The Tissot Visodate and Hamilton Khaki are two high-quality timepieces that offer outstanding quality for the money. However, their $500+ price tag means that most of us will have to choose only one of the two.

Since both companies are subsidiaries of the Swatch Group, the Visodate and Khaki share a lot of similar traits and components, making the decision even harder. In this article, I will cover every important difference to help you choose between these two Swiss watches.

While the Tissot Visodate is only available with a 40mm case, the Khaki Field Auto is sold in 38, 40, 42, and 44mm variations. Instead of choosing the 40mm version for comparison, I chose the 38mm to display the different case shape of the two watches.

As you can see above, the Visodate and Khaki Auto share the same 47mm lug-to-lug length even though the Tissot's case is 2mm larger. This means that the Hamilton's lugs protrude quite a bit more, which can be uncomfortable on smaller wrists.

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To avoid lug overhang, you should buy either of these watches only if your wrists are 6,25'' and above. For men with larger wrists (7.5''+), the Tissot Visodate might look better since it'll take up more real estate on your forearm.

It's also good to note that the Hamilton Khaki is the thinnest of the two watches, but the Visodate's 11,6mm case will still be slim enough to fit under most shirt cuffs.

Since Tissot and Hamilton are two brands owned by the Swatch Group, it's no surprise to see ETA movements in the Visodate and Khaki Field Auto. The Hamilton H-10 is simply a rebranded version of the ETA C07.111 movement, which is itself a variant of the ETA 2824-2 movement.

To create the C07.111 caliber, ETA tweaked the 2824-2 by reducing its frequency from 28,800 bph to 21,600 bph. This allows for a much larger power reserve (80 hours, known as Powermatic), without losing any accuracy (it's still rated at +-12 sec/day for the base model).

On the other hand, the ETA 2836-2 caliber inside the Tissot Visodate is the same as an ETA 2824-2 with the addition of a day complication. In short, this means that you can expect the same accuracy & reliability from both watches.

The main difference between the two will be the power reserve & frequency. This means you should get the Khaki Field Auto if you want to avoid winding your watch as much as possible, whereas the Visodate is perfect if you prioritize smooth second hand sweep over power reserve.

It's also good to note that the two watches offer hand-winding and hacking (second hand halt), two highly sought-after functions. Also, you can regulate your ETA movement through the ETACHRON function, which should help you get better than 12 spd accuracy.

For a watch in the $500+ price range, I always pay attention to the crystal material, since some watchmakers sneak in mineral crystals (looking at you Seiko) which is always disappointing. Fortunately, both Tissot and Hamilton use a sapphire crystal for the watches reviewed today.

I separate their crystals into two categories: domed for the Visodate and curved for the Khaki Auto. The Tissot's crystal has a clear domed shape that sticks out of the crystal, which is the main reason why it's slightly thicker.

On the other hand, the Hamilton Khaki has what I call a curved crystal: it's basically flat, with a small inclination towards the middle of the glass.

It's important to note that neither Tissot nor Hamilton apply anti-reflective coating to their glass, which is a big factor for sapphire crystals. While both watches will reflect lots of light and be hard to read under direct sunlight, the domed layout of the Visodate is the biggest culprit.

The water resistance is an area where you can tell that the Tissot Visodate is marketed as a dress watch, whereas the Hamilton Khaki Field is definitely a military watch. The 30m rating of the Visodate means that it can't be submerged in water while the 100m rating of the Khaki makes it adequate for swimming.

However, the two watches use a push-pull crown. This always poses a risk of accidental opening while underwater, so it's safer to avoid swimming even with the Hamilton Khaki. Furthermore, the Khaki has no crown guard and the crown protrudes quite a bit, which increases the chances of accidental pulling.

As I explained earlier, the Tissot Visodate is marketed as a dress watch, which explains the lack of lume on the dial. Conversely, the Hamilton Khaki is a field watch, which necessitates a good amount of lume. On the Khaki Field Auto 38mm, you get lumed hands & numerals (albeit not the best lume out there).

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The Tissot Visodate can be bought with an alligator-style leather strap or a mesh bracelet. On the other hand, the Hamilton Khaki Field Auto is available with a cow leather strap or an Oyster stainless steel bracelet.

I don't have much to say about these straps except that they're both high in quality and comfortable, so your decision should be based on which styling you like the most. However, it's always possible to use a third-party strap so this shouldn't have too much weight in your decision.

As I mentioned above, the Visodate is a dress watch and the Hamilton Khaki is a military watch. In short, this means that the Visodate will be hard to dress down for a casual outfit, and the Khaki will be hard (almost impossible) to dress up for a formal outfit.

This styling is translated in the choice of hands; the Visodate's dauphine hands are extremely simple but their great finish adds some flair to the dial. Conversely, the Khaki's syringe hands are used for functionality rather than style, which is always a priority for military watches.

The same pattern is also apparent in the choice of indices. Tissot applies subtle baton indices with a polished finish, which adds a bit of depth to the dial. On the other hand, the Khaki has painted 24-hour Arabic numerals, which is another proof that Hamilton had functionality in mind when designing this watch.

In accordance with its dressy styling, most Visodate models have a glossy dial finish, but there's also a blue-dialed version with a sunburst finish. In contrast, the Hamilton Khaki has a two-tone dial; sunburst circle in the middle, vinyl finish on the outside.

The two watches are equipped with an exhibition case back. The Visodate displays the ETA 2836-2 movement with a custom gold rotor with Tissot's branding. The Khaki Field Auto has a similar case back that shows the H-10 caliber with Hamilton's skeleton rotor.

The Tissot Visodate is slightly pricier than the Hamilton Khaki, but the price difference shouldn't affect your buying decision too much. The two watches offer a lot of bang-for-the-buck, and they're very similar in quality. Also, they share quite a few components with each other.

The 2-year warranty is pretty common for Swatch Group brands, except for higher-end companies like Omega which offer 5-year warranties.

I classified Tissot as a "medium-high" recognizable brand since most people (including non-watch collectors) are aware of the brand and have a pretty high opinion of it. On the other hand, Hamilton also enjoys a great reputation amongst watch enthusiasts, but the general public isn't usually aware of this company.