Q: What defines a military watch?

A: This is a fairly difficult question to answer. Many watch manufacturers such as G-Shock are not actually manufacturing watches specifically for military use but that does not detract from the fact that they are a watch of choice by many serving military and are extremely robust and fit for purpose. Other manufacturers such as Marathon are purely military and SAR orientated. MWC produce watches not just for military use but we have also supplied anti terrorist units, police forces and both exploration and mining companies all of which have requirements that share many requirements with military specification watches.

Q: Are all the watches MWC manufacture currently issued?

A: The answer to this is no because we produce some watches which are made for film companies, re-enactment groups, cadets and veterans clubs. These watches mostly from the 1960's such as our Vietnam watches and GG-W-113 are recreations (based on the original specifications) of watches which. Other MWC watches have appeared in various films such as The Outlaw with Sean Bean

WATER RESISTANCE

Q: What are the main factors which affect water resistance?

A: The thickness and material from which the case is made is a big factor in determining whether a watch can safely be worn underwater. The case must be sturdy enough to withstand pressure without caving in. In general, this means a steel or sometimes a titanium case. A screw-in case back, as opposed to one that pushes in, also contributes to a watch's water resistance. A screw-in crown, a feature of many divers' watches, helps prevent water getting into the case through the watch-stem hole. When it is screwed down it forms a water tight seal like the hatch on a submarine. Generally screw crowns are used when the watch is rated at water resistant to 100m/330ft or more.

Q: What is the definition of Water Resistance?

A: The various different levels of water resistance as expressed in meters, atmospheres or feet are only theoretical. They refer to the depth at which a watch will keep out water if both the watch and the water are still. These conditions, of course, are never met in the real world. When you are swimming the movement of the wearer's arm through the water increases the pressure on the watch dramatically; so it can't be worn to the depths indicated by lab testing machines.

Q: What are the industry accepted usage recommendations?
A: The following usage recommendations are accepted by most watch manufacturers.

•  Water-resistant to 30 meters (100 feet/3atm). Will withstand splashes of water or rain but should not be worn while swimming or diving.
 

•  Water-tested to 50 meters (165 feet/5atm). Suitable for showering or swimming in shallow water.
 

•  Water-tested to 100 meters (330 feet/10atm). Suitable for swimming and snorkeling.
 

•  Water-tested to 150 meters (500 feet/15atm). Suitable for snorkeling.
 

•  Water-tested to 200 meters (660 feet/20atm). Suitable for sports diving.
 

•  Pro Diver's 150 meters (500 feet/15atm). Meets ISO standards and is suitable for scuba diving.
 

•  Pro Diver's 200 meters (660 feet/20atm). Meets ISO standards and is suitable for professional scuba diving.

Please note that we do not recommend swimming or diving with your watch unless it has a screw-down crown (also known as screw-lock or screw-in crown) and is water-resistant to at least 100 meters. Many military watches which are rated at 50m/150ft such as the MWC G10 with battery hatch are fine - based on feedback received from clients- but be careful with the G10A range which are the basic G10 models because they are only rated to 30m or 99ft.

Q: How do I Care for a Water Resistant Watch

A: It is not generally recommended to wear your water resistant watch in a hot shower, sauna or bath although many MWC staff have always ignored this and got away with it - so far! The fact remains though that it is not recommended and is at your own risk if you do it because the extreme heat causes the metal parts to expand at a different rate than the rubber gaskets. This creates small openings that can allow small traces of water to penetrate the watch. Sudden temperature changes are especially harsh if you lie in the sun and dive into cold water.

Q: Do I have to do anything to care for the watch after I have been in the sea?

A: After swimming or diving in salt water, immediately rinse the watch in a stream of fresh water. If your watch has a rotating bezel, turn the bezel several times while rinsing it. This will prevent salt build up and corrosion of the bezel ring.

Q: I work with chemicals is that a problem?

A: Some chemicals can corrode the gaskets and make them vulnerable. Heavily chlorinated water can also cause problems, as can chlorine bleach, bath foams and hairsprays that work their way into the watch's seams and damage the gaskets. (They can also damage the watch's finish although this is rare with military spec watches)

Q: What type of strap is OK in water?

A: Although fairly rare on Military Watches leather straps can be made to be water resistant too. Generally however, leather straps are easily damaged by frequent exposure to water and also start to smell. So if you are going to wear your watch while swimming -- think of buying one with a metal bracelet, a carbon fibre, Kevlar or a rubber strap, Nylon NATO straps are ideal too. We have a number of strap options on the site.

ACCURACY

Q: How accurate can I expect my watch to be?

A: When it comes to accuracy there is one very important fact you need to know in advance. A $42 MWC Vietnam watch will keep time just as well as, and possibly better than, a top of the range MWC, CWC or Marathon mechanical or possibly even a $20,000 solid gold mechanical Omega, Rolex, or other high end watch.

If that last statement surprised you, read the rest of this section carefully.

All watches tend to gain or lose a few seconds over a period of time. These are small mechanical or electro-mechanical devices that are counting out 86,400 seconds per day. Even if a watch is 99.9% accurate, it will still be off by a minute and a half in only 24 hours! So even a mediocre wristwatch has to be well over 99.9% accurate to even begin to be useful on an ongoing basis.

Q: So, what is a reasonable expectation of accuracy from a wristwatch?

A: The table below is a pretty accurate guide as to what can be expected.

Q: So why would anyone want a less accurate watch?

A: The short answer is that pretty much any modern wristwatch from a reputable brand is more than accurate enough for normal use. So some people (myself included) prefer older mechanical watch technologies over the small accuracy advantages of quartz watches. In the 1970s everything was heading towards quartz watches but by the 1990s handwound and automatic mechanicals were once again firmly establishing themselves in the mid ranges and high end market.

Q: Are quartz watches always more accurate than mechanical ones?

A: Yes, typically they are, but not always. Accuracy and precision are not exactly the same thing.

It is important to remember that even when a mechanical watch is allowed to vary +6/-4 seconds per day, that does not mean it will consistently vary by that high an amount each day. Mechanical movements--except the very rare 'turbillon' movements that correct for it--are noticably affected by the gravitational pull of the Earth. It only takes a performance distortion of 1/1000th of a percent for a watch movement to be one second less accurate in a day. This causes the performance of mechanical movements to be somewhat different from day to day when not stored in a fixed position. The good news is that the actual variations of a mechanical watch will often cancel each other out. This means a mechanical watch will tend to be more accurate over a longer period than the single-day COSC measurement may imply.

The day-to-day performance of quartz is much more consistent than mechanical under identical conditions. Quartz performance is affected mainly by temperature changes and weakened batteries. So a quartz watch that you measured to gains 0.5 second yesterday will be consistently increasingly off correct time by about that amount. You can be pretty certain that in 60 days, it will be about 30 seconds off. At the end of a year, it would be likely be over 180 seconds off.

Compare that to a mechanical watch that you measured to gain 2 seconds yesterday. It would seem that our example quartz watch is 4 times more accurate than this. But while the daily measured daily variations seem much higher, they are not likely to be as consistent, so will have a dampening effect. You cannot accurately predict that this mechanical would therefore be off by 120 seconds at the end of the same 60 days. It might be right on time, or it may be 200 seconds off. That broader range of variations allows most mechanical watches to stay closer to correct time than the daily variation rate implies. Over a year, some mechanicals can on average stay closer to correct time without having to be reset than a quartz watch might where others always tend to gain roughly the same amount each day.

Q: What is PVD?

A: PVD plating is a method that can be used to change the surface properties of a material . The full name is Physical Vapor Deposition - you'll also see it referred to as Ion Plating, or IP, which is a variant on PVD. The PVD process requires placing the item to be coated in an inert (non-reactive) atmosphere, heating it up to around 400° C and effectively fine spraying it with the molecules that you want to coat it with hence the reference to vapour. PVD results in a coating up to a micron or so thick but although it is quite thin it won't flake off because the coating is interpenetrated with the underlying material to which it is bonded and this is what makes it so different from cheaper paint, powder coats, or anodizing.

MWC wishes to thank Michael Banks and Ian Crowley for assisting with some of this information