What’s with the army watch look?
By Luke Benedictus
Joining the military has become increasingly unfashionable for young folk in the Western world. The Australian Defence Force is shrinking and battling an acute recruitment crisis, while British Army numbers are plummeting to their lowest level since before the Napoleonic Wars began in 1793. Even in the US – a country whose military veneration is particularly shrill – a 2022 poll from the Pentagon’s Office of People Analytics showed fewer than 10 per cent of Americans aged 16 to 21 would seriously consider signing up.
Ex-Royal Marine Aldo Kane and Bremont joined forces on a collection.
Commentators have offered a host of reasons for this lack of enthusiasm, ranging from waning patriotism among the youth of today to a greater sense of individualism that makes the prospect of national sacrifice less enticing. The ambiguous morality of recent wars hasn’t helped, either. The premise for the 2003 Iraq conflict is now viewed as wildly exaggerated (at best), while regime-change efforts in Afghanistan petered out in chaotic failure.
All of which understandably blunts the appeal of active service to the average 20-something, however cool a buzz cut may be.
From left: Bremont Supermarine Full Ceramic Jungle Green; Panerai Submersible QuarantaQuattro GMT Navy SEALs Carbotech PAM01513; Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT.
Yet watch brands retain a trigger-happy fascination with a soldier’s life. This year, Tudor delivered a GMT version of the Pelagos FXD, a watch originally developed with a French Naval special forces unit. Panerai stuck desert-camo straps on another set of watches dedicated to the US Navy SEALs, while Bremont partnered on a collection (Supermarine Full Ceramic) with Aldo Kane, the former British Royal Marine commando and sniper. These releases are symptomatic of a perennial trend that produces enough military-inspired watches to fill a small tank.
Such alliances may seem out of lockstep with the plummeting interest in joining the forces. But the watch world’s military heritage goes back a long way. In World War I, soldiers began soldering wire lugs to their pocket watches in order to attach straps for more practical, hands-free use, thereby precipitating the evolution of the modern wristwatch. Subsequently, the development and design language of many pilot’s and diving watches were driven by military specifications.
But the biggest reason that brands continue to trade on this gung-ho connection is because it imbues their watches with a reassuring sense of functionality and battle-ready toughness. If a watch is built to withstand a combat zone, after all, it can probably survive whatever you throw at it in civilian life. War may be hell, as General William Sherman once noted, but in the watch game, it’s marketing gold.
GOOD GROOMING
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