For those who find themselves traveling between time zones often, a GMT watch can be a real lifesaver. Simultaneously recording your current time and the time where you live, these watches help the weary traveler keep up to date with their friends and family back home or adjust to their new time zone (“Oh look, it’s only 4:00 pm back home, no wonder I can’t sleep!”). With the Khaki GMT H77615333 we are examining today, Hamilton has not just created another fine GMT watch, but they have added some nice extra features to enhance your traveling experience a little bit more. This is a fun watch, so let’s see what it has going on.
Robust Case
If your travels happen to include scuba diving, go ahead and bring this Hamilton along, as it is rated as water resistant to 200 meters. An exhibition case back provides a glimpse into the ETA movement’s workings. Measuring fairly normal 42 millimeters wide, the Khaki GMT’s brushed stainless-steel case stretches out to 52 millimeters when measured lug-to-lug. Hamilton uses a sapphire crystal for the dial window, as we have come to expect from the Swiss manufacturer.
As for functionality, you will notice three crowns on this case, one of the left and two on the right. The top crown on the right side of the case adjusts the time and date, while the bottom crown turns the inner bezel: note that the inner bezel contains the small window that displays the list of time zone cities, so by moving this bezel, you are changing what city is currently displayed. The left-side crown will rotate the actual list of cities so that you can make sure the correct one is displayed at all times.
Glossy Dial
The Khaki GMT’s glossy black dial is equal parts rugged and adventurous. I picture it being worn on the arm of an intrepid explorer hacking his way through the dense foliage of a rainforest with his machete, like in some sort of adventure movie. While that is probably not a reality for any actual owner of the watch, it appears that Hamilton has built the watch meticulously enough to hold up to such use.
Lume has been applied to the 12-hour markers, minute markers, and all three hands, making for a very usable watch in the dark. The large white Arabic numerals on the inner circle display the hour markers, while a smaller set provides the 24-hour time on the inside of those. The only hour marker left off the dial is the 3, which has been replaced by a white date window.
Now, look to the other side of the dial, to the window situated just inside of the 9 o’clock marker; this window indicates the second time zone being tracked by the GMT H77615333 watch. A super cool window on the outside of the left-hand side of the dial shows a scrolling list of cities that will automatically set your time zone. A screw-down crown adjusts the list of cities. Unfortunately, the font for the city list is so small that it can be very difficult to read.
As mentioned earlier, there is an inner bezel that sits at a shallow angle to the rest of the dial and displays minutes as well as the window for the time zone cities. The idea being that you have the city that corresponds to your second time zone displayed so that you can more easily remember which time is which. While this feature sounds more gimmicky than useful, having a foreign city displayed on the dial does add a nice hint of adventure to the watch and because of that I approve of it. The real downside is that setting the city doesn’t automatically set the time zone display, so you have to go through the manual process of making the city math the time zone.
ETA 2893-2 Movement
This Khaki GMT watch uses a Swiss-made ETA 2893-2 movement. With a nice list of features, this automatic movement is a fitting addition to the watch.
Vibrating to the tune of 28,800 bph, it features a 38-hour power reserve as well as hacking and hand-winding functionality.
Rubber Band
A black rubber strap with decorative white contrast stitching mirrors the colorway of the dial, with the silver case and red arrow on the GMT window being the only other colors present on the watch. Even though it is rubber, this seems to be a high-quality band, very comfortable and flexible.
As you can see I have shaped my rubber band out for a black leather strap, which kind of brings out an entirely different personality from the watch!
Final Thoughts
All in all, Hamilton appears to have another winner on its hands. While some of the details might seem a little hokey at first, the Khaki GMT H77615333 ultimately pulls off the “worldly traveler” vibe it is going for. This watch demonstrates Hamilton’s usual knack for quality and precision, and the suggested retail price is more than reasonable for what you are getting, considering we are living in a time when many cell phones cost more than that.
Jette says
Hi. Nice review. I have the earlier version of this watch with caliber 2893-1. I’m looking for a steel bracelet/band to replace the rubber watch band. Preferably by Hamilton. Any recommendations? Also how many mm? Watch band reference number would be helpful. Thanks.