Teddy Baldassarre
MIL-SPEC Watch Design: How Military Needs Shaped the Modern Wristwatch
Nearly everything we regard as a modern luxury was once a military necessity. Okay, maybe that’s too broad a statement. But when you consider the impact of inventions like the Internet (set up as a Department of Defense communications network in 1969) and GPS navigation (which still uses military satellites from the 1970s) - not to mention the rise of the Jeep from humble troop conveyance to luxury SUV; the ubiquity of microwave ovens (which emerged from NATO radar experiments); and the enduring civilian stylishness of accessories like cargo pants and aviator sunglasses - a substantial case can be made that goods made to military specifications, or MIL-SPEC, have made an inestimable impact on everyday life. Nowhere is this influence seen more strongly than in the world of wristwatches - not only those intentionally designed for a military or tactical look, but in many styles and genres throughout the industry. From Waistcoat to War: Origin of the Wristwatch While it’s unlikely that a distinctly elegant timepiece, like a Patek Philippe Calatrava or a Vacheron Constantin Patrimony, will put you in the mind of battlefields and trenches, the truth is that wristwatches themselves are essentially a military invention - at least, the ones designed for men. Women had been wearing timepieces on pendants and bracelets for decades, since the middle of the 19th Century, but it was the utilitarian needs of soldiers in World War I that ushered them into general usage for ...
