Sometimes, a watch’s design can get in the way of its practicality. Watches can function as both useful tools and fashion statements, but those two identities can come into conflict with one another.
For example, take Hamilton’s most extreme dive watch, the Khaki Navy BelowZero. The watch rose to fame thanks to its co-starring role in a pair of blockbuster films, 2015’s The Martian and 2020’s Tenet, and on paper, it appears to be one of the most capable professional dive watches on the market.
Its oversized and tank-like case is crafted from lightweight and strong titanium. It has a helium escape valve for professional saturation diving and boasts an absurd depth rating of 1,000 meters. And its Hamilton Calibre H-10 automatic movement has a robust power reserve of 80 hours and is fitted with an anti-magnetic Nivachron hairspring.
As I said, on paper, this is a hell of a dive watch. But in the metal, it’s a different story. Because of the BelowZero’s completely blacked-out aesthetic — the case and bezel are PVD black titanium and the black dial features black hands and black-lumed indices — visibility on the watch is decidedly poor.
From a distance, there are almost no visible markings on the watch at all, and while no one can argue with the watch’s badass style — it’s basically Hamilton’s affordable answer to Panerai — it’s hardly practical as a dive watch. Hell, it’s barely practical as a watch at all given its legibility issues.
But those concerns are moot on Hamilton’s latest iteration of the Khaki Navy BelowZero, as the revamped model allows stylish dive watch fans everywhere to have their cake and eat it too.
Hamilton
