Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Hamilton Khaki Navy Automatic Diver

The watch I wore today was my Hamilton Khaki Navy automatic. This particular model with the stainless case and bracelet and very attractive silver face and bezel was a limited edition model tied to the movie "Into The Blue". I don't know how many were produced, but mine has "0605" engraved in red on the caseback, so probably in the thousands, but not tens of thousands. Here is a screenshot of the watch as worn by the main character. The Hamilton website erroneously states the watch worn by Paul Walker in the film was the Khaki Navy GMT. I have no explanation for this discrepancy. This is actually my third Khaki Navy (not counting the GMT which I also have.) I bought a used Khaki Navy with the black face and black rubber band, then very shortly thereafter found a brand new one for less than I paid for the first one. I snatched up the new one, sold the used one (for more than I paid for it) then later sold the new one after buying the silver-dialed model. This was a few years ago when you could find slightly used Hamiltons for maybe half of their normal street price, but lately the prices have been much higher. I've seen a number of people trying to sell used Hamiltons for substantially more than you could buy them new. So, back to the watch. One of the unique features is the internal diving bezel. It's a movable bezel to track dive times just like the external bezel on many of my dive watches, but this one is set with the lower crown. One drawback to this is you must unscrew the crown to move the bezel, so you can't do it while in the water, but it is a unique feature nonetheless. Also, the large twin crowns give the watch a look similar to a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor. I think this Khaki Navy will be one I keep for many years to come.

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