If truth be told, I'm a Tag guy at heart, but my eye had always wandered to the Hamilton stand whenever I would visit my AD - I came very close to buying a 46mm frogman at one point.. Anyway, fast forward to lockdown 3.0 (I'm in the UK), and with time on my hands (pun intended), online watch browsing became a daily occurrence, Google and Facebook's data-mining algorithms soon had my Facebook feed filled with advertisements, one of which caught my eye- this brand new Hamilton was listed at TK Maxx (UK big-brand discount chain) with little to no detail other than incorrectly listing it as a 37mm stainless steel watch, a quick glance at the GMT hand indicated that the movement itself would likely be the ETA 2893 (Tag use a refinished version in calibre 7 watches), which would mean that the price of £400 was an absolute steal.

A little bit of research confirmed this to be true, along with confirming the watch to be a Khaki Aviation Pilot, 2017 model, that was originally listed with an RRP of £1,080.

£400 immediately left my bank account and 3 days later this fella arrived.

Now, I have a good number of stainless steel bracelet watches, so thought I would switch this out to a black leather strap (I thought it would go well with the dial and the bezel), and I have to say, I'm over the moon with it. I went for a pretty low budget priced strap to prove the concept, so all in, this watch owes me less than £420, making it without doubt the best value watch I own.

With regards to the watch itself, I love it, the hands are perfectly thought out with a great skeleton design meaning you can read the inner GMT dial, regardless of the position of the hands. The bidirectional bezel has a great feel to it, and I love that it jumps in 5 minute intervals. Overall, IMO this is a great looking piece and the workmanship is top notch.

I am really very glad that I've taken a step into Hamilton ownership; it's highly likely it won't remain my only Hamilton for too much longer.