• September 20, 2015
  • Saanto
  • 0

Among many of the products BaselWorld 2012 brought to the public eye in the affordable category, Hamilton made a prominent mark with their Khaki Navy Pioneer. It was released as a limited edition and if you are lucky enough, you’ll find one still waiting to be picked. At 40mm, it pays homage to the WWII-era Marine Chronometers they built for the naval vessels. Today as well, they are as precise as those key maritime instruments and Hamilton recreated it in a smaller and much more wearable form. The look and functions stay unchanged. Powered by the ETA 2895-2 automatic movement, it stands as a practical choice for both business and casual uses and its signature 6 o’clock sub-seconds dial brings to it a simple yet classic appeal.

Whoever wants to make an immediate but lasting impression must opt for the Khaki Navy Pioneer Auto as their primary dressing accessory. Despite its smaller size (in today’s standards), you can’t help but agree to its spot-on proportions. It’s definitely a more practical take for the purposes the KNP is built for; besides, anything larger than its given dimensions would kill off the classic style.

The case with its very interesting details is simply beautiful. They idea behind is taking something from their past and giving it a new form without severing ties to the original. The execution is flawless; the presentation, unique and the price, fair. In a word, it’s a refined piece.

A lateral look of the Khaki Navy Pioneer reveals an interesting construction. The top part is a cylindrical bezel that has a knurled edge, beneath which is a slightly convex slope, resulting in a well-executed, delicate finish. All this comes from their days of the marine chronometers. Overall, it’s a simple, industrial-like dynamic appearance from a surprisingly complicated construction and case-geometry.

 

It won’t be justice without speaking on the dial, which is essentially a scaled-down version the marine chronometer. Large, clear numerals make that obvious; the simple minute track and the sub-seconds dial (at 6) stand as proofs. There’s a slight metallic sheen that adds to the aesthetics together with the very thin railroad minutes track along the edge. It’s a refined take where the clean execution is a major determinant.

The Poire-style hands of the Khaki Navy Pioneer Automatic are steel that’s blued with heat. It appears very very classic and was the same for the Marine watches.

So now to movement and there are a lot of readers who are just waiting for this part to come up. The ETA 2895-2 is a fairly thin and fairly undecorated, 27-jewel automatic movement that allows manual winding and hacking and beats at 28,800 bph. This one is very much like the 2892. But it’s a quality movement, accurate and reserves power as it is claimed to be. The incredibly smooth motion of the seconds is a proof enough; there is no perceivable ticking.

You really want to satisfy your itch for a marine watch, this simple, versatile and very mature Hamilton does it for you!

Watch(es) mentioned in this post are listed below.  Click to see details and buy them:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *