US Military Watches Military wristwatches are thought to have got their name from a German military request for a soldier in a watch house ( in other words a guard tower ) . Girard - Perregaux . One story says an unnamed German naval officer needed to know the time , however he was usually using both his hands . Another story is that Wilhelm I placed an order at a Berlin trade show . These new wrist watches saw their first action in the Boer war . Later seen in World War 1 , rudimentary wrist watches were small sized pocket watches with metal lugs soldered on so that a fabric strap could hold the watch to a wrist . Some may have had no cover over the watch crystal , while some had a metal cover , some with the metal cover had pieces of the cover cut , so that you could see the watch under the cover without opening it . General Watches . US Army Specification 55 - 1B . Luminous hands and markers , and at least 7 jewels , an olive drab cotton strap , a stainless steel case , and guaranteed for 90 days . " reasonably shock resistant and waterproof " . Accurate + - 30sec / day , manual wound , and produced by Movado , Waltham , Elgin , and Hamilton . A . Reduce the variety of grades and types of watches . MIL - W - 3818A . MIL - W - 3818B . B . Assure consistent quality of items . C . Eliminate testing requirements of one year and substitute in lieu thereof a guarantee provision . D . Incorporate a new case design . The B revision was meant to provide a single standard for a hacking 17 jewel watch with a life of at least 2 years . It required the 1 . 40 ″ metal case and all metal pieces be protected by a finish or preservative with the exception of parts which would be adversely effected if so treated . A black , non - ferrous metal dial with numerals and graduations in white , a triangular hour indice at 12 was required to be luminescent yellow and the other hour markers were green in color . Hands made of cartridge brass , painted white , filled with green luminescent paint , the tip of the second hand was luminescent orange with Tritium ( Hydrogen 3 ) as the luminescent . It requires a 17 jewel bearings , stem wound and set , with hacking , a power reserve of 36 hours and a 30 second daily accuracy rate . A straight knurled and includes the “ dimple ” typical of similar period Benrus U . S . military watches ( e . g . Benrus Type I / II and the MIL - W - 46374 ) . The acrylic crystal referred to as “ copolymer plastic ” . “ Drawing C 8636227 ″ was to be used for the band , but was amended on January 12 , 1966 to now follow the newly published MIL - S - 46383 Type II strap – color black . Benrus Watch Co . , Longines - Wittnauer Watch Co . , Mathey - Tissot Watch Co . ( Frankfort Arsenal documents refer to the company as * Matbey * . ) and Clinton Watch Co . of Chicago submitted samples in bid for the specification with only the Benrus meeting it . On September 16 , 1963 Benrus was notified that its product was now listed on the Qualified Products List for Specification MIL - W - 3818B . On February 2 , 1964 the Marine Corps submitted a “ Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request ” to purchase 10 , 849 MIL - W - 3818B watches , a request for proposal was issued to the Benrus on February 7 , 1964 , Benrus quoted a unit price of $ 28 . 28 . Bulova alleged that the Benrus merely imported cases and sold watch movements from foreign sources Benrus ’ submitted showed that it imported the movement and dial setting , dial stem and springbars and that the case , crown , attachments , packaging material and jewel bearings were all domestically produced the costs of the domestic components were considerably in excess of 50 percent of the costs meeting the requirement . Navigation Watches . A - 11 . 1943 US Army Air Force - A - 11 Hacking navigation watch with , 15 jewels hacking , a black OR white dial , a dull stainless steel case , and an olive drab or black cotton band . GG - W - 113 . Specified by MIL - W - 6433A Dive watches . FSX - 797 . Navy spec for submersible watch , with rigorous dust and moisture specifications , tested under pressure submerged in water . As the US military gained experience with amphibious landings , they developed new strategies , one of them was the Navy ' s formation of Combat Demolition Units . In the summer of 1943 in Fort Pierce Florida , training for these units began , one emphasis of their training was swimming , and amphibious landings . In Operation Overlord during the D - Day landing , the Navy ' s CDU teams on Utah Beach were able to clear 1 , 600 yards of beach of all steel and concrete obstacles , paving the way for the liberation of France , and the end of World War II . 18W8 ( INT ) WATCH , WRIST ( WATERTIGHT ) " BuShip " " Canteen " dive watch . An iconic post military watch , and a result of the Navy ' s FSX - 797 , colloquially known as the US Navy ' s Bureau of Ships " Canteen watch " started out with Jacques Depollier & Sons ' s Waterproof and Dustproof Strap Watch . The first known example of the now common " screw down crown " , unlike later examples of the Canteen watch , this one lacked the emblematic chain anchoring the crown to the watch . One unusual feature of this watch was the heat disk on the back of the case to prevent the heat from the wearer ' s wrist from causing the oil in the watch to drip out of the jewel holes leaving the watch dry . Depollier ads claim that the US Army Signal corps used the case to protect watch movement stores in long term storage . The gasketed and spring loaded screw down crown is kept on the case by two flanges on the crown held against two grooves on the case . US Navy Bureau of Ships specification 18W8 , published in December 1944 . A matte black metal dial , Two vertical luminous dots over 12 O ' Clock , along with one for every other hour , the hour and minute hand , as well as the tip of the second hand covered in Radium lume . With war shortages , the case was made of chromed base metal . A koroseal gasket is used inside the crown . The crystal is tempered glass with a metal rim soldered to the case creating a watertight seal . The 17 Jewel sweep second movement is covered by another koroseal gasket under the caseback . Later , better known dive watches would come from Elgin , and Hamilton 22717A . With the advent of SCUBA diving , the Canteen watches , limited to 49 feet , needed to be replaced . The Military needed watches , issued in 1961 for special forces , that can be submerged up to 400 ft , and is nonmagnetic . A new spec needed to be included to accommodate this ; spec 22717A , which superseded several previous specs . With SCUBA ' s commercial , and public use , as well as the natural evolution of watches , the Military started buying the commercial dive watches that were entering the market . Popular examples included the Benrus 7951 and 7952 , the Blancpain 50 Fathoms , the Doxa 300T , the Rolex Oyster Perpetual , and Submariner , the Tudor Submariner and Prince , the Seiko DEO - 95 , and the Zodiac Sea Wolf . The first watch made for 22717A was made by Allen Tornek in the Rayville Factory , a representative of Blancpain , it was the Tornek - Rayville TR900 .