Released in 2014 and nominated for five Academy Awards, Interstellar won Best Visual Effects. Developed with input from Nobel Prize–winning physicist Kip Thorne, the film follows former NASA astronaut Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, endeavour to find a new planet for humanity.
From inside the tesseract, an ipercube, Cooper uses a wristwatch’s second hand and Morse code to communicate with his daughter Murphy in the past—and help her solve a mathematical equation that’ll save humanity.
Source: Hamilton Watch
The Hamilton Khaki Field watch, gifted by Cooper to his daughter before traveling to space, is central to the film’s story, linking past and future, Earth and a parallel dimension.
Interstellar is just one of more than 500 films and TV series in which Hamilton has played a starring role since 1932, with science fiction ruling over the last 60 years or so.
Inspired by Murphy, Jessica Chastain’s character, the Khaki Field Murph gained worldwide attention thanks to the movie’s success. Turning that fictional prop into a real watch, however, took five years.
From Movie Prop to Production Model
Hamilton eventually released a commercial version faithful to the film’s original watch. The first 42mm edition was produced in 2,555 presentation boxes, each featuring a tesseract-shaped box designed by production designer Nathan Crowley.
Source: Hamilton Watch
Its colored layers represent the tesseract’s different timelines. The watch’s second hand spells “Eureka” in Morse code—the word Murphy cries out after solving the equation.
Source: Hamilton Watch
The watch itself wasn’t limited; the special packaging was.
Since the 42mm case felt too hefty for most fans, Hamilton introduced a 38mm version in 2022. It kept the Murph’s familiar dial, strap, and overall design while offering more wearable proportions.
Murph’s commercial success skyrocketed, and a white-dial version and a steel-bracelet option followed. Now, after a seven-year life cycle, Hamilton has given the collection a fresh identity with a dial inspired by interstellar space.
A Starry New Dial
Hamilton calls the pattern “the journey of an interstellar comet,” with a blue centre meant “to evoke sunlit ionized gases”. The gradient blue dial offers a fresh take on Interstellar’s darker, space-inspired aesthetic.
Still, while the design clearly aims to evoke Interstellar from a different angle, the blue gradient dial offers a fresh, highly original take compared with Interstellar’s original deep-space black tones.
A stardust-filled pattern adds depth and energy. Nickel-plated hands, along with artificially aged Arabic numerals filled with Super-LumiNova, complete the look without abandoning the Murph’s vintage character.
The rest of the specification remains familiar. The 38mm case is 11.1mm thick, measures 44.7mm from lug to lug, and has a 20.0mm lug width.
An oversized crown and Hamilton’s automatic H-10 movement complete the package, delivering a 3Hz beat rate and an 80-hour power reserve.
The watch comes on either a strap or a three-link steel bracelet. The strap has ecru stitching and a pin buckle, while the bracelet’s double-button clasp features mirror-polished, angled edges (pictured above) that echo the bezel.
Water resistance is rated at 100 meters, although the crown is not screw-down. The blue Khaki Field Murph is a fresh, unusual way to update a long-running design on the market since 2019.
Final Thoughts
The original Khaki Field Murph’s hype is hard to replicate, especially for anyone who has watched Interstellar severaltimes like myself. Still, Hamilton made a smart move by refreshing the collection.
The new blue dial is distinctive, while the watch retains the clean, recognizable appeal of the three-hand Khaki Field design. However, I’d go with the bracelet option.
The strap version feels like adding a black strap to a customized 38mm Murph. Instead, the bracelet brings out the new dial and makes the watch feel more compliant.
Both are listed for nearly one thousand euros—€1,045 for the bracelet and €995 for the strap—yet the choice is easy.
At 144 grams, the all-steel version is comfortable enough to wear, too. My only real criticism is the lack of a micro-adjustment system.
(Photo credit: Horbiter®)
In this article:
Strap
A leather, rubber or other material band that secures the watch to the wearer's wrist.
Case
It encases the mechanical movement and is crafted in one or more parts. It can also be a single piece, as with some professional diving watches, or made of unconventional…
Power Reserve
A mechanical watch feature displays, on the dial or the case back, the remaining power in a watch movement, showing the length of time until the timepiece must be rewound.
Crown
Placed on the case side, it winds the mainspring. When pulled out, it also sets the time and the date. A screw-down crown increases water resistance and protects the movement…
Bezel
The bezel is particularly useful on diving watches, allowing you to check dive times. In this case, it unidirectionally rotates and usually comes in two parts: a metal (or ceramic,…
