Welcome to Dialed In, Esquire’s column bringing you horological happenings and the most essential news from the watch world.

Hamilton’s Khaki Field Expedition watch is built for survival in a way few other watches are. I know this because I put the watch—and one of its new NATO strap offerings—to the test. Through dust and dirt and debris, hours of UTV expeditions on rocky terrain, and white-water rafting in upwards of 100 degree heat, the Khaki Field Expedition emerged entirely unscathed.

There’s a reason Hamilton has been a longtime purveyor of military watches. If it’s good enough for soldiers, it’s good enough for your adventures, wherever they may lead. The Khaki Field Expedition, which launched last year, is a warrior during the weekdays and straight through the weekend. It’s got an eighty-hour power reserve, meaning if you take the watch off Friday, it’ll still be telling time properly when you strap it back on Monday. Although, really, you’re probably going to wear it beyond the workweek—that’s usually when the best adventuring is done.

The Khaki Field Expedition comes in 37mm and 41mm variations, both with a thickness of about 11.5mm. Those are some universally comfortable specs, whether your wrist is on the smaller side, like mine, or on the bigger side. It is by no means a delicate watch, but it’s certainly not clunky or chunky, either; if I could forget it was strapped to my wrist while out in the desert in 110 degree temperatures, painfully aware of every pore and bead of sweat on my body, it passed the comfort test with flying colors.

This is a watch designed to move with you. The tough stainless-steel case is up to every and any task—especially thanks to the bi-directional rotating compass bezel with cardinal direction markers, the secure screw-down crown, and the bold Arabic numerals (and SuperLumiNova on the hands and hour markers) for legibility.

Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition Auto

Khaki Field Expedition Auto
$945 at hamiltonwatch.com

Though it launched so recently, the Khaki Field Expedition is already being improved upon—the brand just introduced iconic, sturdy NATO straps to pair with it. Yes, you could have bought a cheap (or expensive) NATO strap from some other retailer and interchanged it with the leather strap or metal bracelet at any point before now, but Hamilton is making it all the more convenient by adding an adventure-worthy strap to the adventure-worthy watch right from the jump. Plus, considering Hamilton’s history in manufacturing military watches, it makes sense to get a NATO strap straight from the brand. Original NATO straps were, after all, made to British military specifications, and Hamilton has crafted a version that feels, looks, and performs better than a cheaper alternative.

The white-dial Khaki Field Expedition corresponds with a khaki NATO strap—a nod to its military roots—and the black-dial version with a sleek gray NATO strap for a tonal look. The strap is soft on your wrist but hardened to the elements; it’ll dry after a dive (and the Khaki Field Expedition is water resistant up to 100 meters), wash well after a turn in the dirt, and feel new the whole way through.

The Khaki Field Expedition has a hard-to-beat price of $945 with the NATO strap or $995 with the classic leather strap—if you spring for both, this’ll be a work and play watch you’ll wear through thick and thin, from the middle of the desert to your office cubicle. (The NATO strap alone is $55, if you already own the original watch.) Go forth and conquer with this on your wrist—you don’t have to choose between performance and appearance anymore.