Military Watches - Highest Quality for Collectors
Military watches are watches whose essential characteristics must be functionality and practicality. These watches used by officers also represent a chapter of their own in the history of watchmaking. According to one theory, military watches were at the beginning of the development of wristwatches. At the end of the 19th century, the German Navy ordered such a timepiece from the Girard-Perregaux manufacture.
During this period, there was a radical change in warfare, and the interaction between man and equipment increasingly gained importance. In this case, what was needed was not just a reliable instrument, but above all a functional one as part of the gear. Elaborate uniforms were put into storage, and alongside advancing technology, practicality also became increasingly important in watches.
As a result, the military watch also became established in civilian society, where it pursued the path of specialization with great determination.
Pilots especially preferred large wristwatches that could be worn with leather straps over the sleeve of the flight jacket or on the thigh. The Navy, on the other hand, preferred models that were absolutely waterproof.
All these special features of the highest quality have once again greatly increased collectors' interest in this category in recent years.
Tactical time in the military
Time of day refers to the time indication of a date, expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds from midnight of a day in the calendar system. The exact time of day is measured depending on the respective location. The day is divided into 24 hours, the hour into 60 minutes, and the minute into 60 seconds. The only exception to this is the leap second.
The time of day and the calendar date together form a unique time reference. In the scientific-technical field, time is sometimes given as a number between 0 and 1.
Even into the early modern period, other ways of counting hours than today’s time of day with the current 24-hour system were very common. During the French Revolution, an unsuccessful attempt was made to divide the day and the time of day into 10 hours with 100 minutes and 100 seconds each. The zero point of the time of day remained at noon until the late 19th century (because it is easier to determine by observing the sun).
In the military, a special notation for time is used, in which the minutes follow directly after the hours. 8.30 a.m. is 0830 in tactical time. It is then read like a number, in this case “zero eight thirty”.
