A Brief Guide to the Iconic Watches of The Vietnam War
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Introduction
The Vietnam War was a long, dark period in American military history. Primarily a conflict between North and South Vietnam, and by proxy the communist and anti-communist allies, this 20 year conflict came at the cost of 3 million human lives, most of them civilian.
U.S. involvement began in 1954 and ended when Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. For enthusiasts of mechanical watches and military history, this period of time produced a plethora of interesting military watches with real historical provenance. From the mil-spec field watches produced by Bulova, Elgin and Benrus to the civilian dive and pilot watches acquired by troops at Post Exchanges (PXs) ? there are more interesting watches here than can be covered in one blog post.
Most of the mil-spec watches produced during this time period were ?non-maintainable?, or essentially disposable. They were designed to last for two years and be replaced after failure. Considering the rigors of combat that these watches were subjected to, it?s a miracle that any of them survived at all.
Since military-spec watches were not universally issued to troops, many serviceman acquired their own personal watches during R&R at one of the foreign military bases. Seiko watches in particular were incredibly popular, being both relative affordable and unobtainable in the U.S., it was common to see a Japanese dive or field watch on the wrist of an American service member.
This article will c...
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