Ernest Hemingway is the greatest American author of the 20th century. He represented what was meant to be a modern man: intellectual, well-travelled, and brave. There is an alternative view, of course: Hemingway could be cruel, petty and ultimately became a caricature of himself (just like Gordon Ramsey). As fans of his writing, however, we're inclined to take the middle ground here - he was a great author, who was far from being a saint. But for the grace of god and all that.

Hemingway also wore watches (who didn’t?); specifically, a Rolex Oyster Perpetual and Bubbleback (we think that’s the Oyster in the photo above). So, in honour of what would have been Hemingway's 126th birthday on July 21, we offer five watches that celebrate the great American author.

Farr and Swit Wayfinder - $499 (USD)/£379 (GBP)

When you think Hemingway locales, places like Rome, Paris, Key West, Madrid, London and Havana likely spring to mind before Oak Park, Illinois. But it is here where Hemingway grew up, learned to hunt and fish, and developed the lust for adventure that would define his writing. Farr and Swit are based in Elmhurst, not 10 miles from Hemingway’s hometown.

The company assembles and tests its watches from its Chicagoland home, making it a proper microbrand. So what better place to start than with a watch called the Wayfinder, with a topographical map on the dial? It's a diver as well; 1000 ft of water resistance, dive bezel, screw-in crown, for those fishing trips to the upper peninsula of Michigan or in the Florida Straits.

40mm case, stainless steel case with stainless steel and rubber strap, Seiko VH31 sweeping seconds quartz movement (some models feature the Seiko NH35 automatic, if that's your poison). One from the hometown, channelling serious wanderlust.

H.G.P 200M GMT Diver Watch $533 (USD)/£397 (GBP)

La Ville-Lumière. At the age of 22, Hemingway moved to Paris. By this time, he had been a WW I ambulance driver in Italy, where he was seriously injured, returned to the US and celebrated as a war hero, married, and now on his second job as a journalist for the Toronto Star. In Paris, he had literary friends, including Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Joan Miró, and Gertrude Stein and writing what would become his greatest novel, The Sun Also Rises. And what was your writer doing at 22? Working in a pizzeria. But we digress.

Anyway, and our wasted youth notwithstanding, to honour his time in the city, we chose this GMT from Hommes Grenouilles de Paris, or for convenience's sake, H.G.P. Four colourways (including a Batman and a Coke), these divers are built in the Monnin style, named after French watch designer Georges Monnin, who designed cases for, among others, Heuer.

For anyone travelling like Hemingway did, this GMT is a must-have. 'Hommes Grenouilles de Paris' translates to "Frogmen of Paris", the name of a Parisian dive shop from which this brand emerged.

42mm stainless steel case, NH34 GMT movement, two straps, a couple of colour options, and the opportunity to say "It's a Frogmen of Paris" when asked about your amazing watch.

Hamilton Khaki Field Quartz $425 (USD)/ £375 (GBP)

From American and French microbrands to a Swiss brand with American roots, Lancaster, PA, to be exact. Founded seven years before Hemingway was born, Hamilton began making field watches for the US military in the 1960s. That isn't why Hamilton makes this list.

In 1954, Ava Gardner gave Hemingway a vintage Hamilton with the inscription "Happy Birthday Papa, from Ava, Madrid, 21-7-1954." A close friend of Hemingway and his (4th) wife Mary, Ava and Ernest had a lot in common: talented, legendary, rebellious, hard drinking and fond of great watches. 1954 was an eventful year for Hemingway. He started the year surviving two plane crashes in Africa (though he would never really recover from them) and ended it with the Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Our Hamilton isn't the one Gardner gave him; the military model made its way to the civilian population in the 1980s. Still, when people picture a field watch, they picture something like the legendary Khaki. Making it more field worthy is the ETA quartz movement: very tough and very reliable. Notably, ETA was spun out of the Swiss brand Eterna, itself a legendary maker of field watches.

38mm stainless steel case, NATO strap, ETA F06.105 quartz movement. Field-ready from a legendary brand. Every collection should have a Hamilton, we reckon.

Baltany Bubbleback $158 - $168 (USD)/£116 - £124 (GBP)

Hemingway had two Rolex watches: an Oyster Perpetual and a Bubbleback. The Oyster Perpetual is probably the greatest watch ever made (just ask any Rolex fan.) There are tons of Oyster homages out there (half the Citizen catalogue, we kid!), but for our money, we went for the Baltany Bubbleback. Baltany is a Chinese manufacturer that produces a variety of vintage throwback watches, and in this case, it runs on the ever-reliable Seiko VD78 quartz movement (there are automatic options too, with either Seiko or Seagull movements.)

There is a California Bubbleback that floats through the W5C offices from time to time, and we're impressed: solidly built, solidly vintage and of course, has the requisite bubbleback that gave the watch its name. (What is a bubbleback, you ask? It's a protruding caseback that sort of looks like a bubble made to accommodate a chunky movement.)

 38mm stainless steel case, leather strap, Seiko VD78 Quartz, available in three colours. Priced to allow you to get more than one. And they also do an Oyster Perpetual.

Seiko Presage Cocktail Time' Mojito' $425 (USD)/£400 (GBP)

Our man in Cuba. Hemingway lived on an estate called Finca Vigia, outside Havana, for 20 years. While in Cuba, he fished, hung out with Castro, and wrote The Old Man and the Sea as well as significant portions of For Whom the Bell Tolls.

He also drank there (and everywhere else), so what better way to channel all that Dutch courage than with the 'Mojito' from the excellent Seiko Presage Cocktail line? We could use a dress watch here; the watches are gorgeous, and the mojito hails from Cuba. We are ticking a lot of boxes here. Hemingway's cocktail of choice was the daiquiri, and Seiko has one of those too. But we think the green graduated dial on the Mojito, "like a cocktail glass" (so says Seiko), is stunning.

Though this watch is dressier than the others, it's actually very versatile: you could wear it to a dive bar if you wanted to. It runs on Seiko's super-reliable 4R35 movement, which you can watch through the exhibition caseback. There is a "Negroni" version as well, if you wish to vibe Hemingway's time in Italy instead.

38.5mm stainless steel case, leather strap, Seiko 4R35 automatic movement, exhibition caseback, and seriously, look at that dial.

Watch3500 Bonus: The Quervo Y Sobrinos 'Hemingway'

A watch with Latin Cuban roots. Cuervo Y Sobrinos ('Cuervo and Nephews') dates back well over 100 years, first as a jeweller and later as a watchmaker. The history of the brand is worth a read; QYS was an important player in the roaring 1950s Havana (and Hemingway visited the boutique with Gary Cooper.) Then came the Revolution, the company was nationalised, and it did not go well. Quervo Y Sobrinos was resurrected in Switzerland in 1997. And given that it has a Hemingway line, it couldn't not be on our list. Con mucho gusto.

40mm stainless steel case, CYS 8121, base Sellita 221-1 movement, leather strap, 'Ernest Hemingway' on the dial.

Hemingway Reading List

Your reading assignment: two Hemingway originals, the best field watches (and the the legendary ‘Dirty Dozen’), and the watches of other famous writers. Spoiler alert: James Bond was not an Omega man.

Hemingway's coverage of the Spanish Civil War, from New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/article/89502/hemingway-spain-spanish-civil-war

Or his coverage of bullfighting, from Fortune: https://fortune.com/1930/03/01/bullfighting-sport-and-industry/

Gear Patrol gives you the most iconic field watches in history: https://www.gearpatrol.com/watches/iconic-field-watches/

Teddy and the Dirty Dozen Field Watches of WWI and WWII: https://teddybaldassarre.com/blogs/watches/dirty-dozen-watches

Time and Tide reports on watch quotes from literature: https://timeandtidewatches.com/hemingways-rolex-murakamis-vintage-heuer-7-best-watch-quotes-literature/