Dibs

 

I have never purchased a Hamilton but have almost purchased a Hamilton many times. What stops me EVERY TIME is 50m WR on a field watch. Absolutely unacceptable to a serious field worker.

I used Seiko divers and Certina DS in the field because both are serious about WR. Also prefer quartz for any serious field studies.

I love the Khaki King in champagne. But 5 Bar is a laugh.

 

what sort of serious field work do you do in excess of 50 meters under water

 

Ya beat me to it.

 

That's not how it works. 50 meters is good for short term submerge like reaching in the stream or a quick swim across the river. And it doesn't account for crap in the gaskets or blow-by due to agitation of a non screw down crown. Plenty of Hamilton 50s have shown moisture under the crystal after rough field work. A serious field watch needs to be at least 100m WR. PREFERABLY 200m and screw down crown.

 

Well. There you have it.

have fun
kfw

 

actually 50M means 50M

gaskets can blow on any watch without replacement regardless of rating

 

So what you are saying is a 50meter watch can go diving or be submerged at 50 meters during a day of activities. Hmm. I got a bridge to sell you.

 

It's well established that 100 and greater WR watches have redundancy built into their case sealing technology. And screw down crown protects the sealing surfaces fron daily dust exposure and oxidation of seals. My point is well established Hamilton field watches do not meet the requirements of working daily in saturated conditions. I know of three failures in the last few years, a firefighter, a soldier and a marine scientist. Go do your research. 50 is subpar for a $500 swiss FIELD watch. Really quite ridiculous of Hamilton considering the money they charge. Certina gives you triple seals for less than $300. See DS Concept or DS Action.

 

Well that’s what Hamilton is saying anyway

 

Are you two done yet?

Have fun
kfw

 

I think it’s just a field watch style. Nobody wears that kind of watch in the field anyway. (There’s probably different definition of “field”) At least none of the soldiers around me would wear a $400 watch to work.

 

Thank you for the information coronado. The watch belonged to my father in law, but neither my wife or I know when he bought it. I see there are folks who "specialize" fixing up Hamiltons, but I have always been under the impression that re-dials destroy a watches value. Is this a case of "you can't make it any worse" so go ahead and let someone try and fix the dial? Since you say "easily corrected" do have a suggestion?

 

International Dial Co. They have the original Hamilton dies. American watch collectors don't seem to freak out about redials as much and if it's already poorly redialed a better redial will only improve it.

 

I'll second AC on the International Dial Co.

 

Beautiful. I just scored my first WG diamond dial as well. I was never interested before now I'm obsessed. Perfect mate to my 18k yellow Ventura. Rarely see these.

 

I've only used them for Hamilton and Illinois watches and they do a really good job with both.

 

This is the only Hamilton I have for now, the 38mm manual wind field watch with brown dial.

 

I have an M59-2 in 10k gold that belonged to my grandfather that i wear very often, it has the original 10k bracelet, i just love the look, even though it is on the smaller side.