 1892 making pocket watches and wristwatches. Hamilton earned a reputation for railroad watches during the golden age of trains and the rapid expansion of the rail network in the United States where Hamilton corned over 56% of the market. Given the size of the watches, there’s a nice historical synergy with the Baselworld 2018 Hamilton Khaki 50.

Baselworld 2018: Hamilton Khaki 50mm

US Rail companies purchased close to all of Hamilton’s production but as the market switched from pocket watches to wrist watches after World War I, Hamilton’s nascent dominance was nipped in the bud with the onset of World War II when Hamilton retooled its manufacture to make bomb timers and munitions for the military. Thus, the size and modernity of the new Hamilton Khaki 50 reminds me of an almost forgotten era where the brand lay in frozen hibernation ala Captain America, waiting to be unfrozen and sharing its unabashed masculinity with the world.

Macro of the thick Hamilton Khaki 50 1mm numerals made of Super-LumiNova. Image: Green Plastic Soldiers

A foot in Hamilton’s pocket watch history due to its large 50mm proportions, a hand in Hamilton’s aborted modern history with its wristwatch configuration, the new Hamilton Khaki 50 is a deeply rough and rugged 50mm watch with special “earth plating” – a dark, well saturated black PVD coating or sandblasted stainless steel, giving the timepiece deep military aesthetics, another nod to the company’s eventual, unintentional foray into military supply manufacture.

Most notably, the Baselworld 2018 Hamilton Khaki 50 stands out for its dial of Arabic numerals, made fully of Super-LumiNova, each almost 1mm high. giving the dial of the new Khaki 50 a nice depth – more importantly, given the simplicity of this element contrasted with its visual potency, it’s almost a sin that the industry never considered executing such thick numeral indexes in complete luminous material. Furthermore, the minutes hand sweeps nervously close over the numerals, a great sign of exacting detail for the minute tolerances involved for such an affordable timepiece.

Baselworld 2018 Hamilton Khaki 50, image courtesy of Ruckdee Chotjinda, WOW Thailand.

Matching its brilliance are hands with two layers of Super-LumiNova available in two editions – white (the brighter of the two) and black (the sexier but the dimmer of the two due to colour pigments in the Super-LumiNova mix).

As befitting Hamilton’s military provenance, the new Baselworld 2018 Hamilton Khaki 50 is also available in a variety of three NATO leather straps fitted with H-buckles and impeccably, a good coat of anti-reflection, a necessity given the large face of the timepiece.

New Hamilton Khaki 50mm Price and Specs

Movement Handwound H-50 exclusive calibre with 80 hours power reserve
Case 50mm PVD stainless steel with 100 metres water resistance
Strap NATO-style leather
Price Brushed steel SG$1690, PVD coated SG$1890

Sandblasted Hamilton Khaki 50, image courtesy of Ruckdee Chotjinda, WOW Thailand.