Yes, it’s another “revival”, not only of a watch but of an entire brand. But try as I might, I don’t have it in me to dislike the new Vertex
By Chris Hall

The name Vertex will quite probably be known to many of you: it was founded in Hatton Garden, in London, in 1916 and first rose to prominence as one of the 12 manufacturers selected by the Ministry of Defence to provide “Wrist, Watch, Waterproof” watches to the British military during World War 2. (As an aside, you may not know that the company’s premises in Hatton Garden were destroyed by bombing in 1940, but Vertex’s Swiss factory fulfilled the order for 15,000 field watches.)
After the war Vertex began importing Revue Thommen watches to the UK (it had previously acted as a distributor for Movado as well) and in 1956 began to co-brand its watches Vertex Revue. This continued for nearly 20 years, with the brand establishing itself as a mass-market watch with a particular popularity among companies giving long-service gifts to employees (I have just one such watch, handed down from my grandfather). In 1972 Vertex closed its doors, under pressure from the emergence of quartz watches. 
Last year the brand was revived (by Don Cochrane, great-grandson of the original founder Claude Lyons) and presented an intriguing take on Vertex’s most famous watch: the Calibre 59 that was one of the Dirty Dozen. I’ve spent a couple of weeks with this watch, during which tim...