The New Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition Is Adventure Ready, IWC Works With Lewis Hamilton For Crazy New Watch, Farer Debuts New Chrono Collection, New Watches From Shinola and MB&F

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Oh man, are there some good watches today. Even the crazy IWC is fun. But my favorite? Always Farer. Just look at their colors

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In this issue:

• Hamilton Releases New Khaki Field Expedition, Now Ready For More Adventure

• IWC Unveils Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph Lewis Hamilton Edition

• Farer Debuts a New Chronograph Collection, the Chrono-Contempo, With, You Guessed It, Spectacular Colors

• Shinola Updates Their Canfield Speedway Chronograph For The Sixth Time, But With A Price That Is Completely Inexplicable

• MB&F Introduces New Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO Taipei Edition

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 20 seconds

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👂What’s new

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Hamilton Releases New Khaki Field Expedition, Now Ready For More Adventure

One of the consistently most popular watches I mention on here are the Hamilton Khaki Field family of watches. And. for good reason. They are extremely solid, affordable and work in a range of situations, from casual to more serious. Hamilton knows that people love taking their field watches out into the nature and are now coming out with a new collection that embraces adventure and getting out there, the new Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition.

The watches, all eight versions of them will come in two sizes - 37mm and 41mm, which seems like a perfect spread to cover most wrist sizes out there. Seeing the press photos from Hamilton, it looks like the 41mm looks like a robust tool watch on the wrist, while the 37mm still offers the same field watch simplicity as the non-Expedition variants.

The case is made of brushed stainless steel and has shot lugs that give it an almost completely circular look, a look only more enhanced by the new bezel fitted on the Expedition. The bezel features a compass scale with notches at the major points of the compass. You also get a screw-down crown and 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial is understated, as it should be in a field watch and comes in three colors - black, white and blue. The numerals are large, legible and Arabic, the hands are arrow shaped and filled with SuperLuminova and the hour and minute indexes are short bars, with the hour markers also getting lume. Since the watches are still not up on the Hamilton website, here’s another picture so you can see the dials:

Inside the watch is the awesome Hamilton H-10, an automatic movement with an anti-magnetic Nivachron hairspring and an incredible 80-hour power reserve. The black dial version is available on a leather strap or on a three-link steel bracelet, while the white and blue dials are available only on leather straps.

Like I said, the watch is not on the Hamilton website just yet, so I’m not 100% sure when it goes on sale, but surely won’t be long. When it does, however, both sizes will sell for the same price, with the only difference being strap material - you will pay €1,115 for the watches on a leather strap and €1,195 on the bracelet. Both prices seem like incredible value for money for the quality and movement you get. Keep an eye out on the Hamilton website to see when they pop up.

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IWC Unveils Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph Lewis Hamilton Edition

Watch partnerships with sports superstars are usually meh, at best. Often it’s just a name slapped on a different colorway of an already existing watch. However, over the past few years as the Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been coming into his own in terms of building his personal style off the track, he has been working with IWC to create a couple of unique watches. And this new one, the Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph Lewis Hamilton, just might be one of those rare pieces where watch partnerships with sports superstars make sense.

If you’ve ever seen a photo of Hamilton around the F1 paddock, you will know he is no stranger to experimentation when it comes to clothes and is known to wear crazy combinations. So it makes sense that these IWC collaborations have a bit of this craziness built in as well. This new Portugieser comes in a hefty platinum case that measures 43.5mm. The case is simple, round and with a large 3 o’clock crown flanked by integrated button pushers that operate the chronograph.

While not traditional, the dial has a bi-compax display, but stacked vertically in the 12-6 o’clock orientation. It’s not traditional in several ways. First of all, vertically stacked bi-compaxes are very rare, and even rarer are the types of display you find at 12 o’clock. There, instead of having two separate subdials for the chronograph hour and minute counters, IWC has superimposed those two scales each other on the one dial at 12. At 6 there is no dial, but rather a tourbillon, rotating at a rate of once per minute.

At 9 o’clock is a retrograde date display while at 3 is the IWC, as well as Lewis Hamilton’s panther eyes logo. This sounds horrible, but looking at it it looks subtle due to it’s slightly different shade of teal from the dial, it’s not as noticable so it can pass. The periphery of the dial is reserved for the hour and minute markers, with the former being inset diamonds.

Inside the watch is the IWC Calibre 89900, an automatic movement with 68-hour power reserve. It has a silicone pallet lever and escape wheel, which are both coated with a Diamond Shell coating for reduced friction. It also has a stop tourbillion, which is functionally the same as stop seconds meaning that when you’re setting the time, the tourbillon comes to a complete halt so that you can set the watch with extreme precision. The entire movement looks absolutely stunning and you can see it through the caseback.

This Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph is limited to 44 pieces, which makes sense, not only because Hamilton raced under that number but also because I don’t imagine them selling too many of these watches. They will certainly be an acquired taste and the retail price is set at CHF 150,000. See more on the IWC website.

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Farer Debuts a New Chronograph Collection, the Chrono-Contempo, With, You Guessed It, Spectacular Colors

I am pretty sure that there is no other watch brand, micro or major, that works with color better than the British microbrand Farer does. They are bold, always the perfect shade and always expertly matched with contrasting colors. Now, they are launching a duo of new dual time zone chronograph called the Chrono-Contempo. It is their take on the classic chronograph, but with spectacular colors.

The Chrono-Contempo comes in a 38.5mm diameter steel case. According to Farer, the watch has their new new ski jump lugs. Instead of traditional smooth downward curving lugs, the Chrono-Contempo has a concave chamfer with an uptick at the end of the curve making them look like ski jumps.

The two models carry the names Chalcot and Portobello and just like any other Farer, they look radically different from one another, all thanks to the brand’s use of color. Chalcot takes inspiration from big eye chronographs which have the minute counter larger than the other subdials. They do this by blending two subdials into the grainy mint background, while the 3 o’clock subdial stands out in white. It also gets a navy ceramic bezel and orange hands. The Portobello has an orange ceramic bezel, a dark blue dial with a waffle pattern and black subdials.

Speaking of the ceramic bezels, both models are bi-directional and feature a 12-hour scale, making it a dual time zone watch. While a traditional GMT uses an additional hand to point to the second time zone, with this watch you can rotate the 12-hour scale to align with a second zone and read the time like that.

Inside the watch is the tried and tested Sellita SW510M b manual calibre with 63-hour power reserve. Farer customized the movement with their arrow finishing, so it’s a nice touch that you can see it through the caseback. Both watches can be had on a St. Venere leather strap in a range of colors - navy, marine, tan, chocolate and black.

You can buy the watches right now and they are expected to ship October 26th. The price is set at €1,995 for each version. See more on the Farer website.

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Shinola Updates Their Canfield Speedway Chronograph For The Sixth Time, But With A Price That Is Completely Inexplicable

I would be hard pressed to find a brand that takes on more heat in the watch world than Shinloa. I can think of, perhaps, Panerai for their movement deception shenanigans and, of course, Hublot. The contempt for Shinloa stems for the contempt the watch world has for it’s owner, Tom Kartsotis, or, as an article from Inc.com described him: “the entrepreneur who made hundreds of millions of dollars peddling watches built in Asia, and who, perhaps, will make hundreds of millions more peddling watches built in America”. But that whole plan failed when he was forced by the FTC to stop using the designation that Shinloa watches were built in the U.S. because, as it turned out, not a single part of a Shinloa watch was build in the U.S.

However, I never had anything against their designs. I dislike some other things - more on that later - but there’s no denying they made some nice looking watches. One of the staples of their collection has always been the Canfield Speedway chronograph. Now, Shinola is releasing the sixth version of the watch called the Canfield Speedway Lap 06.

Like the five before it, the Speedway Lap 06 lives up to its name and is inspired by the liveries that defined the era of 60s racing. The dial of the Lap 06 is an understated Pea Gravel Green with accents of blue, yellow, and orange on the surrounding tachymeter. These details are enhanced by the two subdials at the 3 and 9 o’clock marks, which are reminiscent of the two-tone wheel design.

The watch becomes a bit less attractive when you figure out that it’s a behemoth at 44mm wide and 15.2mm thick. The stainless steel case has a heavy coin edge and colorful anodized aluminum collars on the pushbuttons.

Inside the watch is the is the Sellita Caliber SW510.BH.A, a bi-compax, automatic watch movement with a date at 6. It has a beat rate of 28,800vph and just over 60 hours of power reserve. It’s basically the same movement as the one in the Farer mentioned above. The watch comes on a racing-inspired perforated camel colored leather.

Now, the biggest issue with the Shinola Canfield Speedway Lap 06. It is priced at €3,500 which is just crazy. For that money you will easily find much more reputable and better built watches. It has a premium of over €1,500 over the Farer, while having the same internals. A big no from me. See more on the Shinola website.

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MB&F Introduces New Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO Taipei Edition

The LM Split Escapement EVO references from MB&F have been around for some time now, both as limited and serial production pieces. Following the LM Perpetual EVO, the LM Sequential EVO, and the LM Split Escapement EVO models, MB&F is introducing a new special edition EVO, dedicated to its MB&F LAB in Taipei.

This is something that MB&F has been doing for some time, dedicating limited editions to new boutiques that follow the brand’s new “MB&F Lab” architecture. After opening in Singapore, Paris, and Beverly Hills, next up is Taipei. So far the Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO is available in two versions, one in a grade 5 titanium case with a pastel blue baseplate and dark grey dials and the other a Beverly Hills limited edition of 25 pieces in grade 5 titanium case with black baseplate and blue dials. Now the Taipei 20-piece limited edition comes in a grade 5 titanium case with a black baseplate and green dials.

Apart from the new green dials, you still get a familiar 44mm titanium case with a unique no-bezel construction. At its heart, the 14mm balance wheel with traditional regulating screws takes centre stage, gracefully suspended from an exquisitely crafted bridge. Compared to the original LM Split Escapement, the entire movement of the ‘EVO’ versions has been rotated clockwise by 30 degrees, radically changing the symmetry of the watch.

While it might sound crazy for a wath that looks like this and costs as much as it does, these EVO variants are meant to be more sporty variants of MB&F watches. This means that you get an integrated rubber strap, 80 meters of water-resistance with a screw-down crown, a bezel-free design, and a shock-absorbing system placed between the movement and the case. The manual-winding, 298-component calibre is driven by double barrels providing 72 hours of power reserve.

The watch is exclusively made available through MB&F’s partner Swiss Prestige through the MB&F Lab in Taipei, Taiwan, in a limited run of just 20 pieces. It retails for TWD 3,200,000, which equates to about €94,000.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands on with the Bulova Oceanographer GMT Devil Divers

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A review of the Chopard Alpine Eagle 41 XPS — a watch that ticks all the boxes

⚙️Watch Worthy

A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like

VeriWatch revives their Octopus 1973, a dive watch inspired by the Adriatic Sea-dwelling creature

Like the 1973 model, the new Octopus is also offered in both matte black and blue gradient dials. Both models have a date window at 3 o’clock, rectangular indices and style-pencil hour and minute hands (filled with Grade A Super-LumiNova BGW9 on the new model). Despite being a fan of no date designs (the Octopus is also available without the date display) I must admit that the date window doesn’t disrupt, integrating well with the dial. The generous luminescence makes time reading effortless even in low light conditions, and for a reasonable duration. Another difference is the text on the dial. In the 1973 model, the brand name and model were both placed at 12 o’clock, while the 2023 model features the logo name and model separated at 12 and 6 o’clock respectively. This is graphically more pleasing and less confusing. Read the whole review at Time+Tide.

⏲️Wait a minute

A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting

• This is a fantastic piece from the least likely of sources. The Verge just published a scathing takedown of the TSA. As they point out, there’s no evidence two decades of pat-downs and shoe removal have made travelers any safer — so why does the theater of airport security persist?

• In 1969, charismatic Native American activist Richard Oakes—the face of the “Red Power” movement—led the nonviolent occupation of Alcatraz: a protest of the U.S. government’s treatment of Indigenous people, and an act to reclaim Ohlone land. At 30, his life was cut short: he was shot and killed in the woods of rural Sonoma County by a white man who claimed self-defense. By the late ’70s, Oakes’ name faded, his work forgotten. Drawing from interviews with family members and law enforcement officials and hundreds of government documents and secret FBI files, Jason Fagone and Julie Johnson meticulously tell Oakes’ story.

• Do you know anybody who watches Survivor, the original reality show? Yeah, neither do I, but they are just filming season 45 and they received 25,000 applications. Entertainment Weekly goes behind the scenes to see how a reality show finds it’s perfect contestant in 2023.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

The other day I wrote about the Rado True Square Thinline Collection which they make with the Le Corbusier foundation. That got me catching up on some architecture videos I had saved on YouTube. Among them was this very educational one about why Frank Lloyd Wright’s windows were so unusual.

💵Pre-loved precision

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