On this planet of military-issued watches, some fashions are legendary. Others are ghost tales—uncommon prototypes whispered about amongst collectors, their existence confirmed solely by way of archival fragments or the occasional sighting within the wild. The Bulova MIL-SHIPS-W-2181 falls someplace between the 2, and for the primary time in many years, one of many few surviving examples is surfacing in public—on the block at Sotheby’s, no much less.
A Mission-Crucial Starting
To know why this watch issues, it is advisable to rewind to 1955. Amid Chilly Struggle tensions and escalating naval operations, the U.S. Navy sought a sturdy dive look ahead to its elite underwater groups—particularly, the Underwater Demolition Groups (UDT) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) items, the forebears of contemporary Navy SEALs. The specs they drafted, often called MIL-SHIPS-W-2181, referred to as for one thing no industrial watch on the time fairly delivered: water resistance past 400 ft, glorious night time visibility, a extremely legible dial, and a locking, unidirectional bezel.
The put up How Bulova’s MIL-SHIPS Went from Top Secret to Top Shelf appeared first on Worn & Wound.
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