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Vaer Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen watches are 12 iconic historical watches, contracted to 12 brands by the British Military of Defense for WW2. These watches were produced by brands such as IWC, Vertex, Omega, Longines, Vertex (and 7 others), and of course these days, anything iconic there will be a brand that will homage it. Enter the Vaer Dirty Dozen. This 40mm (or 36mm) field watch takes Vaer’s existing field. watch case with a new dial that closely resembles the original (specifically 3 of the 12), and modernized it with a sapphire crystal, a screw-down crown, 100m of water resistance, and a Selitta SW260-1. The retail price is $999 but it is currently on sale for $749.
Specifications
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40mm Stainless Steel Case
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48mm Lug to Lug
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10.4mm Thickness
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20mm Lug Width
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63 Grams
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Selitta SW260-1 Movement
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Single Domed Sapphire
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100m Water Resistant
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C3 and BGW9 SuperLumiNova
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Choice of Straps
Price-On sale for $749 (Regular price $999)
Vaer Website
Now there are countless articles on the internet about the Dirty Dozen watches, a few books that were written, and a movie in the 60s that was fictional highlight these watches as well. I do go into some history of these watches in the above video, but I will quickly recap it here. These field watches were contracted by the MoD, 12 companies were contracted, and there were some parameters. They all had to have black dials, and I believe they had to be matte black dials, railroad minute track, a shatterproof crystal, had to be waterproof and shockproof, highly accurate, luminous hands and markers, and a stainless steel case.
The Vaer Dirty Dozen looks most similar to the Vertex field watch (though IWC and Record as well, as all had the syringe-style hands, and were the only ones using those hands to my knowledge). This Vaer model does have a matte black dial, the railroad minute track, highly luminous hands, and Arabic numbers and while sapphire isn’t exactly shatterproof it is the best modern crystal used on watches today. I am not sure off hand what the originals used, I am guessing acrylic as that would be more shatter-resistant than mineral. The original watches also used manual wound movements, Vaer decided to use an automatic, this time in the form of the Sellita SW260-1. This movement has the sub-second dial, another key feature of the Dirty Dozen watches.
As you can see above, the dial is marked Swiss Made, as generally if Vaer is using a Swiss movement in their watches, it will be made in Switzerland; they also have many assembled in USA models, that will have an Asia movement, usually from Miyota. I do think it was interesting to use an automatic movement instead of a manual wind, to give it more of that historical and vintage feel, but at the same time, then why use sapphire and not acrylic or plexiglass? These days, outside of your purist watch enthusiasts, I think many, especially the younger enthusiasts, would be turned off by a manual movement, so I think they chose smartly here. It’s also a nice-looking movement, as you can see through the case back.
That sub-second dial is important, not just to the aesthetic of this Vaer Dirty Dozen, but to all Dirty Dozen watches. Why? At the time, it was simpler and cheaper to build watches with this complication as a standard secondhand would have required extra gear and pinion, and these were watches contracted for servicemen. Cheaper was better but it also meant they could be built quicker, and they probably at the time figured they woudl be more reliable as well.
But it’s the seconds dial that also makes these iconic watches and their homages stand out. It’s not exactly common for field watches these days, or for the past 40-50 years to have this complication, as a long second hand or the third hand, is easier to read and track time, but that sub-dial is part of what makes this watch appealing.
The same with the railroad minute track, along with the vintage colored 5-minute marks on the outer track. Now in fairness, ย the originals didn’t have the vintage color, that was the lume discoloring over a long period of time, which we now refer to as patina. The reason the numbers didn’t discolor like those on the original models is simple. They were not lumed. But the Vaer Dirty dozen numerals are lumed, but like most brands that are doing something vintage these days, they decided to do vintage lume. Funny enough, the modern Vertex DD did not go with vintage lume, and while I am not always the biggest fan of the fake aged lume, I do think it adds some nice color and contrast to the dial.
How is the lume you ask? One word- Stellar. This is the best lume I have seen on a Vaer out of any I have reviewed over the years, and not just because it’s dual lume and very bright, it legit glows like a torch. I cant remember the last time I had a watch in for review (or a watch in general) just glow for hours and hours like this one does.
All of Vaer’s lineup comes with 2 straps, or I should say most do, and generally, there is one default strap and you can choose a second strap. Some of the straps are free, some will incur an extra charge. The Vaer Dirty Dozen comes with this FKM Ocean Strap as they call it, and as with most FKM rubber, it is a pliable and comfortable strap. The texture is fine, it has quick-release pins, and it fits well on my 7 1/2 inch (19.05cm) wrist.
Before I get to the single-pass olive strap I have for this model as well, I do want to mention the case of the Vaer Dirty Dozen and why it seems like I have glossed over it. The case is the same as all of the other Vaer Field watches. Nothing wrong with that either, as it’s a solid field watch case, mostly brushed with a fine polish chamfer under the bezel construction and on top of the case sides. This is a smooth and slightly bulbous case instead of having defined edges and hard angles and its another reason it wears so well on the wrist.
Okay, back to straps. As I stated, the Vaer Dirty Dozen gives 6 other choices beyond the Ocean rubber, the most expensive being the Horween Leather, and there is even the Vaer bracelet as an option. I chose the single pass Olive strap as these types of straps would be more historically accurate and even though I am not a fan of this style of straps, I love the color used here and this is not your standard stiff Nato style strap. This strap has a webbed or weave look about it, and for someone who doesn’t enjoy these straps and does not own one, I found this strap more comfortable than the Ocean FKM. Vaer includes 4 spring bars for the nato style strap as well, as the rest of their straps have quick-release bars.
With that said, I think this watch would be perfect on a really nice handmade distressed leather strap. Something from one of the American or British strap makers maybe, something a little bespoke to this watch. I do think the single pass strap is probably the most accurate but the rest of the straps just don’t fit this particular style of watch, and at $1000 retail, ย a strap that was only for this model would make it an even better value.
For many though, this is all about that Dirty Dozen look, a watch that looks like a watch that was used by the British Military in WW2, and even though Vaer is a new brand and you can try and get your hands on a vintage model, (The Grana being the most elusive) or you can buy the modern Vertex model, both would be much pricier options.
Yes, this is an homage, and it’s not 100 % accurate to the originals, (it’s missing the arrow under the logo, among a few other details), but it is relatively affordable for a Swiss Made watch of this style, and in my time with it, feels pretty solid and well built. Still, there are cheaper options as well, Tuul makes a DD homage as does Praesidus Watches, both priced lower than this, but if you want even cheaper, well we come back to Vaer, as they make this watch in quartz, for around $250, and both movement versions come in either 40 or 36mm (the originals were 35mm), so you have quite a few options when it comes to what type of Dirty Dozen watch you want. For me, this is my favorite Vaer Watch to date that I have reviewed, as that dial and just overall look got me. The style of this watch is iconic, and I now understand why. It’s just a damn good-looking field watch.
Vaer
