History of Military Watch Designations?
The latest Timex mechanical looks an awful lot like the Hamilton Khaki. Of course, the latter was already based on a military design from the mid 20th Century.
My question is, does anyone have any solid information about these older military designations and how the resultant watches ended up looking so similar to one another? Online, there appear to be dozens of old field watches that look near-identical to the Hamilton. Were the armed forces that strict with the handset/font styles etc?
The US government documentation I found only seems to date back to 1991.
Would you still class this Timex as a 'homage'/'clone' watch?
I'd love to hear your thoughts down below.
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Look for mil specs!
https://chronopedia.club/Benrus_DTU-2A/P
Above tells you that the Benrus of 1962 was made to MIL-Spec-W-3818B. Presumably the old A-11 would be the great grandaddy of all this.
Here is a link to a site on US Mil Spec for field watches. It began in the 30's.
https://www.military-watches-command.com/military-watch-history.html
Great question, but due to the heritage that Timex has I would not consider it a homage. A lot of watch brands do this style along with the sub from Rolex, but in Timex case I don't see it as a homage. Maybe I'm just being the over-protective parent because Timex is my baby. lol.
Great question, but due to the heritage that Timex has I would not consider it a homage. A lot of watch brands do this style along with the sub from Rolex, but in Timex case I don't see it as a homage. Maybe I'm just being the over-protective parent because Timex is my baby. lol.
And add to this, I read (or watched a video) somewhere that they proposed a specific watch design to the US military in the early 80s which was in keeping with Mil Specs at that time, but they were not selected. So, they just used the design and sold it to the civilian market.
As a precursor to the Dirty Dozen there were the ATP watches whereby Swiss Watch companies were contracted to provide watches to certain specifications outlined by the British government. 20 watch makers complied with the brief, and as a gesture of neutrality also offered the dark dialled versions to Germany.
The Dirty Dozen were the 12 companies who completed a later brief from the UK for even more stringent criteria.
And add to this, I read (or watched a video) somewhere that they proposed a specific watch design to the US military in the early 80s which was in keeping with Mil Specs at that time, but they were not selected. So, they just used the design and sold it to the civilian market.
This is quite a common theme though because many watch innovations and trends were driven by conflict. The 50s Wehrmachtswerk movements are supposedly based upon German army specifications, but are not army affiliated. The trench watch from WWI was a driving force behind the increased popularity of a gentleman having a wristwatch. The military styles from the ATP and DD were popular in the 1940s and 1950s, because a lot of sellers will happily tell you something is military when it clearly isn’t, it’s military inspired. The Hamilton is clearly referencing the spec outlined for the later US conflicts, such as Vietnam.
Only watch company that I know of today that has a Government Contract is Marathon. The Timex appears to be a former interaction of a mil-spec product = kind of why the Hamilton looks the same. This is the 1911 .ACP issue in handguns. There were multiple contracts to meet supply requirements . The Marathon is pictured below. Not the same look/feel/purpose but very cool. The case back is a laundry list of criteria met for their Goverment contracts
Usually, the governments created the basic specs, ultimately the looks were up to the manufacturer of the watch. However, if the specs were particularly precise about certain features, obviously the end result from different manufacturers looked very similar. Think of the Royal Navy-issued Omega Seamaster 300 and the Rolex "Milsub." Then the CWC dive watch for the Royal Navy. Or Weems watches by Longines, Omega, Zenith (FWIW, no, Longines wasn't the sole manufacturer of Weems watches).
Sometimes, one brand could make pieces with considerable differences for one branch of one military, because each branch - army, navy, air force - includes very different types of service. Here's my example, Doxas made for the German military during WW2:
https://wahawatches.com/doxa-watches-of-the-luftwaffe/
Given military watches are so similar in appearance, it makes me wonder if mfrs are relying on some mil-spec to design the overall watch.