I have to confess, I really didn’t understand it’s appeal, on top of my general ignorance on the details surrounding certain sub-specialities of watches, such as those used by historical military forces.So the Hamilton Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical is a faithful recreation of the W10 watch that was made by Hamilton and another military watch supplier, CWC, for the British Royal Air Force in the 1970’s. It follows the general format for military watches at the time and came with a highly legible black dial, white numerals for contrast, no polishing on the case, a RAF specific minute track design on the dial, a tourneau case and a textured dial.

In fact, the new watch follows its inspiration so closely that you can essentially say that it is a perfect recreation of the original watch.

Why is it so cool?Well it’s simple, tough and good-looking, with the small 33mm x 36mm x 9.95mm case that is essentially weightless on the wrist. This is a watch that is there when you need it, and disappears when you don’t. When I think about who the original was created for – pilots needing something legible to tell the time and nothing more, I can really feel how the watch was conceived as a tool first and foremost, with none of the artifice and only the essentials.That is a charming thought, and in an era where the watch industry has resorted to ever more fanciful pyrotechnics that move further and further away from the reason why watches were invented in the first place, the Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical acts as a sort of palette cleanser to all that noise.

I can see how having a watch like this and nothing more can be such a pleasure, and with the inclusion of some nice modern touches, like the useful 100 metre water resistance, and the hand-wound calibre H-50 offering 80 hours of power reserve, this is something to have when you want to take a break from the fanciful parade of new offerings – then set, wind it, and wear it, and just go live your life.

And oh, the last thing that’s so cool about it, the price – at a moderate SGD $1,190 or USD $845 on NATO.

Check it out in person. I think you’ll be impressed.

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Hamilton was part of the small group of brands that was in the race that culminated in 1969 for the release of the world’s first automatic chronograph, along with Heuer, Breitling, and Buren. Their entry was the Calibre 11, a movement that competed with the El Primero from Zenith and the Seiko calibre 6139 that were all released in the same year.

That Hamilton was a part of this race is a fact that doesn’t come to mind as readily as the other brands, and it’s useful to be reminded every now and again how much of an innovator they were in the late 1960’s

The original Chrono-Matic Count-Down GMT carried Calibre 14, a variant of the groundbreaking automatic chronograph Calibre 11 and was launched in 1972 which is also the reason for the the limitation number of the new watch to 1972 pieces.The aesthetics of the new and the old watches has largely been preserved. Without having both to compare directly in hand, from pictures both look as near identical as can be. The large pebble shaped case with red coloured chronograph pushers, the fonts on the dial for the Hamilton logo and the “chronograph count-down” text, and even the bi-compax chronograph layout with similarly designed subdials.The one obvious difference however stems from the fact that the new Chrono-Matic 50 does not have a GMT function unlike the older watch. Instead of the city and 24 hour rings that make up the outer tracks of the dial of the old watch, the new one replaces these with the tachymeter scale, and a count-down minute ring that is adjusted via the rotating crown at 8 o’clock. Also, the black pusher at 11 o’clock is for the quick change date, which in the older watch is most likely related to the GMT function.On the wrist, the watch is large and bold, with the red accents, imposing case size, that when coupled with the 1970’s styling of the case on a racing style strap makes for a memorable presence.

Find out more at at the Hamilton website.

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