Hamilton Steps Outside With National Geographic Explorer Albert Lin

Albert Lin is a time traveler, or, as close to one as is possible outside of H.G. Wells. He is an explorer, a scientist, a technologist, and a storyteller, digging through history to uncover lost human stories through the artifacts that are left behind. Now, the National Geographic Explorer has added another entry to his long list of accomplishments—a new partnership with Hamilton Watches as their latest Friend of the Brand alongside their Step Outside campaign.

For the past twenty-plus years, Lin, who holds a PhD in materials science and engineering, has been exploring the past. He utilizes cutting-edge technologies like satellite imagery, drones, ground penetrating radar, and LiDAR in the pursuit of new archeological discoveries.

His expeditions have uncovered new insights into our collective human history, from uncovering archeological evidence of Biblical stories in Jordan, to remapping the extent of Mayan cities in the jungles of Guatemala, and identifying the likely resting place of Genghis Khan in the Forbidden Zone hidden in Outer Mongolia. Many of these journeys—from the deserts of Jordan to the jungles of Guatemala—have been chronicled in his National Geographic series Lost Cities with Albert Lin.

In 2016, while off-roading, Lin lost his leg when the vehicle he was in flipped and crashed. Since making his remarkable recovery, Lin has used the latest in carbon fiber prosthetics to aid him in navigating some of the most remote, challenging, and often dangerous environments in the world. The combination of using the most advanced technologies that science has to offer to uncover ancient stories of human experience is something that Lin deeply resonates with. “I have one foot literally in the future and one foot searching for the past.”

Throughout all of his research expeditions, Lin has sought to uncover the stories of human experience spanning thousands of years. With each archeological discovery, Lin seeks a deeper connection to our broader human experience. “I feel like when I pick up a piece of clay that has someone’s fingerprints on it, embedded into it, and was fired and locked in time, and I put my thumb in the same thumbprint as a person who made it, I’m transported to that time and place.”

With this deeply philosophical connection with objects and heirlooms, it’s no surprise that Lin came to be first intrigued, and then enchanted, by watches. Specifically, Hamilton watches. As he recalls, “The first time I saw a Hamilton watch was the iconic Ventura in Men in Black, and that movie was pretty awesome! I had a chance years later to work with Will Smith in Namibia when we made a show called Welcome to Earth. Ironically, the episode that I made with him was all about time, slowing time down and speeding time up, and seeing how the real world existed in these different scales of time.”

Years later, Lin and Hamilton would connect, slowly building a relationship grounded in the practicality and function of tool watches like the Khaki Field Expedition and the more retro-futuristic Hamilton PSR. Like all of the gear he utilizes, including his leg, a watch has to be more than an accessory – it is also a piece of vital equipment. “Watches are very functional tools; they actually work. They’re not just cosmetic. When you look at, for example, my Expedition, the compass bezel can actually function as a compass. And for me, being an explorer, there have been moments where I’ve actually needed to use it. When you’re in the jungle, for example, my GPS won’t always work because I can’t get a line of sight to the satellites, because I’m deep down into undergrowth. So it can be a very valuable tool.”

Over the past few years, prior to any official partnership, Lin has worn and used Hamilton watches on his expeditions, developing those connections and stories that turn watches into prized possessions. As his passion for watches grew, so did his eagerness to explore the broader world of Hamilton and its history. “I think my love of Hamilton,” Lin said, “is probably tied to the fact that it feels both anchored in the past, but also is an expression of imagination of the future. When you look at the watches that I’m drawn to in the line, they’re both the rugged ones, but they’re also the ones that define the future.”

Like many of the other objects we take for granted in our daily lives, the watches we wear will one day become the artifacts that remain after we are gone. They will be handed down to our children, who will cherish them as we did, and even more so because of the meaning they will be imbued with. 

They are the objects that will help to tell our stories, just as the relics discovered on Lin’s expedition tell the stories of those who came before us. As Lin reflects, “A watch is an heirloom, it’s an artifact, it’s an identity piece. And when I’ve traveled the world and I’ve spent time in these different cultures, and held the bones of someone’s past, the literal dust of their being in my hands, there are still these artifacts that remain. I often think about what artifacts will remain of me.”

For more on Lost Cities with Albert Lin, click here.