MWC 1970s Pattern Automatic Military Divers Watch with Chromed Case and Sapphire Crystal - Limited Edition of 250 Pieces

SKU: DIV2001/SS/73A

This watch is based on an early case design set out by the British MOD in 1973, Although watches in 1973 could not compare to the watches of today when it comes to general performance standards such as water resistance and other features such as the sapphire crystal we have taken many of the design influences from the early 1970s design and incorporated them into this model. Many customers have been asking us to make this model for the last few years so we decided it was time to produce a small production run for some private customers and also some of our dealers, as a point of note although the original watches used tritium these versions use Luminova the encircled T has been retained for historical reasons. This case design is particularly interesting because it was the direct predecessor to the current case which is used for our watches in this range which itself does back to the late 1970s.

Although this range was originally discontinued by MWC nearly 20 years ago there was an interesting turn of events a few years back when an MWC distributor in Australia told us they had discovered 500 brand-new watches in their stockroom, these came to light when the current owners father retired and his son carried out a detailed stock check, the watches were made between 1999 and 2001, and had been supplied in batches of 500 over a three year period, the final delivery was somehow overlooked and although his father could not recall how this happened we were offered the opportunity to buy these watches back, all of those watches are now sold but they had proved so popular we decided to remake the watches in the same designs and also to include the earlier 1973 case design, all the models received significant upgrades to improve the overall specification, these improvements were possible due to advances in watch manufacturing which had taken place over the intervening years. The main improvements were the use of an automatic movement with a 41-hour power reserve, this 24 jewel NH35A movement can also be hand wound and has a hacking feature for synchronization, we also upgraded the crystal from hardened mineral glass to sapphire which is vastly superior due to being highly scratch and shatter resistant. One further update was the use of a 120-click bezel versus the earlier watches which were 60 or 90 clicks.

The basic design of these MWC watches goes back to the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) specification shown in the final two images but this model is the closest to the 1973 pattern cases because the other models in the range are based on the case design which we used between from the early 1990s until 2004.

The watch measures 45mm including the crown and 40mm excluding the crown although it uses the same 20mm military nylon webbing strap as many other current MWC military divers watches which enables you to choose from a vast variety of NATO strap variants.

Dimensions and Specification:

• Casing: Chromed Stainless Steel
• Crown: Screwdown Locking
• Water Resistance: 30ATM/300m/1000ft
• Movement: NH35A with 41-Hour Power Reserve
• Dimensions: Width Inc Crown 45mm (Exc Crown 40mm)
• Thickness: 13.1mm
• Lug to Lug: 46.5mm
• Crystal Diameter 31mm
• Crystal Type: Sapphire with non-reflective coating *
• Luminous Paint Type: Luminova
• 120 Click Unidirectional Bezel
• Weight: 89.5g
• Drilled Lugs
• Strap: 1 x Black and 1 x Grey Nylon Webbing Straps
• Guarantee: 24 Months

* A lot of people ask us what are the benefits of sapphire crystal over a standard mineral crystal? The answer is that synthetic sapphire is by far the best material for watch crystals because it is very strong and also shatter and scratch-resistant, these characteristics make it very appealing to military and security personnel, police officers, and people who lead active outdoor lifestyles, these groups account for over 70% of our customers. To get things into perspective we find that when clients have accidents with watches resulting in a cracked crystal over 90% usually watches with mineral glass crystals, even factoring in that we use hardened mineral crystals they still do not come close to sapphire for durability under adverse conditions. The reason that sapphire crystals are so strong is that after the sapphire glass is manufactured it is also heat-treated to remove its internal stresses—which can cause weakness—it is then made into the watch crystals and two layers of anti-reflective coating are applied, interestingly sapphire crystal is now used on the latest iPhone. Of course, sapphire crystal comes at a price hence you find that it's normally only fitted to higher-end watches.