Timex x NANO universe Custom Camper Military Style
Hi, this is Alan. As always, thanks for reading and for your interest in these watches. My contact information is below.
Here is a pretty nice Camper watch from TIMEX Japan and NANO universe, It has some unusual features that all combine to make this an outstanding issue. While built on the backbone of the 2015 Original Camper, it departs from the base model in various ways that reference vintage military designs, with some fun twists added in. NEW: many more pics added at bottom!
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The 1-12 and 13-24 hour arrangements is similar to the Original Camper. However, unlike the OC, the luminous paint isn't only on the dial triangles, but also generously applied to the 1-12 numerals. The color as you can see is an "aged" yellow-orange color to simulate aged luminous material. Notice also the hands. The standard OC hands are more "baton" lke, straight, with rounded end, no taper. And the second hand has a lollipop disc. This issue abandons the standard OC hands, and uses instead hour and minute hands that taper backwards towards the central post, and having a needle tip. The seconds hand is also diifferent, with an arrow tip and a notched short end.
But this wasn't a random change; if you have a look at the below 1982 TIMEX MIL-W-46374B, you will see that the hands are very similar. The proportions of the arrow on the seconds hand differs slighly, but otherwise look identical. A nice move to reference that issue and government standard (dates to 1964),
Case is pretty cool. Same shape and fixed lug design as the OC, but instead of opaque resin, it is translucent, kind of a smokey grey with a slight bit of color. At this point, I'll let NANO universe describe the watch. From their website, with machine translation with it's inherent limitations.
"A bespoke model with a fresh vintage face on a tortoise shell case. A bespoke model of a standard item inspired by vintage archives of military watches. Inspired by mass-produced watches from around the 1950s, we recreated the fading on the face and misalignment of the paint. The material used for the case is the same material used in vintage eyeglasses. This is a masterpiece that has a fresh impression with a combination of a vintage face and a tortoiseshell case that is not seen in vintage items."
You can see the simulated wear and the misprints they mentioin. See how the lume print is slightly offset from the underlying white triangles. Also, note that there are flecks of defects in the application of the tinted dial paint on the triangles and numerals (though not on the hands.)
The box is "book-like" and has an inner white and an outer yellow box, with various logos and texts, includiing:
ACTION TO ASSEMBLE ALL PRODUCTS AND KNOWLEDGE AS "SAPIENCE" NEEDED TO LIVE ON EARTH.
There are references on the boxes to library and bibliography, suggesting books or literature.
As you might expect, the lume on this watch looks nice. The addition of lume to the hours makes for a bright scene! The simulated defects in the lume are pretty clear in the dark view. Notice that similar to the mil. spec. requirement, the lume "rides up" from the arrow tip to cover part of the shaft of the second hand. Not as fully as with the MIL-W-46374B (below) but that they did it this way shows the attention to the details of the originals. Makes me happy to see these details.
Printing on the "spines" of the outer and inner book-boxes.
Classic OC case, with lip at the caseback for getting to the battery and movement.
Even the caseback is translucent, as you can see the battery and movement through it.
I really think it's a beautiful and well-designed bespoke watch, with careful attention to archival details, with fun and attractive twists of design and materials. I am really glad they made this one!
Thanks for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches
The above pic is not the NANO, but the 1982 TIMEX MIL-W-46374B
NEW: many newer pics added below, keep scrolling.
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