Tudor
Pelagos FXD
To develop the FXD, Tudor enlisted the help of France’s Marine Nationale and its elite Commando Hubert combat swimmers, rebooting a supplier affiliation dating back to 1956.
The FXD features a bidirectional rotating bezel with countdown scale. A breach of the standard ISO certification for a diver’s watch, it caters instead to the underwater navigation method practised by Commando Hubert.
The bezel is larger than the standard Pelagos with more pronounced serrations for better ergonomics when used with dive gloves. It also overlaps the case. A black-dial FXD with a unidirectional bezel, honouring the US Navy’s use of Tudor dive watches, was launched in 2023.
Breguet
Type 20 Chronographe 2057
Helping to triumphantly refresh Breguet’s Type XX collection, the Type 20 Chronographe is a contemporary take on a wristwatch delivered to the French Air Force throughout the mid-to-late 1950s. Unlike other Type XXs, whose name was expressed in Roman numerals, the Air Force’s was christened with Arabic style digits. Standout attributes include: flyback chronograph function, ‘big eye’ sub-dial layout, rotating timing bezel, and a date window subtly nestled between the 4/5 o’clock positions. An exhibition caseback displays the new self-winding Calibre 7281 movement, taking Breguet four years to develop, it has a 5Hz frequency and a power reserve of 60 hours.
Blancpain
Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3
In celebration of the Fifty Fathoms collection’s 70th birthday comes the Act 3. Paying homage to a historic non-magnetic German silver US Navy ‘Mil-Spec’ Fifty Fathoms, the Act 3’s 41mm case is realised in a 9K bronze gold alloy as a more stable and practical alternative to German silver and the oxidised golden-colour of its patina.
A humidity indicator disc can be found at the dial’s 6 o’clock, in keeping with US Navy specifications, designed to change colour in the event of hermetic failure and the ingress of moisture/water to the watch.
Aside from the US, watches from Blancpain’s Mil-Spec range were also used by the militaries of Norway, Pakistan, France, Poland and others.
Longines
Pilot Majetek
With sleek art deco lines and a stylish cushion-shape case, the Longines Pilot Majetek has a pretty decorous design for a military piece. But don’t be fooled. The Majetek is closely based on a watch Longines provided Czech fighter pilots during the 1930/40s, so its martial service is unassailable.
Under more discerning inspection, the Majetek’s professional roots are readily apparent in its 43mm dimensions, Super-LumiNova-coated Arabic hour indices, and a triangular elapsed-time internal pointer (controlled via the ornate coin-edge bezel).
Its name even has pro credentials too, stemming from the original’s official Majetek Vojenske Spravy / “Property Of The Military Administration” engraving.
Hamilton
Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical Chronograph
A faithful recreation of the 1970s’ 6BB chronograph used by Royal Air Force pilots, Hamilton’s Khaki Pilot Pioneer is a handsome side-by-side configuration two-register chronograph.
The asymmetric case, ‘bulged’ on the 3 o’clock side to protect the crown and pushers, is a personal favourite design cue.
In keeping with the original, a hand-wound calibre and ‘box’ crystal have also been used; albeit modernised with a silicon hairspring and sapphire crystal construction, respectively.
Interestingly enough, King Charles III has been regularly seen wearing a Hamilton 6BB throughout his life. Presumably he acquired it during his training as an RAF pilot in the 1970s.
Ollech & Wajs
M-110
The Ollech & Wajs M-110 is a tactical tool watch, which draws on more than 60 years of military and dive expertise. It combines the impermeability of a dive watch with a 360-degree compass bezel, more conventionally found on field watches.
In the absence of a magnetic compass, the US Army Ranger Handbook provides infantrymen with detailed instructions on how to use the watch method to get a bearing. This is a simple technique that involves lining the hour hand up with the sun, and then bisecting the distance between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock position to discover south.
Another distinctive feature of the OW M-110, which military users will recognise, is the radio silence period markers on the dial. These are three-minute periods immediately after each quarter hour, reserved exclusively for making – and listening for – distress calls.
The OW M-110 AS comes on a unique infantry-green, dual-ply fabric strap. This is crafted from reclaimed military-grade, double-twill hemp canvas, procured directly from the Swiss Army’s unused surplus supply. Manufactured in the mid 50s – around the same time as Ollech & Wajs was founded – the fabric was made to last 100 years in the field. An exclusive opportunity to own and wear a watch with history woven into it.
£1,273.11, ow-watch.ch
IWC
Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert”
Forming part of IWC’s beloved Top Gun collection, a partnership between IWC and the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Course aka Top Gun, is the ‘Mojave Desert’ iteration of the Big Pilot’s Watch.
Drawing inspiration from the namesake desert home of the US Navy’s primary R&D base, Air Weapons Station China Lake, a combat-ready monochrome sand-camouflage colour scheme has been used throughout the 46mm ceramic-cased watch.
The Big Pilot itself – with its hallmark oversized case, ‘onion’ crown, oversized hands and Arabic hour markers – dates back to the Second World War and was initially used by Luftwaffe flight crew.
Panerai
Radiomir Tre Giorni
Panerai’s Radiomir is the patriarch of the military-issue diver’s watch. First produced under the Royal Italian Navy’s commission in 1935, the timepiece saw action throughout the second world war.
The Tre Gironi is a modern continuation of the first Radiomirs. The fan favourites are all here: signature ‘sandwich’ dial (comprising luminous material pressed between two sheets of metal, visible through cut-out hour markers), wire lugs and a cushion-shape case.
But, to evoke the look and feel of an aged ‘Radiomir-prime’, one can also observe a case that’s been left unpolished, caramel-coloured luminescence, an ombré grained dial and, a sapphire crystal domed to resemble old-school 1930s’ plexiglass.
Bremont
Broadsword
A collaboration between Bremont and the British Ministry of Defence, Bremont’s Armed Forces collection comprises three base models to represent the MoD’s branches: Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Named Broadsword, the Army’s model takes its inspiration from the ‘Dirty Dozen’ field watch – nicknamed after the 12 manufacturers that produced the watch and the popular 1967 war film – first issued to soldiers towards the end of the second world war.
Driven by an automatic chronometer movement housed in a 40mm steel case, the Broadsword has a date window at 3 o’clock, a separate seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock, and a caseback engraving of the Armed Forces’ Heraldic Badges.
Omega
Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition
With a starring role in the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die (2021), the Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition was designed in collaboration with the movie’s production team and Daniel Craig himself.
Adaptations made for the 007 Edition Seamaster include: a ‘sharkproof’ mesh bracelet or striped NATO strap, Grade 2 Titanium construction, and faux-vintage lume.
A ‘broad arrow’ dial logo and a caseback engraved with Royal Navy stock codes have been added in direct reference to the Bond character’s military career.
Seamasters ordered by the Royal Navy between 1966-70, in fact, bore the original broad arrow and stock code markings borrowed for the 007 Edition.
£8,500, omegawatches.com
TAG Heuer
Aquaracer Professional 300 Night Diver
Re-launched in 2021, TAG’s Night Diver was originally issued to French Marine Nationale divers in limited quantities during the 1980s and 1990s.
No doubt the Navy frogmen found the watch’s full-lumed dial to be a useful and pragmatic feature in the low-light undersea conditions they operated in.
The current version also boasts a self-winding calibre housed in a 43mm black DLC-coated case and is supplied on a rubber strap with micro-adjust deployant. Joining the Seamaster as a member of the ‘Bond watch’ fraternity, the OG Night Diver’s cameo on the wrist of Timothy Dalton in the opening scene of The Living Daylights is of additional note.
£3,550, tagheuer.com
