Military Watches anyone?

CWC and Marathon have actually been issued, give them a look! Very cool watches. CWC especially has a quartz in your price range I think!

Oh shoot I just saw you want from the 50s-70s, nevermind 😂

I think for under 250 it might be tough. Usually you’ll just find small (under 35mm) watches. Maybe a marathon resin watch. Pawn shops are your friend though haha. Go to as many as you can. Preferably near military bases.

Maybe something like this?

I think hitting both that time period and price will be difficult.

Sorry it's not from the years you asked and 40mm

Closest your getting to a new DTU-2AP type watch with your price

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On the plus side it's acrylic, infinitely better, doesn't reflect as readily, cleans up with Polywatch, oils/mud/etc doesn't smear as easily, psi/atmospheric resistant.

On the negative it's 40mm and 22mm lug.

Other option:

No kidding this was my first official issued watch. Unit supply dude hooked me up until my Suunto Vector could get shipped from Battlefield Airman Management System.

Wish I still had it, gave it to my pops when I got back from my first all expenses paid joyride through the hills if Afghanistan 😂.

Also this.

Marathon has been making their General Purpose Field Mech/Quartz for years.

I'd go to the acrylic. Trust me. It's a tool, scratches happen. If that worried Polywatch.

WR is overrated..most of us can barely touch the bottom of a 20 foot pool, much less dive below 3 ATM.

And the Marathon is STILL issued and in inventory, Cage code/NSN and all. Granted Uncle Sam gets a MUCH better price sadly.....😭

Check out the Baltany store on Aliexpress. They specialize in military watch replicas from WW1 all the way to the 70s and they'll fit in your budget.

This D12 replica can be found under $100 during AlieX sales and it's an awesome little watch for the price.

Might not be possible to find an actual watch from that time period at 38mm.

Most were 32-36mm

I’d be willing to get a smaller one though (34-36mm), just nothing too drastic.

I live near a base!! But, I would get one that size though.

I do really like those but, I’d prefer to not use AliExpress, I could find one closer anyway. I will most likely get one eventually though.

Search eBay but like foghorn said you’ll be hard pressed to even find a 34mm at that price. More like 32mm. And don’t count on it running very well. Vintage watches are a tough rabbit hole to go down haha.

The real deal watch that active duty military members wear is overwhelmingly a G-Shock. For Military inspired, there are many quality options.

Not in my experience, I see more Timex Ironman variants.

Those are up there also! My son is active USAF and has 3 G-Shocks and one Iron Man (Timex x Huckberry L.E.)

Used to be, but the times they are a changin lol.

I see just as many Suuntos, Garmins, Protreks and the dreaded apple watch these days.

Weirdly enough I'm actually starting to see analog quartz and autos more frequently than I used to. Not in the majority at all mind you but a few more, which is never a bad thing.

$250 is a tiny budget for what you want.

Revisit that dream when you want to spend more.

Yeah, I know I’m asking for a little too much, but I’m also not expecting to get something like this for a while, I’m just interested in what interesting and/or somewhat reasonable priced military watches people have and/or know about. But seeing something that I can afford at the moment, being a high school student, would be pretty cool.

It would indeed be 'pretty cool' but I think your chance of getting an actual military watch from the 50s to 70s for $250 is pie-in-the-sky stuff, hence my reply. Even military style watches, made by the same manufacturers, from the same eras, will be more than $250, even without seeing a day of military service. Actual vintage military watches are a whole subset of watch collecting, and they're not cheap.

Yeah I made this a while back and now I know it was kind of a ridiculous request