"We had a short-timer once. Johnny I-forget-his-name. He wore a flak jacket, two helmets and armor underwear. Ashau Valley -- your time's up, your time is up."
SKU CODE: GGW113PVDLTD
This Ltd Edition is a recreation based on the original 1960s Vietnam designs but with the interesting feature of being PVD plated making the watch non-reflective and covert. The watches at the time were made in a variety of slightly different styles by Benrus, Bulova and Waltham but were all based on an original US government specification laid down at the time. Many of the original watches used a 15 or 16 jewel movement, but this one has 24 jewels to improve accuracy.
This particular watch came into being because in January 2009 we were approached by a US veterans association who asked us to examine the viability of making a watch that was similar in appearance to the original watches which were made during the Vietnam War. We were sent samples of watches to examine and also the original specification sheets, and the result was a watch that was very close to the original and uses a high grade fully jewelled hand-wound movement. As a result of making that watch, we were contacted again with a view to recreating a limited edition and as a result, we are planning to manufacture a range of variants over the next few. The original watches are now almost impossible to find in good sound condition and in mint condition are becoming fairly valuable so this recreation is a cost-effective way to own a watch made in the spirit of the original but with a unique non-reflective PVD finish, this finish is often specified in military contracts for many special forces units as well as by anti-terrorist units and for various covert operations. In the PVD process, the steel is not black all the way through because the colour is created by a special chemical PVD plating process which is vastly superior to the painted finish used on some lower quality watches which can easily fade or rub off. This PVD process means that the colour of the steel is altered at a molecular level, therefore it will not deteriorate even during heavy usage, although it can be destroyed if the case is badly damaged by a piece of metal being gouged out or if the case is worn down by really heavy abrasion against rocks or something similar.
DIMENSIONS
- Width Inc Crown: 38 mm
- Width Exc Crown: 36 mm
- Thickness: 12.9 mm
- Lug Size: 18 mm
- Lug to lug is 43 mm
- Dial Colour: Black
- Case Material: 316L Black PVD stainless steel
- Caseback: Screw-down 316L stainless steel
- Crown: 316L stainless steel
- Water Resistance: 5 ATM (50 m)*
- Movement: 24 Jewel Automatic
- Glass: Plexiglass / Acrylic
- Luminous Material: Luminova
- Serial number on caseback
- Strap: 18 mm US Pattern Nylon Webbing
- Supplied in a gift box
- 24 Months Guarantee
