Next week is Veterans Day, which for the last several years has marked an important moment for Vortic, the Colorado based watch brand specializing in repurposing vintage pocket watch movements and dials into wrist worn cases that serve as special tributes to America’s watchmaking past. Each year on Veterans Day, Vortic releases their Military Edition, a special series of watches that incorporate movements and dials sourced from watches commissioned by the United States military. The watches have been a big hit for Vortic since their introduction, usually selling out within minutes of going on sale. They draw not only watch collectors, but of course have a natural appeal to history lovers and collectors of military odds and ends – they really thread the needle perfectly across multiple bands of enthusiasm. This year’s release has some additional special significance as a total of three distinct options will be available when these watches launch, including the first ever Vortic watches running on a vintage Swiss movement.
A quick recap of what the Military Edition actually consists of as a watch is probably the best place to start. Watches in the Military Edition are sourced from the AN5740-1 pocket watch, also known as the “Master Navigational Watch”, built to the specs of the Army Air Corp during World War II by Elgin, Waltham, and Hamilton. As with other historic watches built to military specs, the dials were standardized across all manufacturers, and each Master Navigational Watch features a high contrast 24 hour dial that is quite simple in nature and certainly has a legibility first design philosophy. The watches used railroad grade movements for reliability and accuracy, and of course each has been meticulously worked over and restored by Vortic. They are cased in titanium, which gives each of these watches a particularly cool aesthetic that Vortic has harnessed so well over the years, mixing the contemporary with designs from nearly a century ago.
This year’s Military Watch offering is a little different than in years past, with Vortic offering two special versions of the watch for customers who want something a little different. In addition to the “standard” Military Watch, Vortic has also made a total of 10 “Specials” that feature hand painted luminous dials. The dials are painted in-house by a Vortic watchmaker and lume expert, and feature lume applied to the 24 hour markers, outer chapter ring, and hands. In addition, these watches all features movements stamped “US GOVT,” which is quite rare compared to non-stamped runs of movements made for these watches. The retail price for the “Specials” is $10,000.
In addition to the 10 Specials and the 40 watches that are part of the traditional Military Watch release, Vortic has also produced five of what they are calling the St-Imier Special Edition. From the dial side, these watches look largely similar to other editions of the Military Watch, but the movements are made by Longines. The St-Imier watches are sourced from World War II era Longines pocket watches made for the United Stated military, but the watchmaker was ultimately not awarded a full contract (that went to Hamilton).
So, there are very of these Longines watches made for the military out there, and source watches for this run have been personally collected by Vortic founder R.T. Custer over the years. To differentiate the St-Imier from other Military Edition watches, they’ve been given a slightly different case treatment with a gray DLC coating. The retail price for the St-Imier Special Edition is $15,000.
The Military Edition watches are truly special and real pieces of history, and Vortic has upped the ante this year by offering new twists on the format. It’s nice to see that Vortic is going all out and doing something special for the watch that they’ve become most well known for in a year that has seen the brand face some real challenges. As regular readers might recall, RT Custer suffered a stroke earlier this year that left him unable to run Vortic and Colorado Watch Company day to day. You can still donate to the campaign to cover his medical expenses here. Purchasing a watch, of course, is also a vital way to support the brand, so if the Military Edition is of interest, it’s worth heading to the Vortic website for more information on how to purchase one. All watches will go on sale on November 11 at 11:00 AM mountain time.
Zach Kazan
2025-11-04 19:00:00