WRIST ASSESSMENT MILITARY WATCHES
No-nonsense watches inspired by the battlefield are covetable tools for the modern adventurer. Here are six worthy recruits
Despite the increasing popularity of casual menswear, there’s no denying the charisma of aman in uniform. Which explains the infiltration of standardissue garb into the civilian man’s wardrobe: the trench, the pea coat, the submariner jumper. And timepieces have often taken their style orders from the barracks, too.
After asemiautomatic rifle, a field watch was one of the most crucial bits of kit for servicemen engaged in the battle royales of the 20th century. They synchronised life in combat, from notifying you when mess rations were about to be served to coordinating movements in the face of enemy fire. The most famed were the so-called Dirty Dozen – a troop of 12 robust black-dial, manual-wind watches made by firms such as Longines, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Omega and Vertex, which would keep ticking come hell or high water.
Crisp legibility, bulletproof mechanics and a rugged build spec that could handle the heat of the fray were essential – attributes that still make fieldinspired watches a solid choice for active engagements today. ‘There was a hailstorm coming and it had just started erupting,’ says Aldo Kane, the ex-Marine turned adventurer, on his 2017 expedition to Mount Ragang, an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ‘I remember being very dialled into my watch, aware of the time left we had to be taken out by helicopter,’ he recalls. ‘The gas given off in a volcano basically turns into a sulphuric acid... all the kit began to fracture and tarnish.’ The equipment didn’t survive. The Bremont MBIII on his wrist did.
There’s also an honest simplicity to these utilitarian timepieces in an age of USBdependent devices that have more vitals on file than your doctor. ‘With a smartwatch, there’s so much bombardment, but [these watches] reduce your cognitive load... it’s also one less thing I need to charge on an expedition,’ says Kane. With such enduring traits, these hardy wrist recruits will still be keeping good time in your veteran years. Here are a few worth enlisting.
14 MILITARY TIME
01 Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition Auto, £965, hamiltonwatch.com As an official supplier to governme
