Military decoration

[gray]

I'm curious. In John's review of the Laco he comments on how many military (military inspired) watches are devoid of decoration and stripped back for pure function. I have no problem with this as a basic approach but what are the exceptions???

I have two in mind, the CAF homage

The Aerowatch

..and of course their respective originals. I appreciate that the coin milled bezel is/was for grip, as is the large knurled crown, but surely they are also for decoration? Are there any other "decorated" military watches??

[abraxas]

I'm curious. In John's review of the Laco he comments on how many military (military inspired) watches are devoid of decoration and stripped back for pure function. I have no problem with this as a basic approach but what are the exceptions???

I have two in mind, the CAF homage

The Aerowatch

..and of course their respective originals. I appreciate that the coin milled bezel is/was for grip, as is the large knurled crown, but surely they are also for decoration? Are there any other "decorated" military watches??

What you call ?the coin milled bezel? should have a pointer ... when the pointer is missing that?s when it becomes ?decoration?. The watch that the Aerowatch is based on, had a pointer.

?The coin milled bezel? is how in the ?30s they were interpreting ?a rough edge? ? later on the design became more ?blocky? ? and off course ?today? with the Omega MSP the interpretation is becoming smoother.

The problem with military watches is (more often than not) that they are manufactured by commercial companies, which means the makers are not going to ?put in? anymore than they have to. (This changes when a factory gets taken over by the military during times of war ? but more of that later - because there are different degrees of take-over ...)

The exception to the above is, when marketing takes over and produces ridiculously expensive ?military or SAR style? items and justifies ?As supplied to XXX? by actually giving XXX free watches ... (Anonimo anyone? Omega?)

Another good example you will enjoy, when the RAF Seiko Navigators Mk1 was sold to the public for £225 - £240 it was supplied to the MOD for £38. Work the rest out (CWC anyone?) yourself. I must stress that none of this is criticism, just information.

You are more likely to find military inventions in civilian watches than to find civilian fashion decoration on military items. For example, ?the hack feature? was invented by the American military (the first time they came over here in Europe to help us) and now we all want it. But I will ponder further on your question.

JD