Mechanical timepieces with combat credentials enjoy healthy sales almost a century after their invention.
The modern wristwatch owes a great deal to the military: until the first world war men did not marry watches to wrists, preferring the traditional pocket watch format with its tactile case and large, easily-read dial.
But as the shells rained down among the trenches of Flanders and the Somme, soldiers found having to fumble in a tunic pocket in order to be able to tell the time both impractical and potentially fatal. The solution was to add a pair of lugs to a woman's-sized pocket watch, attach a canvas or leather strap and wear it on the wrist.
It was the company now known as Timex that made the first mass-produced military wristwatches from Ingersoll ladies' pocket watches, moving the crown from the 12 o'clock to the three o'clock position and painting the numerals with a (poisonous) compound of radium and zinc so they would glow in the dark.
Patek Philippe watches
Often, the covers fitted to other converted pocket watches provided useful protection from damage and, even today, Patek Philippe still makes delightful 'Officer' wristwatches that nod to the past by having hinged casebacks.
Cage-like 'shrapnel guards' were also devised to protect the glass and dial and, as wristwatches came to be purpose-made and more sophisticated, practical military features such as luminous hands and hour markers became commonplace, along with the 'telemetric scale' by which the distance separating the wearer from an object that was both visible and audible — usually a whistling shell — could be calculated.
Gaston Breitling created the first wrist-worn chronograph for aviators in 1915, and soon the wristwatch was regarded as an essential piece of operational equipment with other companies such as A Lange and Sohne, IWC, Panerai and Rolex winning contracts to produce examples in their thousands for use by army, navy and air force personnel.
Indeed, the second world war saw Rolex make a remarkable and optimistic offer to British officers in 'model' prison camps such as Stalag Luft III by allowing them to order and take delivery of a new watch on the basis that payment would not be required until the end of the conflict.
Real-world testers
Although generous, this was not entirely without benefit to Rolex because the brand's (German) founder, Hans Wilsdorf, was also using the officers as real-world testers of his products.
In years to come, feedback from successful escapees about how their watches performed led to Rolex developing quintessential army timepieces such as the Submariner, genuine military-issue versions of which now command a premium at auction.
There is, however, no strict definition of a 'military' watch, other than that it should be a rugged, dependable timepiece with few frills.
A chronograph function is usually the most sophisticated complication to be found on such a timepiece, with luminescence, high levels of water and shock resistance and often a 'hack' feature — with which the time can be set to the second — being regarded as most essential.
But while the 21st-century soldier is catered for by companies such as Norway's Suunto, which makes an electronic military watch called the X9Mi featuring everything from GPS navigation to a barometer and altitude alarm, there is still an extremely healthy market for high-quality, mechanical pieces that have combat credentials.
A special series of Omega's iconic Seamaster has, for example, just been created for members of the elite Special Boat Service. Somewhat morbidly, the watches are allocated by 'zap' numbers — the code sent back to base to identify an SBS operative killed in action.
Yet a general appetite for all things army, from combat trousers to Hummer 'personnel carriers', has made military-inspired timepieces a big hit in civvy street with many brands offering watches tough enough to wear in combat. Most of these brands have a legitimate right to produce them, too, having been makers of military timepieces in the past.
US company Hamilton, which has supplied timepieces to the American forces for decades, this year launched its X-Wind pilot watch and two new versions of its Khaki Action.
Breitling, meanwhile, is a brand that has its very foundations in military aviation, today being the official watch supplier to the Army Air Corps 'Blue Eagles', the Red Arrows aerobatics display team, Italy's Frecce Tricolore and numerous other squadrons of the French, Spanish, Italian and US air forces.
One of the most popular Breitling models among military pilots is the B-1 from the 'Professional' range that, as well as offering a multitude of functions, is also 'NVG' compatible — that is night vision goggles to us civilians.
IWC best-seller
Yet it is IWC — famous during the second world war for its 'Big Pilot's' watch that is still a best-seller today — that has recently achieved one of the most impressive coups in military timepiece manufacture by winning the right to create the 'official' watch for pilots of the US Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Course.
Never heard of it? Well that is because it is better known as the 'Top Gun' school, the celebrated Nevada training academy for possibly the most talented combat pilots in the world.
The IWC 'Top Gun' watch is a sinister-looking, 44-mm diameter monster with a black-coated ceramic and titanium case and split seconds chronograph function.
The case back is decorated with the logo of the Fighter Weapons School, and the end tips of the chronograph seconds hands have been designed to create its aircraft motif when they coincide.
Other high-grade military features include a tough, fabric strap and an anti-reflective crystal that is designed not to burst off in the event of a sudden drop in air pressure. You do not, however, need to be a 'Goose' or a 'Maverick' to own the Top Gun edition — the watch will be available to the general public from October, with a UK list price of £6,250 (about Dh.46,738).
