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Available to Buy: 5 Black DLC Coated Vertex M100Bs
Available to Buy: 5 Black DLC Coated Vertex M100Bs
As has now been recounted in numerous articles, since committed to memory by any watch enthusiast who ever showed a predilection toward timepieces of military origins, the Dirty Dozen has come to define the essence of the genre. Aside from slightly smaller commissions involving multiple manufacturers — the French AeroNavale Type XX for example — it was a rare occasion when a government tendered a specification that garnered such a large response.
Overall, though, they were ostensibly the same watch – but then they had to be, because they were M.O.D. issue. Among the specifications were small seconds display at 6 o’clock, highly legible dials with white numerals on a black background with a “broad arrow” insignia, water-resistance (acknowledged by the W.W.W. designation, for “Wrist Watch Waterproof”), and 15-jewel manually-wound calibres with Breguet overcoils.
Among the Dirty Dozen was one maker that was actually British: Vertex. A family-owned company, this Newbury-based watch brand established to sell Thommen watches in the UK, eventually producing its own-labelled timepieces. Facilitating its suitability to respond to the call from the M.O.D., Vertex used Swiss movements in British cases from suppliers such as Dennison.
It is believed that Vertex produced around 15,000 W.W.W.s. Inside was the Calibre 59 made by Thommen, which they then fitted to a 35mm steel case. The Vertex featured pencil hands, while the seconds dial used a non-rail track chapter ring with full 60-second gradation, rather than the minimalist style on NATO re-dials. In all other respects, this is a classic W.W.W., with no quirks to confuse the matter.
In 2016, the great-grandson of Vertex’s founder, Don Cochrane, discovered his family’s history. Inspired to revive the brand, dormant since 1972, he realised that the W.W.W. had a desirability factor that would prove a perfect vehicle. Balancing the need to modernise it with the need to remain faithful to the original, he devised the manually-wound M100 up-scaled to feature a 40mm brushed steel case, Swiss movement, water-resistance to 10ATM and a design detail that has lifted its desirability beyond the cult: ultra-bright moulded Super-LumiNova® numerals and indices.

The Vertex M100 on the wrist (Image © Revolution)
Supplied with a black leather and Admiralty Grey over-under straps, the M100 is delivered in a military-spec “Peli Case.” Consumer demand being what it is, the M100 has been followed by the M100B with satin-y black DLC finish, of which only 150 will be produced. Revolution is privileged to offer our readers five pieces of these, through shop.revolution.watch, and we know they will disappear in rapid order.

The black DLC coated Vertex M100B (© Revolution)

British Military Timepieces by Konrad Knirim, seen here paired with the Vertex M100B (© Revolution)

The Vertex M100 next to the black DLC coated Vertex M100B (© Revolution)