If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: for accessible, practical tool watches, Hamilton is tough to beat. In many respects, the Khaki Navy Scuba Auto is the Swiss equivalent to the Seiko 1965 Revival Diver. A mechanical watch with a power reserve over 3-days and that sports a very traditional diving aesthetic. And now the Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba Auto is presented in three new summer colourways of black with either yellow, red-pink or orange accents.
Starting with the case, it measures 40mm in diameter in stainless steel with 100m water resistance. That water resistance does strike me as very low for a watch so closely aligned with diving, which is why I opened this article talking about tool watches more broadly. While the aesthetic is unquestionably that of a dive watch, what with its unidirectional bezel and oversize lumed hour markers, it’s more suited to general purpose use. It’s more of an action adventure watch that you can be confident will survive if you take a spill off the side of a boat or get sodden in the English summer rains than a watch to take to the dark depths.
However, the key aspect of this release are the multiple colourways that have been introduced. As I mentioned in the introduction, those are black with either yellow, red-pink or orange. The bright, warm colours are found on the peripheral minute track, seconds hand and the matching rubber straps. It makes for a very striking appearance with the colours cutting through the darkness in a satisfying manner. It reminds me of the William Wood Fearless Collection, although the red of the Hamilton is a touch pinker. Of the three, I like the orange the most as it has a strong connection to dive watch heritage but I’d also understand if you find the yellow to be a particular highlight.
All three make for very invigorating, sporty aesthetics that are well suited to summer. Plus, with an 80-hour power reserve courtesy of the H-10 movement (based on the Swatch Group Powermatic 80) the Khaki Navy Scuba Auto is well adapted to the summer because you can put it down for a few days while storms blow through and it will still be ticking when the sun comes out again. The calibre is equipped with central hours, minutes and seconds with a date window nestled between 4 and 5 o’clock.
All told, it’s a fun and robust timepiece that manages to effectively balance practicality with style. Which is exactly what you want from a £790 wristwatch. It’s genuinely a great addition to any collection or even a great place to start a collection.
Price and Specs:
More details at Hamilton.
Too bad the reviewer has no idea about scuba diving.
“anything”below 200 ft is deadly without helium and is considered a “technical dive” not recreational- absolutely needs certification.
Narcosis occurs typically after 120 ft.
This 330 ft diver watch? is way more than anyone who reads this will ever need “guaranteed”
Hi Rennie,
Thanks for your comment. I agree that 100m water resistance rating is more than the majority of people will need.
It’s generally recommended that your watch should have a much higher water resistance rating than the depths you wish to wear the watch at – this is because watches are tested for water resistance using pressure chambers where the watches are completely static, meaning the ratings don’t often account for the additional water pressure experienced while moving through the water.
For that reason I tend to err on the side of caution when recommending watches to be worn underwater. It’s mostly anecdotal but a lot of people consider 100m water resistance to be swimming safe, 300m for diving and 600m for saturation diving. There is of course nothing stopping you wearing your watches however and wherever you like!
If you’ve worn some 100m watches on recreational dives, it would be great to hear about them. I always enjoy stories of watches performing well.
All the best,
Michael Sonsino