Archival military contract bid TIMEX, November 1981, housed at the TIMEX archives in Middlebury, CT that looks different from all other known examples of this watch!
Hello, this is Alan. Contact info at the bottom.
I recently discovered a truly remarkable November 1981 TIMEX, pictured on a feature page at the TIMEX Japan website. The English translation of the page is "Japan only for Original Camper," and it outlines the history leading up to their release of the quartz revival Original Camper in November 2015.
What is remarkable is that this watch, as far as I have been aware, has never been seen (or at least pictured on the web,) outside of the TIMEX HQ in the United States, and it differs in appearance from all other known examples of the very rare "military TIMEX" contract bid watches. Take a close look at all of the features of this watch, in the enlarged photo, above. Below is a screenshot from the web page.
Briefly, the watch in question is the MIL-W-46374B TIMEX. That watch, made in very small numbers in the early 1980s, was a bid from TIMEX to manufacture an "official contract" military field watch for the US Department of Defense. The contract was never fulfilled. Meaning, aside from a small number of watches, which were presumably created for testing purposes, there was never any full-scale production of the watches.
That is, there was never any "contract" undertaken between TIMEX and the DoD. For many years, it was believed that this was because TIMEX "failed" the testing process and was not awarded a contract. This in incorrect. There is now information that indicates that the DoD initially did not approve the first watches submitted, made in November 1981. TIMEX then went back and modified the watch, resubmitted more watches, and this next time around received approval from DoD; essentially it "passed the test." These "second batch" were made in 1982, with all existing versions from 1982 having either February or March 1982 stamps. Why, though, if the watch was approved, was a formal contract was never entered into, a contract for large-scale production of the TIMEX. The answer to this is not known. One can speculate about the reasons, of which there could be many, but at this point, these would all be just speculations.
As to the differences in appearance between the two "versions" of this DoD trial watch, I am making the argument that the FIRST one made/submitted, this once pictured above from November 1981 failed the approval process by the DoD, and then the watch was modified (presumably based on suggestions from the DoD on what to do in order to better the chances of approval) and resubmitted in Feb/March 1982. I am making the argument that the reason the two watches look different is because TIMEX needed to modify the dial and hands present on the early version, to meet specifications, resulting in a different look for the "second version."
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These next three pics are all of the same watch in question, from the Japan TIMEX website, full pic, and zoomed in pics. There is only one pic of the watch, front only, but those who have seen the back confirm the date is NOV 1981.
Notice, like all watches of the military specification, there is no brand name on the dial. TIMEX only appears on the caseback. H3 stands for tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, used to power the luminescent material of the hands and dial, as per the requirements of the specification. The radiation hazard symbol, partly obscured by the hour hand, is included to indicate that the watch is radioactive (tritium has a half life of about 12 years, and so these watches will gradually diminish in radioactivity over a few decades, whereas radium dial watches will be radioactive for centuries.)
Now, once again, take a very good look at this dial and hands. Notice:
1. Straight white seconds hand. No arrow or flourishes.
2. Green color to the triangle-shaped hour markers.
3. Relatively "thin" appearance to the letterings for the hour numerals (as well as other dial markings.)
Now, below is a photo of a another example of the TIMEX MIL-W.... watch.
The photo was taken by myself of my own watch, from FEB 1982, described at this site.
Above pictured watch looks identical to every other copy of this that anyone has ever seen, except the watch pictured on the TIMEX Japan website! I have re-pasted the photo, below, of the watch on the Japan TIMEX page. Look back and forth at the two "versions" of this dial, and notice the obvious differences. (More, below)
So, in this above version, which I'll just call the "second version," notice it has:
1. A second hand with an arrow tip, and a small bulbous terminus to the short end. The other one, which I'll call the "early version," has a straight white seconds hand.
2. Yellow colored triangles as hour markers. The early version has green color.
3. CLEARLY FATTER lettering to the hour numerals, and to a less obvious extent, other white dial markings. Just look at the hour numerals and then look at the early version. The difference is unquestionable. I call these thick letterings "macaroni" lettering.
Now, let's have a look at this diagram. It a US government specifications drawing, and is without any doubt from the general category of MIL-W-46374. But this classification had subclassifications from A-G, lasting from 1964 to 1999, and the TIMEX is from the MIL-W-46374B version, which was released in 1975. Unfortunately, the diagram was cropped from a larger page that would have shown exactly which version it was, at the top of the page, but the site from where this was found had it cropped out just like this. At the moment, I'm trying to determine if this is the B
What I wish to point out is the #3 in NOTES, at bottom. "ALL TRIANGLES TO BE LUMINESCENT GREEN." So if this diagram is of the MIL-W-46374B version, then the watch housed at the TIMEX HQ archives in Connecticut, pictured on the Japan TIMEX page, would be correct, having the green luminous material.
Note that the dial is to be painted in BLACK NO. 37038
(How many different types of black are there?)
Actually, I looked it up, and BLACK NO. 37038 is very popular today, painted on hundreds of things both military and non-military. You can buy this paint everywhere in many different finishes. Above is a sample patch.
Sometimes it is called FS 37038, for FEDERAL STANDARD
There is even a New Balance shoe that is said to be BLACK NO. 37038
What a watch.
Many questions.
Few answers.
So many possibilities.
The mystique of this watch continues.
Let me know what you think of this, particularly those of you who either have a copy of this, or are otherwise interested and/or knowledgable on the topic.
Thanks for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact:
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches
Coming back to the watch once again, we have a kind of enigma. This watch, likely seen by very few human eyes, housed at the TIMEX WORLD HQ archives in Connecticut, looks in pristine condition, and looks substantially different from all other known examples of this Department of Defense trial watch.
While I can't say for certain, I believe that this "early version" was initially submitted to the DoD, did not "pass the test," and then TIMEX went back to work modifying the watch. The different appearance of the "second version," which did pass the DoD testing process, suggests that these differences were necessary to adhere to the DoD requirements. Said another way, the non-arrow second hand, and "thin" lettering may have been at odds with the requirements. As for the green vs yellow triangle luminous, I don't know how to interpret this. But clearly the early version has green and the second version has yellow. Maybe the green was also at odds with DoD requirements? Again, back to the diagram above saying "all triangles to be luminescent green," I just don't know what A-G classification this is from.
So this early version appears to be extremely rare. The one at TIMEX HQ is the only one known in existence. Perhaps it was made in a very small numbers, possibly even as few as like 3-5 pieces, sent to DoD who may have instantly rejected it on appearance alone (without any real testing) and therefore no further examples of the early version were made by TIMEX for larger scale testing. This could explain why there are not any of these "out there."
The "second version", the one I have, appears to have been made in larger numbers, but still small comparative to usual watch productions. People estimate ~ 200. These were likely sent to various places for field testing, which eventually (as everything does) got into the second hand civilian market, and why we see these very occasionally.
Now I'm going to ask a slightly provocative question: who would like to see TIMEX do a re-issue of this "early version," with mechanical movement, no TIMEX in dial, resin case, pretty much exactly like this ultra-rare prototype" (And people say "prototype" a lot, but I think it's fair to call this watch, which appears at this point to number just one, a prototype.)
Regardless of whether or not this appearance was the "correct one," regardless of which version was the one the DoD actually approved, I this early version looks much more attractive! Do you agree? Slimmer, more graceful lettering, and the green arrows are really beautiful, very much like the green arrows used on many of the "spin offs" of the 2015 Original Camper. Click here for one example of that.
One thing TIMEX would have to allow would be to not have their name on the dial. But they have done this before with specialty watches, with "TIMEX" on the movement, back, etc, but not on the dial. Think of some of the character watches dating as far back as 1950s, but many other examples.
More recently, TIMEX allowed their name to appear on the dial, but in mirror image, in the series of four Camper-variant watches made with Engineered Garments. Here is one of those. Pretty cool of them to do this...
They would also have to be alright with including the H3 and the rad-haz symbol on the dial, even though the watch would not use any radioactive lume. I would suggest having something embossed into the caseback like, "The H3 and radhaz symbol on the dial are for historical purposes. This watch does NOT contain any radioactive material." And also something in the "paperwork" that comes with the dial. This should suffice.
It's not like it's the other way around, handing out a radioactive watch and NOT telling anyone. Worst case is someone does not read the information and think it IS a radioactive watch, worst they can do is not wear it, keep it away from babies etc. But I think anyone buying this will be aware.
To me, if they omitted these dial features, they might as well not even make a reissue, would not be the same.
So, what do you think, a remake of this rare version? It would be great tribute to what has its current manifestation today as Original Camper, and all the variants. In many ways it would "close the back end" of this watch's legacy.
TIMEX, I hope you're reading! Let's do this! Even if it's quartz (though mechanical would be so much sweeter!)
Maybe make it as a limited edition with excellent packaging, inserts, presentation, etc. Maybe 1000-1500 pieces (but as long as you save one for me!)
