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Field Watches · Page 15

Are You Coming to the Largest Windup Watch Fair to Date? Our Lead Sponsors are Bringing the Goods! Worn & Wound
Oct 10, 2023

Are You Coming to the Largest Windup Watch Fair to Date? Our Lead Sponsors are Bringing the Goods!

If you’ve already come to a Windup Watch Fair in the past, plan to be pleasantly surprised when we open the doors on October 20th through the 22nd in NYC. If you haven’t been to one before, you’re going to be blown away by the sheer scope of the fair we’ve built out this year. As a reminder, here are the key event details: The Altman Building on 18th Street between 6th and 7th avenues (135 W 18th St) Friday, October 20: 12PM – 6PM Saturday, October 21: 12PM – 6PM Sunday, October 22: 12PM – 5PM Free and open to the public We have over 80 brands showcasing their watches and goods on two floors! This includes a handful of never-before-seen-in-the-metal watches and the introduction of “EDC Alley” to NYC, which was successfully piloted in both San Francisco and Chicago earlier this year. But look no further than our five Lead Sponsors to find some new releases that are sure to make any watch enthusiast jump for joy. Our Lead Sponsors Bulova Since its inception in 1875, Bulova has been synonymous with quality, precision, and innovation in the world of timekeeping. With a rich heritage and a commitment to exceptional craftsmanship, Bulova continues to create watches that blend classic elegance with cutting-edge technology. From the iconic Archive Series to the celebrated CURV and proprietary Precisionist movement, Bulova remains a symbol of excellence in the art of watchmaking. Be sure to check out their collection of classic field watches which will be paired w...

Timor Launches a Contemporary Take on their Classic “Dirty Dozen” Watch Worn & Wound
Oct 10, 2023

Timor Launches a Contemporary Take on their Classic “Dirty Dozen” Watch

Field watches, as Zach alluded to earlier this week, are, in some sense, the best kind of watch. Free from extraneous moving parts or features, field watches are designed to do what watches do – tell time legibly and not break. At no point was this more necessary than during World War II when Britain’s Ministry of Defense issued a request for durable watches under the specification “WWW”: wrist, watch, waterproof. One of the famous 12 companies (AKA the Dirty Dozen) that answered the call was the Timor Watch Company. The rest, as they say, is history, and eight decades later we have the modern successor to the Timor WWW. Let’s get the specs out of the way: The new Modern Field 100M’s case is PVD-coated 316L steel for maximum stealth, and the domed crystal is also treated to combat glare. Timor has elected to preserve the watch’s historic 36.5mm size while keeping the remaining dimensions very reasonable: 12mm thick, 45.5mm lug to lug (18mm lug width), and 94 grams on the seat belt nylon strap. Inside is a modified Sellita SW260 movement. Water resistance is 100 meters, which Timor considers perfect “in rain, river, or during a rigorous workout.” The dial of the Modern Field 100M is what you would expect from a no-nonsense watch: Large Arabic hour markers paired with their 24-hour equivalents. Along the chapter ring is a smaller scale of 5-minute increments. Simple pencil hour and minute hands, carried over from the original Timor Dirty Dozen, make time-te...

The Many Handwinding Flavors of Hamilton Worn & Wound
Oct 8, 2023

The Many Handwinding Flavors of Hamilton

There’s something special about hand winding a watch. Sure, automatics are great, but the great thing about them is that they don’t really need you to keep doing their job. The most interaction you’d have with the crown on your automatic is maybe setting it should the power reserve run out over a long weekend. Handwinding watches require a bit more work, but that few minutes of winding in the morning before your day begins is a great opportunity to interact with your favorite watch. Romanticism aside, there are some key physical benefits as well. Most importantly being that since there’s no automatic winding rotor section needed for the movement, handwinding movements tend to be thinner and able to be housed in smaller cases that may wear better on your wrist. One iconic brand that’s still actively embracing handwinding watches is Hamilton. With the huge success of their Khaki Field Mechanical, it’s clear that enthusiasts still want handwinding watches, especially when they’re as solidly built, packed with features, and as functional as the Hamiltons below. Let’s take a look at three handwinding Hamiltons in the Windup Watch Shop and what makes them special. There’s something special about hand winding a watch. Sure, automatics are great, but the great thing about them is that they don’t really need you to keep doing their job. The most interaction you’d have with the crown on your automatic is maybe setting it should the power reserve run out over ...

Baltic Unveils the All New Hermétique Collection Worn & Wound
Oct 5, 2023

Baltic Unveils the All New Hermétique Collection

The classic field watch has served as a blank canvas of sorts over the years for all kinds of brands in the microbrand space. It’s a sneakily challenging format to iterate on. Like the dive watch, it’s one of those platforms that was, arguably, perfected right out of the gate. And, like the dive watch, those new iterations tend to work best when a brand doesn’t try to reinvent something that isn’t broken, but simply puts their own unique stamp on a traditional design. That’s what Baltic seems to be going for with their new collection, introduced today, which they’ve dubbed the Hermétique. These first four “Tourer Edition” variants take classic field watch tropes but spin them through Baltic’s own sensibility, which itself has become only more clearly refined in recent years as the brand has continued to mature.  What I’ve always liked about field watches is that they are relentlessly unfussy. They are the objectification of the idea of “neutral” in watch design. Simple to wear, simple to read, unobtrusive, but always good looking in their purest form, a simple arrangement of Arabic numerals against a high contrast dial. Baltic has taken the approach with the Hermétique leaning into those things that make field watches field watches, but have added tasteful accents that tweak the formula just a hair. First and foremost, these watches seem to be designed to disappear. The stainless steel cases come in at a very traditional 37mm diamater, and Baltic...

Tool/Kit: Camping in Sweden with Lydia Winters and the New Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition Worn & Wound
Sep 22, 2023

Tool/Kit: Camping in Sweden with Lydia Winters and the New Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition

By way of a quick introduction, hi! I’m Lydia Winters, an American living in Sweden for the past 12 years. Come hang out with me and my sambo (a perfect Swedish word for a live-together partner), Vu Bui, as we explore the Swedish forest with the new Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition. I’m wearing the 37mm black dial on a bracelet and Vu’s wearing the 41mm white dial on the brown leather strap. There’s also a blue dial that I can’t wait to see in person. I didn’t grow up in a camping family… wait, scratch that, I didn’t grow up in an outdoors family, except for the beach. As a native Floridian, most of my outdoor life revolved around the Gulf of Mexico and the beach. Moving to Sweden 12 years ago began not only my work career but also my love of the great outdoors, but backpacking has stayed in the periphery of my comfort zone. It’s quite infrequent that Vu gets me to head out for an overnight trip. Luckily for him and me, I couldn’t resist a chance to take the new Khaki Field Expedition for an overnight adventure. So, off to the forest we went. Let the expedition begin! The post Tool/Kit: Camping in Sweden with Lydia Winters and the New Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition appeared first on Worn & Wound.

This New Citizen Promaster Altichron Can Read an Altitude Higher than the World’s Tallest Peak Worn & Wound
Sep 12, 2023

This New Citizen Promaster Altichron Can Read an Altitude Higher than the World’s Tallest Peak

Citizen has introduced a new Altichron to the Promaster family of watches. This series has always struck me as kind of gleefully over the top, even more than many of the crazy dive watches we talk about in these pages frequently. The whole idea behind the “Promaster” branding is to show Citizen’s prominence in designing watches that can take on land and air in addition to sea, but sometimes we get caught up in the dive watch aspect of it all given the importance of watches in that niche to the culture of contemporary watch collecting. The Altichron is, effectively, a souped up field watch made with mountaineering in mind, and it has a number of features that should make athletes who spend their time at higher elevations quite happy. For the rest of us, there’s still a lot of cool tech to gawk at, which is a perfectly acceptable way to enjoy a watch like this in my book.  The key feature of the Altichron is its altitude sensor, which allows for measurements up to 32,800 feet above sea level (Mt. Everest, for the record, is a little over 29,000 feet above sea level). Also, just in case you’re the multidisciplinary sort, you’ll get an accurate reading up to 300 meters below sea level as well. The altitude meter is read via an inner dial for the first 900 meters above sea level, and then via a subdial at 9:00 for higher altitudes. The Altichron is also equipped with an electronic compass that shows your heading via a gauge around the dial’s perimeter. The layout...

A Week In Watches, Episode 63: Geneva Watch Days Special Worn & Wound
Sep 10, 2023

A Week In Watches, Episode 63: Geneva Watch Days Special

In the special edition of A Week In Watches, Zach Weiss and Blake Buettner sit down together to discuss some of the most interesting new releases from Geneva Watch Days, and more. From blacked out Doxas, to kind of blue De Bethunes, and a Eucalyptus Ressence, there were plenty of new watches to appreciate, including the joint Only Watch submission from H. Moser and MB&F. You can view more of our Geneva Watch Days coverage right here, and keep an eye out for more yet to come. Geneva Watch Days didn’t give us the only new releases last week, though. One of the biggest surprises, and a welcome one at that, was the new Seiko ‘Alpinist’ GMT Prospex references, which brings their 6R54 GMT caliber into the beloved field watch collection. It makes a whole lot of sense in this platform, even if it is a ‘caller’ style GMT, so we’re thrilled to see it makes its way over. This episode of A Week In Watches is sponsored by our friends at Shinola. To commemorate 10 years of American design and manufacturing, Shinola Detroit is proud to share this video that reveals the company and its employees as a team that can carve a distinct pathway forward with their own sense of, as they say, “timeless American design.” This cinematic video gives an insider glimpse of their watchmakers assembling timepieces, soaring views of the Detroit headquarters, and shares perspective on the past decade as well as Shinola’s aims for the future. Learn more about Shinola’s Timeless American ...

Celebrating 25 Years of the Sinn 356 Worn & Wound
Sep 1, 2023

Celebrating 25 Years of the Sinn 356

Sinn is a cult brand with a unique quality (ok, several) – each of their watches also has a cult following. Are you a 556-head? A U1 kind-of-guy? No? How about a 103-fiend? Or, do you like the 70s vibe of the 144 the most? No matter what, there’s a Sinn line you can geek out over, as over the years each line has had several to dozens of variations and special editions created under it. But, there’s been one model that has felt somewhat ignored over the last several years. A line that is actually a bit of a favorite around at Worn & Wound and on my perennial “someday I’ll pick one up” list – the 356, Sinn’s most compact automatic chronograph. At 38.5 x 46mm for a long, long time, the 356 was one of the smallest automatic, or even mechanical, chronographs you could find for a reasonable price. Powered by the venerable Valjoux 7750, it blended a classic military pilot chronograph layout, one that pulled from Type 20s and the like, with a case that felt more like a field watch in its size and stripped-down appearance. The result was rugged, understated, and altogether charming. Check out our review from 2014. While variations of the 356 exist or have existed, including different crystal options, a stunning model with a salmon stamped-guilloche dial, and an elusive 12-hour UTC model, it’s not a line that has gotten much attention recently. This is why today’s announcement, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 356 with three new models, is so exciting. To ...

Archimede Celebrates their 20th Anniversary with a Special Edition of their Outdoor Protect Worn & Wound
Aug 23, 2023

Archimede Celebrates their 20th Anniversary with a Special Edition of their Outdoor Protect

I will always have a soft spot for Archimede. Fun fact: an Archimede chronograph was the first video review I ever shot for Worn & Wound. This has always been a brand that offers a noticeably higher quality product than many of its competitors within its price point, largely riding on the strength of the incredibly well machined Ickler cases. Now, for the brand’s 20th anniversary, they’ve issued a limited run of their popular Outdoor Protect sports watch with a hardened DLC case and a small Easter egg that drives home the “outdoor” theme of the hybrid sports/field watch.  While Archimede is known primarily for their traditional pilot watches, the Outdoor line veers into a style more in line with funky sports watches from the 1970s. The case has a lugless design and gentle curves, and is one of those designs that just looks like it’s going to be comfortable when you get it on your wrist. Over the years, Archimede has updated the Outdoor in various ways, offering new case sizes, and adding a chronograph complication, but the basic gist of the watch has always been simple, sporty legibility with just a little bit of 1970s funk. The “Outdoor” moniker underscores the watch’s durability and the intention behind it: to be used as part of an active lifestyle. They didn’t call it the “Office” for a reason.  For the new limited run of Outdoor Protects seen here, Archimede has sand blasted the case, which measures 39mm, with a black DLC coating that gives the ...

Hands-On: the Vero Smokey ’44 Worn & Wound
Aug 23, 2023

Hands-On: the Vero Smokey ’44

Just a few short weeks ago, Vero introduced their officially-licensed Smokey the Bear watches that were inspired not only by the bear himself, but the era in which he came into existence. Today, we’re taking a look at the Smokey ’44. It’s inspired by the military watches of the 1940s, blended with a wildfire-themed color palette and a depiction of the friendly-but-stern bear right at 12 o’clock on the dial. This officially-licensed piece of Smokey swag is a great representation of both Vero as a brand and what Smokey the Bear stands for. Vero isn’t all talk either, being that 10% of all sales go directly back to the US Forest Service for conservation efforts. Let’s take a closer look, and remember - only you can prevent wildfires. $450 Hands-On: the Vero Smokey ’44 Case Stainless steel Movement Seiko NH38A automatic Dial Black, textured Lume Green SuperLuminova Lens Sapphire Strap Leather + canvas Water Resistance 120 meters Dimensions 38 x 46mm Thickness 12mm Lug Width 20mm Crown Screw down Warranty 10 years Price $450 Case Clocking in at a comfortable 38mm, the case of the ’44 wears really well on my 6.75” wrist. There’s nothing overly notable about the case, and I say that in a good way. It’s a straightforward field watch with a sturdy case that inspires confidence that it’ll stand up to whatever you want to throw at it. With 120m of water resistance, the ’44 has more than enough protection from H2O for a swim and then some. I like how Vero c...

Out of Office: The Wandering Bezel of the Seiko Land Tortoise Worn & Wound
Aug 22, 2023

Out of Office: The Wandering Bezel of the Seiko Land Tortoise

Tool watches are, as the name suggests, utilitarian by design. When I bought an SRPG13, the green Seiko Land Tortoise with a compass bezel, I thought I was purchasing yet another tool watch with practical non-timekeeping functionality. After an overnight family backpacking trip, I’m not convinced my field watch is the useful tool I tried to force it to be. The Land Tortoise is a tool watch- in the sense that it’s technically capable of tasks beyond displaying the time. True North can be found with any analog watch by pointing the hour hand at the sun, bisecting the angle between the hour hand and the sun to find South, and then locating the opposite point to identify North. A compass bezel is an enhancement that allows the wearer to mark North after finding it. This summer our family of four is section hiking the entire Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail; A 50 mile peak to peak path through New Hampshire’s backcountry. What better place to put this tool to the test than on the first section of the trip? The day before our first overnight section, as I organized gear, sprawling out sleeping pads, a tent, trekking poles and various knick-knacks across our living room floor, I made sure to put on the SRPG13. I pictured standing on a mountain top, getting the kids set up with a celebratory lunch, lining up the hour hand, and then bisecting with ease. With a real compass in my pack, I was excited to check my accuracy.  Two miles away and 2000 feet above the parking lot whe...

Lang 1943 Field Watch Edition One: Competitively Priced and Approaching Perfection Quill & Pad
Aug 14, 2023

Lang 1943 Field Watch Edition One: Competitively Priced and Approaching Perfection

Lang 1943 is not a homage, it stands its own ground and can best be summarized as a beautiful tool. The first thing that the team at Lang 1943 got right was the proportions. A diameter of 39mm is spot on, particularly when the thickness is just 8.40 mm. This results in a timepiece that is comfortable to wear, large enough to be easy to read, but not overly bulky that it hinders movements.

So You Want To Change Your Watch Strap? Here’s what you’ll need Worn & Wound
Aug 13, 2023

So You Want To Change Your Watch Strap? Here’s what you’ll need

One of us! One of us! One of the first forays into watch enthusiasm is changing out the stock strap to something a little bit more your style. Sure, the OEM straps are fine, but there’s a whole world of aftermarket offerings that can totally switch up the look and feel of your watch. The best part? It’s quick and easy to do, and you only need a few key tools to get the job done right. Whether you’re popping your new dive watch off the bracelet and onto a nato, or switching over that field watch from the cheapy faux-leather strap to something more premium, swapping straps is a fun way to get even more out of your current collection of watches. This guide breaks down some of the essentials you’ll need to get started, so let’s jump in. One of us! One of us! One of the first forays into watch enthusiasm is changing out the stock strap to something a little bit more your style. Sure, the OEM straps are fine, but there’s a whole world of aftermarket offerings that can totally switch up the look and feel of your watch. The best part? It’s quick and easy to do, and you only need a few key tools to get the job done right. Whether you’re popping your new dive watch off the bracelet and onto a nato, or switching over that field watch from the cheapy faux-leather strap to something more premium, swapping straps is a fun way to get even more out of your current collection of watches. This guide breaks down some of the essentials you’ll need to get started, so let’s ...

Comments 3

  1. Marcus T.
    The 36-40mm range is worth emphasizing; many modern field watch offerings have crept up to 42-44mm, which rather defeats the purpose of the legible, compact utility tool. I'd note that the proper lineage traces back to the Omega CK2129 and A-series military watches of the 1940s, not just general military tradition. The movement, typically a 15 or 17 jewel hand-wound caliber, was always secondary to case and dial function.
    1. Otis replying to Marcus T.
      good write-up but surprised no mention of the seiko 5 field watch variants. they hit that 36-40mm sweet spot and the dial legibility is as good as anything twice the price.
    2. Jonas replying to Marcus T.
      Completely agree on the size creep, though I'd argue the A-series influence gets overstated sometimes. The real test is whether it still fits under a uniform cuff, ja? Movement specs matter less than you'd think; a clean dial and proper contrast do the heavy lifting.

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