I always wanted a retro looking yet modern military type watch. I also like to have conversion tables handy. So, I designed this watch. Unfortunately the writing is very small but if I use a loupe I can read it fine.

Who made that dial to your specs, Frank?

Quite impressive.

Frank that,s nice i like the dial what movement powers the watch..

Hi Frank,

I see that it is a British watch.

Joe

Pete,

Yes, I do all the graphics in photoshop and send the design to the dial makers. Pick the hands from another company. The case is made to specifications by yet another company. The straps are custom made. Then ordering the movements. The real chore is coordinating and dealing with all of the Swiss companies. They have their own ideas of how things work and that is how they work, whether it's your way of working or not.

Then the fun begins, putting it all together.

Very neat...and every kid on the block certainly doesn't have one of those!

Frank,

How much???

John III (collector of fine military watches who drooled over yours even though I am a pocketwatch guy)

John,

I don't really know. I make all my watches in batches of 50 or 100. This one is a run of 50 and seven of them are spoken for already (my wife took two for herself!).

TO Joseph: It's not a British watch, it's one of the only watches produced in America. As far as I know only RGM and myself make production watches in the USA. But, certainly, the dial design is undeniably influenced by the big arrow at the 12 o'clock position like the British MOD spec timepieces. The numerals are very similar to the "Boxcar" font used on American railroad watches. It's the first watch, at least that I know of, that has:

1)The military alphabet; 2) a timezone calculator from Tokyo to Moscow; 3) a Fahrenheit to Celsius scale, a kilometre to mile scale, conversion ratios for litre-gallon, kilo-lbs and metre-yard.

I designed it with all the things I've needed when travelling or on maneuvers in the field. Originally I was going to do a chronograph but the chrono dials just took up too much room. Anyways, a chronograph should have a degrees to mils scale on the outer ring so that it's easier to call in artillery fire.

Of course, there's only so much you can put on the dial of a watch, at least one that is a traditional mechanical watch. Using a custom made ASIC with a quartz movement I can think of tons more possibilities but I like mechanical watches.

Best,

Frank

P.S.- Samie, it's a ETA 2824-2

Hi Frank.

I was refering to the Liter/ Gallon conversion. That one is for Imperial gallons.

Joe

Aha!

Frank beautiful watches and a great job in the design on the dial and complete watch..

Great looking watch, Frank. I like the simple rugged style. What sort of crystal does it have?

Thanks for posting this.

Best regards,
Greg

Thanks a lot Samie, I appreciate it. I'll have to work on my spelling for the next dial!

Actually the spelling *may* have been correct on the draft that I sent in. The draft was delivered to a company in France who translates the rough draft into a litho-process file. BTW, someone mentioned to me that the printing looked like the printing on the Hamilton watches that SWATCH is making now. He had a very good eye because the dials are made by the same company (part of SWATCH). SWATCH is literally buying up every producer that makes quality parts. Hopefully they don't start raising the prices. The appreciation of the EURO is already cutting my margin so that it's not really feasible anymore to keep making them.

Best,

Frank

It is a very nicely done watch. In your next batch you might want to double check on the spellings in your phonetic alphabet though. There are several versions with minor spelling differences and some fanatics might prefer an internally consistent one. For example the NATO alphabet version does not include a hyphen in xray and spells juliet with one t, while the ICAO alphabet version includes the hyphen in x-ray but it spells juliett with two t's. Or, if you decide to do a WW II homage dial one day it would be fun to see the WW II US Army alphabet - the able, baker, charlie, dog, easy, etc. one. Or if you were to do a WW I homage dial you could use the ack, beer, charlie, don, edward, etc. one. By the way - that is the way the term ack-ack came about for anti-aircraft gun fire.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give me some input. My goal is to make the next watch more useful, but at least as good looking.

It's too bad there is not a very practical mechanical way of changing the look or functionality of the dial. Perhaps the idea of the analog hands and the digital will catch on again, ala one of the approved for space use Omega watches (X-33?).

A little button to light the dial, such as the Timex Indiglo is rather nice. It's not only good to see the dial, but one can also take the watch off and use it as a low light flashlight, to find your keys, etc.

Jim,

Those are some interesting idea's, I'll have to give it some thought.

Greg, a light button is a great idea... I just don't like watches with batteries.

Best,

Frank "411" Kusumoto

Hello Mr. Kusumoto. I was wondering if the watch is waterproof or water resistant? It is a very fine loooking timepiece.

Regards

Al