The AP Field Watch

The AP Field Watch takes its aesthetic cues from the A-11, the watch the US military issued to navigators, airmen, and infantry during World War II. The A-11 was never meant to be flashy. The Army's wartime specification called for a tough, accurate, no-nonsense tool that could survive combat conditions and still tell a soldier exactly what time it was, down to the second, before a jump or a bombing run. Companies like Elgin, Waltham, and Bulova built thousands of them, and the design became the template every field watch since has borrowed from. The AP Field Watch is our take on that template, built with modern materials and movement options the A-11's manufacturers could only have dreamed of. Built to Take a Hit The case is Grade 2 titanium, finished with a bead-blasted matte surface that kills glare and resists scratching better than polished steel. Titanium also runs hypoallergenic and stands up to corrosion in a way most case metals can't, which matters if you sweat through a strap or get caught in the rain. The crown and case back are titanium as well, with a screw-down design that locks everything in place. Up top sits a flat sapphire crystal, the same material used to scratch-proof high-end watch faces, paired with a brass dial base built to take printing and lume cleanly. At 40mm wide and 49mm lug-to-lug, it sits close to the proportions of the original wartime watches without feeling small on a modern wrist. Water resistance is rated 5 ATM (50 meters) across every version, which covers rain, hand washing, and the general chaos of daily wear, though it's not built for swimming or diving. Two Movements, One Watch The Olive Drab and Cream versions run on a Seiko NH35 automatic movement, a workhorse used across the watch industry from major brands to independent manufacturers. It winds itself from the motion of your wrist, or you can wind it by hand if it's been sitting still. Seiko rates it at roughly 20 seconds of drift per day, though most individual watches run noticeably tighter than that out of the box. No battery to replace, and parts are common enough that almost any watchmaker can service it. The Black dial trades that mechanical heritage for something different: a Seiko VS42J solar movement hidden beneath a light-transmissive dial. Instead of winding itself from wrist motion, it charges from any light source, sunlight or a lamp, and stores that energy in a rechargeable cell that keeps running for months on a full charge, even in a drawer. There's no mainspring to wind and virtually no drift to worry about, since it keeps time electronically rather than mechanically. It's a different kind of toughness than the automatic versions: not a nod to the A-11's wind-it-yourself simplicity, but a bet on a movement that all but eliminates maintenance and keeps ticking accurately for years without a service interval. Across both movements, the hour and minute hands are shaped for quick reading at a glance, and the lume options keep the dial legible after the lights go out: Olive Drab and Olive Drab Topography in a bright green, Cream and Cream Topography in a vintage yellow-green reminiscent of old radium dials, and a lume set on the Black dial suited to its transparent solar face. On the Wrist This is a watch built for the desk, the job site, and everything in between, not a dive computer. Whether it's winding itself off your wrist or charging in a sunbeam, it never goes dead in a drawer, and the 5 ATM rating means you don't think twice about it in the rain or at the sink. Every watch ships with two genuine Horween leather straps in your choice of colors, made by the Chicago tannery that has hand-tanned hides the same way since 1905 and still supplies leather to the NFL, the NBA, and watchmakers who care about a strap aging into something better looking than when it shipped. At 20mm, it's a standard width, so swapping it for a NATO, canvas, or rubber band later is simple. Because our lugs use a fixed spring bar rather than a quick-release system, every watch also comes with the strap tool you'll need to switch bands cleanly, without scratching the case or bending a pin. Final regulation and assembly happen in our Ohio facility, the last step in a build process that, like most of the watch industry, sources components globally before bringing them together under one roof. Short and Sweet Case: Grade 2 titanium, bead-blasted matte finish, 40mm wide / 49mm lug-to-lug Crystal: flat sapphire, scratch-resistant Crown & case back: titanium, screw-down construction Movement: Seiko NH35 automatic, hand-wind capable, no battery (Olive Drab & Cream); Seiko VS42J solar movement (Black) Water resistance: 5 ATM (50m / 165ft) — rain and splashes, not swimming or diving Lume: Olive Drab / Olive Drab Topography (bright green), Cream / Cream Topography (vintage yellow-green), Black (solar-compatible lume set) Straps: two genuine Horween leather straps included, 20mm width, plus strap-change tool Final assembly and regulation completed in the USA