Watchlords

Ahh, the rarefied world of military timepieces. Often developed under contract stemming directly from a country’s armed forces, these watches were designed for timekeeping under particularly adverse physical conditions, and often incorporated special features that, over time, found their way into watches meant for the civilian market. (We say “were designed” because today, government specifications and contracts for watches are less common, and even a special operator is far more likely to be wearing an off-the-shelf G-Shock than a mil-spec Rolex Submariner).

Military watches are a seemingly endless source of fascination to civilian watch collectors, and for good reason — these are timepieces that were purpose-designed and built to adorn the wrists of infantrymen and women, divers, explosive ordnance disposal personnel, special operators and other folks who regularly put their lives at risk in combat. There are very few extraneous design elements to a military wristwatch — what’s present is only what’s absolutely necessary to get the job done, and there’s a special kind of beauty in this type of product.

What are the necessary qualities that make a military wristwatch mission-ready? There isn’t necessarily a codified list of attributes, but the following traits make for a good jumping-off point:

https://www.gearpatrol.com/watches/a557 ... histories/