Hamilton’s military watch history stretches back over a century.

From pocket watches to field watches to ships’ chronometers, the American-founded brand has provided soldiers with reliable timepieces for decades upon decades. An interesting subset of this impressive output, however, lies in a military-adjacent watch: the humble, 34mm ‘Khaki’ line of the 1980s and 1990s. 

Having surplus on hand of its American-issued military watches from the 1970s and earlier, Hamilton began selling these (and similar) timepieces through outdoor stores such as L.L. Bean and Avirex. Each was signed with the name of its retailer on the dial, making for a wonderful collector’s market in which one could accumulate a relatively large number of field watches at affordable prices.

This particular Khaki is one of the rarest of all. Retailed by Brigade Quartermaster, a now-defunct mail-order business of military surplus items, it seems that very few were made.

Housed in a 34mm ‘parkerized’ stainless steel case with an acrylic crystal and a stepped bezel, it features a matte black Tritium dial with printed 'Arabic' indices, a matching ‘syringe’ handset, the rare ‘hooded archer’ logo of Brigade Quartermaster at the 12:00 position,  and 12- and 24-hour scales in white.

Powered by a hand-wound ETA 2750 — a hardy caliber with a large balance that can be regulated by any qualified watchmaker — this well-sized field watch is a stellar reminder of the place of outdoorsmanship in the American psyche.

Strap on this humble Hamilton to be transported back to a different time!