This Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical is the perfect military throwback

Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical 36 — (Image credit: Hamilton)

QUICK SUMMARY

Hamilton has revealed a new addition to its Khaki Field collection. Called the Mechanical 36, the watch is a faithful reproduction of a Hamilton Watch issues to the US Air Force Navigators in the 1970s.

Priced at £595 and with a compact 36mm case, the watch is water resistant to 100 metres and is driven by an automatic movement with 80 hours of power reserve. It'll be available from 20th May, with production only running until the end of 2026.

You’ll no doubt be familiar with how Hamilton’s Khaki Field watch collection is inspired by military timepieces from the past. But for its latest model, Hamilton has honed in on a very specific one from the 1970s – and does so with fabulous results.

It’s called the Khaki Field Mechanical 36 and it’s a near-identical revival of the Hamilton FAPD 5101, a watch produced back in the 1970s for the US Air Force Navigators.

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The new watch faithfully recreates the look of the original, from the same 36 mm case width, to the fixed lug bars and acrylic, box-shaped crystal. Improvements unlocked by contemporary watchmaking include 100 metres of watch resistance and a warm, vintage glow created by the use of Super-LumiNova Grade X2 lume.

Instead of recreating the one-off 684 calibre movement, Hamilton has fitted the Khaki Field 36 with its H-50 automatic mechanical movement with Nivachron balance spring and an impressive 80 hours of power reserve.

As with other Hamilton pieces, the watch comes on a textile NATO strap with pink buckle. Unlike its stablemates, however, is the Mechanical 36’s exclusivity, since Hamilton says it’ll only be produced during 2026 in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in the USA.

Priced at £595, the watch will be available to buy from 20th May. It’ll be sold alongside Hamilton’s pre-existing 38mm and 42mm variants of the Khaki Field Mechanical.

Alistair is a freelance automotive and technology journalist. He has bylines on esteemed sites such as the BBC, Forbes, TechRadar, and of best of all, T3, where he covers topics ranging from classic cars and men's lifestyle, to smart home technology, phones, electric cars, autonomy, Swiss watches, and much more besides. He is an experienced journalist, writing news, features, interviews and product reviews. If that didn't make him busy enough, he is also the co-host of the AutoChat podcast.