Mens Pulsar Military Style Chronograph Watch PM3129X1 - Formally and Enhanced PJN305X1

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was a significant year for British military watches. For the first time in a quarter of a millennium, a British military issued watch was not powered by a mechanical wind up movement, but an entirely new electronic movement commonly known as Quartz. The specifications for this new type of British military watch were laid out in a Ministry of Defence document published in this year, called “Defence Standard 66-4”, the front cover of which is shown below. Another high-quality option if you are looking for a G10 pattern watch is the Precista PRS10 this is another watch very much in the same type of design as some of the CWC and MWC watches. I particularly like this watch personally because the crystal whilst Sapphire that would be looks visually very close to the old original plexiglass G10 watches. Currently the Royal Navy issue divers watch is the Citizen Divers Watch BN0000-04H NSN: 6645-99-852-5953, these were supplied to the Ministry of defence by Northern Diver International Ltd. The watch has a solid one-piece case with screwdown crown, they are a low maintenance watch with an Eco-Drive movement. In the first column the document from 2016 confirms that 316 had been issued so considering it's over fairly long period of time once again quite a small number. The style is recognisable. This could be a Hamilton Khaki. It has the same 12/24 dial layout and the same distinctive hands. Of course, it's a fraction of the price of a Hamilton.

Finaly, I'm surprised that the PXH35, according to their loyalty to the military standards, cool look, price and quality has not become yet into a more desired object.What I find particularly appealing about the Precista is the fact it closely resembles one of the early G10 watches whilst having the benefits of modern usability.

The first commercially available quartz watch released to the public was the Seiko Astron in 1969, so why did it take so long for this technically superior movement to make its way to the military?

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This watch like some MWC G10's uses tritium GTLS light sources for first-rate nighttime performance, all the leading manufacturers of military watches with GTLS tritium tubes namely Marathon, Nite and MWC would all be buying the tubes from the same Swiss manufacturer because there are no other high-quality sources of supply hence performance would be the same between all three brands. Due to the vastly superior accuracy provided by quartz watches, they also met the higher accuracy requirement for pilots and navigators watches, and so were also issued to RAF flight crew. These watches tended to have also have a date window, and were marked “6B” to denote RAF issue, and are usually referred to as “navigators”. This contrasts with earlier years when the RAF were generally issued with watches with much higher quality movements than land forces, due to the greater need for accuracy in air operations, emphasising the technical superiority of quartz. CWC G10 “fatboy” (left), the first ever Quartz watch issued to the British military, and reverse of 1982 issue G10 “fatboy” (right). 1980 was the last year that the non-circled CWC logo was used. Reflecting again on the “fantasy” element of military watch collecting, the 1982 “fatboys” tend to sell for a higher price as this was the year of the Falklands War, Britains last colonial war.

Perhaps PXH35 has a stronger touch feeling than G10. However, G10 has more presence at the wrist, thanks to the 20mm width strap and cleaner face. Having started Part I in 1914, we have now travelled through all 100 years of British military issued watches, and arrived in the present day. So what lies in the future for British military watches? Well it’s obviosuly difficult to predict the future, but, by understanding the changes in the past, we can suggest where things are heading.I like this watch because it has some of that history. It's reminiscent of both the Khaki and the British G10. It's built to a template that oozes military charm. The Pulsar brand name was originally used by Hamilton when it announced the release of an LED watch. Their first Pulsar model was released in the early 1970s. The watch pictured above is by far the closest marathon watch to what we would classify as a G10, the water resistance rating is however significantly less than the other watches shown here at 50 m it also uses a 16 mm strap which seems rather unusual because most at least 18mm and more commonly now 20 mm the watch is available in both automatic and quartz the quartz model can be seen here https://www.marathonwatch.com/collections/general-purpose-quartz-watches/products/stainless-general-purpose-quartz-gpq-us-markings The company went on to release a calculator watch in the mid-1970s. They were then acquired by Japanese giants Seiko a few years later.

We were sent a copy of an official MoD reply to an enquiry in 2014 regarding the current general service issue watch, oddly many people believe this to be a CWC but it doesn't actually appear anywhere on this document nor in documents from 2012 and 2014. The current watch for general service use is a Seiko PXD433 NSN 6645-99-605-2627 and we know that 293 were issued in the 4 years 2012-2016 this freedom of information request was Ref: FOI2016/06648 and can be seen here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/540450/DE_S_FOI_2016_06648___Information_of_British_Armed_Forces_Watches_and_suppliers_in__Annex_A_.pdf

Marathon watches are similar in many ways to the Nite and MWC watches because they use the same tritium GTLS tubes. Marathon like MWC produce a very large range of slightly varying models with slightly different specifications but targeted at infantry and law-enforcement personnel.