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There are so many watches surrounded in exaggerated, or even completely fake mythology, that watches with genuine backstories bring immense excitement. Being able to trace something's origins back to specific dates and events is always going to be popular with watch nerds, especially if it has something to do with the military. Well, in 1955 a military contract was created by the US Bureau of Ships to find a watch for divers to work around underwater explosives. Obviously it required water resistance, but also luminous markers and a rotating bezel. The MIL-W-22176 (SHIPS) set of specifications laid out everything that the Explosive Ordinance Divers and Underwater Demolition Team needed in a watch, and there ended up only being two companies interested in the contract. However, there are now three distinct brands that offer modern reissues of the MIL-SHIPS watch. So how do they differ, and which is the most authentic? Let’s dive in.The history of the MIL-W-22176 (SHIPS) watchesThe Tornek-Rayville TR-900 from 1965. Image courtesy of Christie’s.Because the US military is legally obligated to purchase its supplies from domestic manufacturers, its options for watchmakers were quite limited. Bulova was an easy choice, still being based in New York City at the time and having been a staple of American watchmaking for decades. The other applicant was an importer named Allen Tornek who sold Blancpain watches and spotted an opportunity. Knowing that the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was already a capable dive watch, he used an English bastardisation of Blancpain's locality Villeret combined with his surname to create a brand called Tornek-Rayville. With US printed on the dial, these reskinned Blancpains were seemingly deemed American enough.An excerpt from the 1959 Bureau of Ships journal. Image courtesy of Watch Specialists.So, was there a gruelling battle between the two brands to secure the lucrative contract? Not quite. The history gets muddy here, but by 1957 Tornek-Rayville ended up with the job, and only produced about 1,000 units. Some say that the Bulova prototypes actually failed the water ingress tests, or the company may have just decided against the project for any number of reasons. Whether or not the US military knew that their US watches were actually made in Switzerland is also unknown. All these years later, the MIL-W-22176 (SHIPS) spec watches are highly collectible and vastly expensive. A genuine vintage Tornek-Rayville can sell for anywhere between US$70,000-$150,000, and there isn't enough data to put a simple value on one of the ultra-rare Bulova prototypes. After all, there are only 12 known prototypes in existence.An original (and extremely rare) Bulova MIL-SHIPS-W-2181. Image courtesy of Hodinkee.Thankfully, watchmakers are obsessed with stories like these and we're not just limited to the vintage models. Various recreations have been produced over the years, including microbrand homages and the like. Bulova and Blancpain have produced their own modern versions of the MIL-SHIPS watches, and a relatively new company owning the rights to the name Tornek-Rayville has also popped up with a fantastic reissue. But if you're interested in buying one of them, how can you know which one is right for you?The Bulova MIL-SHIPSThe incredible watch box for the limited edition Swiss-made Bulova MIL-SHIPS from 2021.Starting with the most easily accessible of the three, the Bulova MIL-SHIPS was first (re)launched back in 2021. A black strap version was Swiss Made with a Sellita movement and limited to just 1,000 pieces, while a blue strap version was a standard production model with a Miyota 82S0. There still seem to be some floating around on third-party retailers from that run. More recently, Bulova has made available additional versions in a bronze case with blue or green dials, priced at US$1,195. It's a shockingly good reproduction of the original prototype, with a vintage-accurate 41mm diameter and double-domed crystal, even though it's been upgraded from acrylic to sapphire. The 2021 versions in steel even have the 16mm lug width and fabric strap, although the bronze references were updated to an 18mm strap for a bit more balance.The recent Bulova MIL-SHIPS 150th Anniversary edition in bronze.There are two particular features of the Bulova MIL-SHIPS which are beyond cool, and prove that this watch is far more than just a visual homage. The first is the paper strip on the dial which is supposed to change colour when exposed to moisture, which helps visualise water ingress in case of a leak. The second is the aluminium bezel which needs to be pressed down to be turned, locking the bezel in place so that it can't slip in the middle of a dive. To be perfectly honest, the Bulova MIL-SHIPS doesn't leave much room for improvement at all.The Tornek-Rayville TR-660You may be wondering why a brand called Tornek-Rayville actually exists if it was originally just a ploy from a Blancpain distributor, but it's because the modern Tornek-Rayville was founded by businessman and watch enthusiast Bill Yao who acquired the name. In addition to owning the military-inspired watch brand MKII, he also handles marketing for the Boston Celtics. But while a reissue of the MIL-SHIPS watch was obligatory as the resurrected brand's first release, Tornek-Rayville never intended on relying on it forever. The TR-660 was more contemporary than the Bulova version with a 40mm case, 48.5mm lug-to-lug length and a 20mm lug width. The dial too is different, replacing the functional paper strip with a decorative hemisphere and some printed specifications. There's even a date display tucked away at 4:30. One of the more impressive aspects of the new Tornek-Rayville is that it has a testing department where dive watches are put through their paces, called SPAR.Having the Tornek-Rayville name and U.S. printed on the dial does make it an enticing watch, especially considering the US$895 retail price made it the most affordable of the three options. It achieved that price through the use of a Seiko NE15 movement, also known as the 6R15 within Seiko watches. In typical microbrand fashion, production was fairly limited and the watch is no longer available to buy new. The Tornek-Rayville name isn't even really being milked in later releases because the Blakjak and Paradive models don't display the brand name on the dial. Used examples are hard to come across, but if you manage to find one, it will probably be the least expensive MIL-SHIPS watch.The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC HodinkeeAlthough there are other Blancpain Fifty Fathoms models that recreate the MIL-SHIPS circular paper moisture indicator, there is only one that does away entirely with the extravagance of the modern Fifty Fathoms range. Made as a 250-piece limited edition collaboration with Hodinkee, this Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC utilises a brushed 40.3mm steel case with drilled lugs to bring it closer to the 1950s original. The bezel insert is also a more accurate reproduction than other Blancpain models, given the baton markers and numerals at 15, 30, and 45 minutes.The case is quite distinct from the vintage models, as its beefed-up lugs jut out from the case suddenly rather than smoothly flowing from the case's edges – which is because it’s based on the mainline contemporary Fifty Fathoms. The crown guards also imbue it with a rugged sportiness that the simpler designs don't have. For US$14,400, one of its biggest points of difference from the Tornek-Rayville and the Bulova is its luxury status and refinement. It's a 300m diver rather than a 200m one, and its in-house automatic calibre 1154 has a power reserve of 100 hours with a 3Hz beat rate. It may be the least accurate reissue of the three, yet at least it’s manufactured by the same company that actually built the official MIL-SHIPS watches.Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3There’s one final Blancpain worth mentioning here, and that’s another limited edition, the Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3 released in 2023. This watch is interesting as its case is a much more faithful recreation of the original MIL-SHIPS Fifty Fathoms, but it’s made out of a more anachronistic material: 9k bronze gold. This material was reportedly chosen as a homage to a limited range of MIL-SPEC models produced back in the day which were made out of German silver: 9k bronze gold looks similar to patinated German silver while being far less volatile. However, bronze gold still patinates, and the luxurious nature of the material means that while this Fifty Fathoms has a faithful form factor and overall design, it is by no means a tool watch like the original.Like the Hodinkee model previously discussed, it also departs from the original with a sapphire crystal, a 300-metre water-resistance rating and the movement within (it also uses the 100-hour calibre 1154). It is also the most expensive reissue of all the MIL-SHIPS watches, retailing for a punchy US$32,700. While they’re obviously in very different tiers of watchmaking, if you’re looking for a similar aesthetic, the recently-released bronze Bulova MIL-SHIPS 150th Anniversary models are 27 times cheaper, for perspective.
22.02.25