There are plenty of historical military watches out there, from WWI Smiths trench watches to modern CWC pieces via the Dirty Dozen and, over in the States, the ubiquitous A-11. Lesser-known but no less historically relevant however are the watches of Ollech & Wajs, who cut their mil-spec teeth in the 60s and 70s. Given their watches were adopted by many a US regiment, this means Vietnam – and it’s two of those service watches they’re reviving in their latest M-Series additions with the MK-102 and MV-82.
Ollech & Wajs MK-102
The first of the two is the more straightforward military field watch, the MK-102. Originally designed in 1969 as the K-101, it was built for the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division. As you might have surmised from the central image, they were known as the “Indianhead” division, a better take on certain Washington-based baseball teams.
After seeing extensive action in the Korean War, they were based in the demilitarised zone in Korea from 1965 onwards at the height of the Red Scare, defending the then-21-year-old South Korea from the communist threat up North.
All of that’s loaded onto the dial: assault, Korea and DMZ69 (demilitarised zone 69) around the division’s logo. As with most military watches, it’s high-contrast white on black, with clear, minimal indexes. The bezel is the same, a tactical, bidirectional countdown number. In keeping with its field watch vibes, it’s ruggedly built with a welcome-if-excessive 300m water resistance and a workhorse SOPROD P024 automatic movement.
Ollech & Wajs MV-82
Produced a year after the above MK-102, the MV-82 was designed for the air rather than the ground – specifically the U.S. Army’s Airborne troops. I mean, you can clearly see the Parachutist Badge at the centre; you could probably surmise the rest. The original watch was given to anyone who passed the Airborne School – though the call and response either side of the date window “Airborne” and “All The Way” comes directly from the legendary 82nd Airborne.
That context goes some way to explaining the choice of bezel. Many of the troops who received this watch would have been deployed in Vietnam. So, what do you need most when landing in hostile terrain? To know where you are – hence the compass bezel here, complete with an angle scale. Otherwise it has that familiar high-contrast look and same SOPROD movement as the MK-102
Both models have the same archival case shape, 39.5mm in stainless steel, and oversized crowns for operation in combat gloves. They both come on RAF military-grade nylon straps that’ll last longer than the ruggedly built watches and both are priced at CHF. 1,496.
Which piece of military history you opt for probably depends on whether you’re infantry or Airborne, but with only 56 available of each, you might not be able to be choosey.
Price and Specs:
More details at Ollech & Wajs.
