From Sand to Khaki: Military Colored Watches

From camouflage prints to combat boots to leather bomber jackets, military-style has long trickled into the civilian population where standard issued-gear is reinvented into fashionable must-haves. This is particularly true in the watch world as illustrated by the bevy of military-style luxury watches regularly released year after year. The muted tones of the military palette are especially popular these days since they offer neutral colors that differ from classic black, silver, or blue watches. From sand to khaki, here are three of our favorite military colored watches that are far from drab.

IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert”

Inspired by the desert landscape that is home to the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert” sports a 44.5 mm sand-colored ceramic case. This particular shade of sand, chosen to match the Navy pilots’ flying suits, is made from a special alloy of zirconium oxide and other metallic oxides. Contrasting with the case is the dark brown dial with a trio of subdials and a day and date display. Similar to other new IWC Pilot’s Watch models, the “Mojave Desert” chronograph runs on an in-house movement; the Caliber 69380 in this case, with a power reserve of 46 hours. Enhancing the military vibe of the watch is the beige rubber strap with a textile inlay. The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert” limited to 500 pieces.

Montblanc 1858 Bronze

Earlier this year, Montblanc welcomed three new green and bronze limited-edition models (1,858 pieces) to its 1858 lineup. The Montblanc 1858 Automatic, Montblanc 1858 Automatic Chronograph, and Montblanc 1858 Geosphere all feature polished and satin-finished bronze cases housing khaki green dials and fitted with khaki green NATO straps. The simplest of the batch is the 40mm Montblanc 1858 Automatic with just a pair of hour and minute cathedral-shaped hands pointing to beige SuperLumiNova-coated Arabic numerals. On the other hand, the 42mm Montblanc 1858 Automatic Chronograph fills out its dial with two registers for the running seconds display and the 30-minute counter, along with the center hour, minute, and chronograph hands. Finally, the most complicated of them all, the 42mm Montblanc 1858 Geosphere provides an intriguing twist to the world time watch. Two globes representing the Northern and Southern hemispheres indicate the approximate time around the world while a subdial at 9 o’clock serves as a second time zone indicator.

Panerai Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech

Not satisfied with just building a robust dive watch fashioned from its patented Carbotech composite material, Panerai also offered a unique experience to go along with the purchase of the new limited edition Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech. Owning one of the 33 examples of the Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech LE is a ticket to a training day with COMSUBIN, the elite diving unit of the Italian Navy. The watch itself has a 47mm Carbotech case–characterized by a wavy patterned finish–water-resistant to 300 meters. The carbon camouflage dial is generously dotted with army green colored luminescence, which matches the green rubber strap perfectly.