Someone with experience with the Vario 1918 Trench Watch?

I was lurking around, taking a look at some microbrands i didn't know, and i happened to stumble across Vario

And man, was i impressed by the 1918 trench watch! I just love the style and everything looks great for me, size, history, construction, and so on. 

I was thinking that it could seriously be my next watch to add in my tiny collection, already thinking at which version would be the perfect to get

Has some of you guys experience with this watch? What do you think about it? I would love to know more from someone that has tried it first hand!

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Thanks for this, I’ve been wondering the same thing. I really dig the look of this watch and have almost ordered it several times. I’d love to know if anyone has one and what they think. 

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I do not have personal experience with it, but I have heard good things. I do know there is a bit of debate over this watch because it uses a modified Miyota 82s5 movement and many feel the price is too high for a watch with any Miyota 8000 series movement.

I am not one of those people, and I am thinking of adding a 1918 Trench to my collection at some point. The other watches in my collection with Miyota 8000 series movements all perform as well as my watches with NH movements. If you like the look of the watch, I would say go for it. I have a Brillier Airborne in my collection with a similar movement and price, and I am happy with it.

Further, while I do not have any experience with the 1918 Trench, I do have experience with Vario products. I have a couple of their straps for the Casio World Time "Royale," and they are very good quality.

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LumegaudAnar

I do not have personal experience with it, but I have heard good things. I do know there is a bit of debate over this watch because it uses a modified Miyota 82s5 movement and many feel the price is too high for a watch with any Miyota 8000 series movement.

I am not one of those people, and I am thinking of adding a 1918 Trench to my collection at some point. The other watches in my collection with Miyota 8000 series movements all perform as well as my watches with NH movements. If you like the look of the watch, I would say go for it. I have a Brillier Airborne in my collection with a similar movement and price, and I am happy with it.

Further, while I do not have any experience with the 1918 Trench, I do have experience with Vario products. I have a couple of their straps for the Casio World Time "Royale," and they are very good quality.

The movement is the updated 8000 series so it should be also better, and it definitely doesn't bother me! I love the looks and history, so much that i think i would use it with the shrapnel guard from time to time. Also hearing that the quality is good is reassuring! Definitely worth to pay that price if it's well made and the service is good, given that there are often some sales

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Jericho

The movement is the updated 8000 series so it should be also better, and it definitely doesn't bother me! I love the looks and history, so much that i think i would use it with the shrapnel guard from time to time. Also hearing that the quality is good is reassuring! Definitely worth to pay that price if it's well made and the service is good, given that there are often some sales

I really don't understand why some people are so down on the 8000 series. In addition to my Airborne, I have a Bulova Hack and Devil Diver, both of which also use the 8000 series movement, and both of which are great watches.

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There are a couple of other posts about this great watch (37mm and 40mm).  After seeing this, I popped it out for the National Watch Day post.

I have the traditional color version - an homage to original WW1 watches that seems to be popular here.  I have the 37mm version and love the great bund strap - but it's just long enough for my 7.25 inch wrist.  21.6kpbh is great, but the small second hand is hard for my aging eyes to see. The enamel dial might be what justifies the higher cost when compared with other watches having this movement. Not sure the "inner AR" does much though.  Overall it's a great addition to my collection.

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I think it’s time to call for @OlDirtyBezel and @foghorn .

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I just got the 37mm version recently. I feel like the 40mm is too large for a watch that’s supposed to be a direct homage to the trench watches of WWI. That said, I did put mine on a Nato, but that’s not a comment on the quality of the strap. 
 

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Well made, good hacking movement, enamel dial,  double domed sapphire crystal w/inner A/R coating, screw down crown, great strap options, excellent lume, and perfectly sized at 37mm.

Other than that they're just OK.

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timegeek

There are a couple of other posts about this great watch (37mm and 40mm).  After seeing this, I popped it out for the National Watch Day post.

I have the traditional color version - an homage to original WW1 watches that seems to be popular here.  I have the 37mm version and love the great bund strap - but it's just long enough for my 7.25 inch wrist.  21.6kpbh is great, but the small second hand is hard for my aging eyes to see. The enamel dial might be what justifies the higher cost when compared with other watches having this movement. Not sure the "inner AR" does much though.  Overall it's a great addition to my collection.

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That's great! I hear the strap is on the shorter side, but that's no problem for my small wrist, in any case I would probably make some straps for it

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OlDirtyBezel

I just got the 37mm version recently. I feel like the 40mm is too large for a watch that’s supposed to be a direct homage to the trench watches of WWI. That said, I did put mine on a Nato, but that’s not a comment on the quality of the strap. 
 

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I would go for the 37 too. It would be a better for my wrist, and also more period correct!

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foghorn

Well made, good hacking movement, enamel dial,  double domed sapphire crystal w/inner A/R coating, screw down crown, great strap options, excellent lume, and perfectly sized at 37mm.

Other than that they're just OK.

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The grey version is just so interesting to my eyes, it's not like the more classic white or black but still looks great!

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I don't own one but it's top of my list to get. I have done quite a bit if research on these and Vario in general and it's generally very positive. I do own a vario strap for my Casio Royale. They appear to be a really strong micro brand.

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Ivan and Judy from Vario are great! I signed up for all of the variations when they were launching the 1918 Trench on Kickstarter. I wanted to really support them since I am a huge fan of WWI Trench watches and no one else was taking the risk to reproduce them. So I purchased the full set including all the straps, etc. I also picked up one of the Medic watches as well.

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The watches are incredibly well made and look great on the bund straps and the pass-through straps. I have combined the pass-through straps with the bund base as my wrist is a little larger at 7.5 inches. If you have a wrist 7.5 inches or larger, it will be difficult to get the bund to work with the strap that comes with it, however, the pass-throughs are in the same colors and they work great.

I also encouraged Ivan to produce the shrapnel protector and sent him a number of scans of vintage examples. He did a great job on the protector and I would definitely recommend getting one to go with the watch. He even put a rubber insert in the inside to protect against scratching the case when using the protector.

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I have only had great experience with the watches.

Here are some wrist shots from my collection:

Using the bund strap as originally designed

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Using the bund strap base with the pass-through strap

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1918 Trench with Shrapnel Protector

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1918 Medic Pulsometer

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been looking at this few days ago along with some flingers

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ChronoGuy

Ivan and Judy from Vario are great! I signed up for all of the variations when they were launching the 1918 Trench on Kickstarter. I wanted to really support them since I am a huge fan of WWI Trench watches and no one else was taking the risk to reproduce them. So I purchased the full set including all the straps, etc. I also picked up one of the Medic watches as well.

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The watches are incredibly well made and look great on the bund straps and the pass-through straps. I have combined the pass-through straps with the bund base as my wrist is a little larger at 7.5 inches. If you have a wrist 7.5 inches or larger, it will be difficult to get the bund to work with the strap that comes with it, however, the pass-throughs are in the same colors and they work great.

I also encouraged Ivan to produce the shrapnel protector and sent him a number of scans of vintage examples. He did a great job on the protector and I would definitely recommend getting one to go with the watch. He even put a rubber insert in the inside to protect against scratching the case when using the protector.

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I have only had great experience with the watches.

Here are some wrist shots from my collection:

Using the bund strap as originally designed

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Using the bund strap base with the pass-through strap

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1918 Trench with Shrapnel Protector

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1918 Medic Pulsometer

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That's great to hear! And what a collection! That grey dial tho... With the blue is just so amazing! Also super cool that you had some contribution in the project, is great to see that the community works this way to achieve great things!

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Aurelian

People post various boxes and storage solutions on here from time to time. @ChronoGuy has a subterranean vault:

Title sequence GIF - Find on GIFER

Love the Get Smart reference - I guess we're both old enough to know that one.

I don't have a shoe phone though 😉

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Wearing mine right now. Great watch with impeccable build quality. The factory strap with the bund piece installed makes for a very tight fit around my 7 inch wrist, but without it, it's perfect and looks even better, imo.

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Konsalik

Wearing mine right now. Great watch with impeccable build quality. The factory strap with the bund piece installed makes for a very tight fit around my 7 inch wrist, but without it, it's perfect and looks even better, imo.

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You can pick up one of the Vario pass-through straps and it will give you the option to use the bund strap base - my wrist is 7.5 inches and the pass-through strap option works perfectly. Plus you can mix colors between the two if you want to get edgy.

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I've never heard of this watch brand before until I saw this post.

Thanks for posting this now I want one 🤣

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ChronoGuy

In case you are a fan of vintage WWI Trench Watches, here are some that I have in the collection. Stan Czubernat of LRF Antique Watches ( www.LRFAntiqueWatches.com ) does a magnificent job of finding and restoring WWI trench watches and has written a couple of books about the watches produced by Elgin and Waltham.

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(this is the vintage shrapnel protector that Ivan used as his example)

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This one hasn't made it into a wrist shot yet (I didn't want to remove it from its original strap), but is really cool as it has the full provenance of the military doctor who served in WWI and wore this watch into combat:

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I also have this Rolex from 1912 (ca) that was described as a trench watch. I'm no expert on Rolex trench watches, so don't hold me to it if it didn't serve as trench watch. If anyone is an expert, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

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Incredible collection, thank you for sharing!

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Sorry, I missed your post until now. I was fortunate to win a Vario 1918 in a charity auction from the WCer formerly known as Omeganut a couple of months ago. I like it, wear it, and think it is a great value for the money. The strap is very a comfortable leather, but I prefer to wear it without the Bund pad on my 7.25” (~18 cm) wrist. The movement is interesting, if you hold it to your ear you can hear why it’s called a ‘cage of squirrels’ but that’s zero problem on the wrist. It winds very smoothly. I put my automatics on at winder when they are in rotation. One time this one had stopped, so I think the auto winding isn’t its strong suit, but as it is an easy manual wind, that’s not an issue either. The dial is very well finished, as is the case. I think you’d enjoy it. 

My question to you, given your expertise. What strap would this inspire you to make?

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Robcollects

Sorry, I missed your post until now. I was fortunate to win a Vario 1918 in a charity auction from the WCer formerly known as Omeganut a couple of months ago. I like it, wear it, and think it is a great value for the money. The strap is very a comfortable leather, but I prefer to wear it without the Bund pad on my 7.25” (~18 cm) wrist. The movement is interesting, if you hold it to your ear you can hear why it’s called a ‘cage of squirrels’ but that’s zero problem on the wrist. It winds very smoothly. I put my automatics on at winder when they are in rotation. One time this one had stopped, so I think the auto winding isn’t its strong suit, but as it is an easy manual wind, that’s not an issue either. The dial is very well finished, as is the case. I think you’d enjoy it. 

My question to you, given your expertise. What strap would this inspire you to make?

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Lucky you! The grey is really curious, keeping the mix between vintage and modern. 

I like bund straps and I think a bund fits pretty well the military theme of the watch. Also the grey dial which has a more "modernish" vibe I think would work great with various colours, like some deep blue, or something colorful like that! The vintage colours would be a safe win definitely, but more colorful straps with deep colours would be a great combo for me!

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Jericho

Lucky you! The grey is really curious, keeping the mix between vintage and modern. 

I like bund straps and I think a bund fits pretty well the military theme of the watch. Also the grey dial which has a more "modernish" vibe I think would work great with various colours, like some deep blue, or something colorful like that! The vintage colours would be a safe win definitely, but more colorful straps with deep colours would be a great combo for me!

Nice idea, I’ll try some rich colors. 

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I went with the 40mm Brass case w/ black dial white hour markers and I couldn't be happier! The strap is crazy comfortable and it can be worn with out the bund pad as well

It's a beautiful watch, but you have to hold one in your hands to understand just how amazing they are. These are also fairly limited depending on the dial. There's less than a 100 of the one I have. They have a chronograph that I've been eyeing. I'm just over my watch budget right now. Those are limited to 50 each. Vario has a great selection of straps for this watch as well.

Ivan and Judy are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet and their customer service is on a whole different level. I can't recommend Vario enough. 

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timegeek

There are a couple of other posts about this great watch (37mm and 40mm).  After seeing this, I popped it out for the National Watch Day post.

I have the traditional color version - an homage to original WW1 watches that seems to be popular here.  I have the 37mm version and love the great bund strap - but it's just long enough for my 7.25 inch wrist.  21.6kpbh is great, but the small second hand is hard for my aging eyes to see. The enamel dial might be what justifies the higher cost when compared with other watches having this movement. Not sure the "inner AR" does much though.  Overall it's a great addition to my collection.

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That's the 40mm isn't it, you don't have the cropped 6

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mrhyde

That's the 40mm isn't it, you don't have the cropped 6

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Yes, the order says 40mm but the case measures 45mm. Maybe the crystal is 40mm...

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I know this is an older post, but I'm surprised by how few own these. They're awesome! I've got a 37mm trench and a Medic and couldn't be more pleased. Buy your own!

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Grendl

I know this is an older post, but I'm surprised by how few own these. They're awesome! I've got a 37mm trench and a Medic and couldn't be more pleased. Buy your own!

I did indeed buy one! Wearing it right now with the shrapnel protector and canvas/leather strap!

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Pics or it didn't happen! 😉

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Grendl

Pics or it didn't happen! 😉

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It happened haha