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All Things In The Military Spirit
Affection for military timepieces
Published by: Samuel Ng
Published by: Samuel Ng
Feb 17, 2020
I want to declare that this article might be odd or seem written aimlessly, but read this with a light heart and take it as a sharing session of Gnomon's history with watches.
As many of you know, we're huge fans of military watches. 70% of our offerings show affection for these form follows function tool watches that were impeccably built as they were necessary. Since the beginning of our watch business, we offered different kinds of reliable timepieces, from the O.G. 90s Hamilton MIL-W-46372B used during the Vietnam wars, to the "over" engineered Fondales designed by none other than a senior designer at Panerai, Mr. Alesssandro Bettarini, and everything in-between.
Today, we will like to share more of our passions for these watches and hopefully it will help you to appreciate them better or in a different light. We will not discuss much about the history because this you can find all over the internet, but staying focus on the whole motion of these purposeful timepieces that made us who we are today.
The ones that started it all, Field watches (our humble beginning)
Some 20 plus years ago, to be specific, our team brought in certain mechanical watches that not many would think of owning that much. Those who were familiar and appreciated these watches are those who got assigned to one, or those who have been deep researching on the fascination of military pedigree that these watches hold on none other than M.W.R. forum. We remember, getting our shipments on the 1960s yet actual "new old stock" GG-W-113 for the U.S. Military, along with their MIL-W-46374 (Sterile dials), and sold them all over the world to enthusiasts who appreciate their pedigree. The duos got us started in pursuit of what "form follows function" is all about till this date.
The specifications, MIL-W-46374, was first published in 1964 for US military watches. These field watches were made with a purpose in mind.
These watches are probably not the "ideal" sports watch size now, but military troopers wore them like their lives depends on it, though at the size of only 35-36mm overall, I digress. Although they were first issued on June 6th of 1967 based on the U.S. government specifications, the need for accurate and durable timepieces for combat situations. All of them got to be meet these requirements as stated: A 15-17 jewels hacking mechanical movement with an accuracy of approximately +/- 30 seconds per day, able to withstand a 4 feet fall onto a wooden block and being waterproof. The GG-W-113 and MIL-W-46374B feature tritium luminous hands for low-light reading and all cased up with anti-magnetism.
If you have to ask, did we sell those "brands" back then? Well, we affirmed that. Those brands that we sold include Hamilton, Marathon, Stocker & Yale, Benrus and etc. All of these bear case back markings that are essentials for identification purposes, all packed and wrapped in their simple no-frills brown boxes.
Ok now, why do we mention so much on those simple three hands watches in this article? That's because these military requirements crafted authentic values for not just us but to the community, who believes these are watches that meant something since day one. From these watches, watch manufacturers have based upon today, using similar ideology; for instance, German watch manufacturers include Aristo, Damasko, Dievas, Laco, and even Steinhart, just to name a few.
Most of them have genuine experience in manufacturing actual "wartime" pieces, while brands like Dievas and Steinhart built their robust field watches around them. We have offered these mechanical goodies right after those O.G.s as early as 2000 and have accompanied us throughout the years when we expanded our watch business.
Along the way, brands with similar pedigree hopped onboard the Gnomon's battleship of "forms-follow-function" watches. In 2018, Hamilton re-launched their Khaki Field mechanical line. We knew instantly we had to be onboard as this was where we started and it sorts of rekindled the fire inside us. After much persuasion, we finally convinced Hamilton to have us onboard officially in 2019. Noting that this no easy negotiation as we wanted Hamilton not only in-store but also on our web-store.
The military- theme watches include ones like Aristo with their Vintage Military Ref. 3H147 that features a sterile dial with round field-watch case, or how about Ball's Fireman collection that are all befitting. We can testify that the boundary of field watches are crazily comprehensive, coming in different sizes and shapes, but the song will always remain the same.
Therefore, these pieces have been our roots and have grown to bear many fruits of the same until now. We can confidently claim that we know a thing or two about these purposeful watches and they are worthy every penny if one is looking for durable wrist candies that were built well to use them for war times(pun intended). With that said, some might think these are simple watches that has nothing related to words like "sexy" and "chic," but heck, we know these are our passion and lifestyle from day one, and we are very sure there are many like-hearted people like us out there who crave for something that is built with a purpose.
As many of you know, we're huge fans of military watches. 70% of our offerings show affection for these form follows function tool watches that were impeccably built as they were necessary. Since the beginning of our watch business, we offered different kinds of reliable timepieces, from the O.G. 90s Hamilton MIL-W-46372B used during the Vietnam wars, to the "over" engineered Fondales designed by none other than a senior designer at Panerai, Mr. Alesssandro Bettarini, and everything in-between.
Today, we will like to share more of our passions for these watches and hopefully it will help you to appreciate them better or in a different light. We will not discuss much about the history because this you can find all over the internet, but staying focus on the whole motion of these purposeful timepieces that made us who we are today.
The ones that started it all, Field watches (our humble beginning)
Some 20 plus years ago, to be specific, our team brought in certain mechanical watches that not many would think of owning that much. Those who were familiar and appreciated these watches are those who got assigned to one, or those who have been deep researching on the fascination of military pedigree that these watches hold on none other than M.W.R. forum. We remember, getting our shipments on the 1960s yet actual "new old stock" GG-W-113 for the U.S. Military, along with their MIL-W-46374 (Sterile dials), and sold them all over the world to enthusiasts who appreciate their pedigree. The duos got us started in pursuit of what "form follows function" is all about till this date.
The specifications, MIL-W-46374, was first published in 1964 for US military watches. These field watches were made with a purpose in mind.
These watches are probably not the "ideal" sports watch size now, but military troopers wore them like their lives depends on it, though at the size of only 35-36mm overall, I digress. Although they were first issued on June 6th of 1967 based on the U.S. government specifications, the need for accurate and durable timepieces for combat situations. All of them got to be meet these requirements as stated: A 15-17 jewels hacking mechanical movement with an accuracy of approximately +/- 30 seconds per day, able to withstand a 4 feet fall onto a wooden block and being waterproof. The GG-W-113 and MIL-W-46374B feature tritium luminous hands for low-light reading and all cased up with anti-magnetism.
If you have to ask, did we sell those "brands" back then? Well, we affirmed that. Those brands that we sold include Hamilton, Marathon, Stocker & Yale, Benrus and etc. All of these bear case back markings that are essentials for identification purposes, all packed and wrapped in their simple no-frills brown boxes.
Ok now, why do we mention so much on those simple three hands watches in this article? That's because these military requirements crafted authentic values for not just us but to the community, who believes these are watches that meant something since day one. From these watches, watch manufacturers have based upon today, using similar ideology; for instance, German watch manufacturers include Aristo, Damasko, Dievas, Laco, and even Steinhart, just to name a few.
Most of them have genuine experience in manufacturing actual "wartime" pieces, while brands like Dievas and Steinhart built their robust field watches around them. We have offered these mechanical goodies right after those O.G.s as early as 2000 and have accompanied us throughout the years when we expanded our watch business.
Along the way, brands with similar pedigree hopped onboard the Gnomon's battleship of "forms-follow-function" watches. In 2018, Hamilton re-launched their Khaki Field mechanical line. We knew instantly we had to be onboard as this was where we started and it sorts of rekindled the fire inside us. After much persuasion, we finally convinced Hamilton to have us onboard officially in 2019. Noting that this no easy negotiation as we wanted Hamilton not only in-store but also on our web-store.
The military- theme watches include ones like Aristo with their Vintage Military Ref. 3H147 that features a sterile dial with round field-watch case, or how about Ball's Fireman collection that are all befitting. We can testify that the boundary of field watches are crazily comprehensive, coming in different sizes and shapes, but the song will always remain the same.
Therefore, these pieces have been our roots and have grown to bear many fruits of the same until now. We can confidently claim that we know a thing or two about these purposeful watches and they are worthy every penny if one is looking for durable wrist candies that were built well to use them for war times(pun intended). With that said, some might think these are simple watches that has nothing related to words like "sexy" and "chic," but heck, we know these are our passion and lifestyle from day one, and we are very sure there are many like-hearted people like us out there who crave for something that is built with a purpose.
