20980

The Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Bronze is the best value bronze watch around

Zach Blass

Bronze is all the rage right now. The metal ticks a lot of boxes, offering a precious metal tone without a precious metal price premium. The cases typically generate a patina and, as we all know, vintage aesthetics are very on trend. Plus, it’s an alternative to the ever ubiquitous stainless steel and allows collectors to own a watch that will develop a greater sense of character – a case that’s reflective of its owner and tells the story of how it’s been worn. Bronze offerings have a wide spectrum of pricing across the industry, but the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Bronze is one of the true value propositions. The Khaki Field line has always been praised as a great entry watch for budding collectors, delivering more than solid specifications well below $1,000 USD. So whether you’re looking for your first bronze watch, or even your first watch overall, this latest novelty from Hamilton should definitely be on your radar.

In its new shade and metal, the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Bronze retains the dimensions of its stainless-steel predecessors – 38mm in diameter, 9.5mm thick, and 47mm lug-to-lug across the wrist. The 50 metre water-resistant case is ripe for daily wear, a great companion for outdoor activities like hiking and even surface level water activity as well. This is a watch that is meant to be worn, the bronze alloy gracefully aging in the process and each case telling its own unique story. In addition, the fact that the Khaki Field line takes inspiration from Hamilton watches worn by the US and British military in the 1940s and onwards is a testament to its robust design and reliability.

The matte black dial is highly legible, with contrasting white printed Arabic hour numerals, inner 24 hour scale to display military time, and minute hashes for the minutes track. The central hours, minutes, and lollipop counterweighted arrow seconds hands are white as well, but each of the hands as well as the triangular hour indexes are coated with aged faux-tina SuperLuminova® to further drive home the vintage sensibilities of the watch. Regardless of where you stand on the faux-tina trend, I personally feel the aged tone really pairs well with the bronze case colour.

The Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Bronzee is paired with a brown leather NATO strap that really evokes the vintage military theme well. For those who might prefer a fabric NATO in favour of a leather one, or just want to spruce up the aesthetic with their aftermarket strap collection, the lug width is 20mm – the most common size making it ripe for additional strap pairings.

Another highly appealing element of the watch that cannot be understated is its movement. The H50 caliber beneath the solid titanium caseback presents a ton of technological value at the price point, offering up 80 hours of power reserve. The manually wound movement, designed by Hamilton for their exclusive use, helps maintain the slender nature of the case and its long power reserve ensures you will only have to wind the watch every three days or so. Considering that many watches that are triple the price do not boast such a lengthy power reserve is further testament to the killer value of the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Bronze.