An intro

First a little background on Micromilspec. A Norwegian watch design brand that was established in 2019. Starting out, they stayed under the radar and have been slowly building their brand, making sure they had something that could last and stand the test of time. Primarily designing military/tool watches for military units in Norway and later other countries, they now also offer watches for civilian units, such as the police and fire departments. They even made a custom watch for Erling Braut Haaland. They have a very unique design language and are on a mission to create watches made to be used as tools.

the specifications

Let's get the specifications and measurements out of the way. The watch has a case of steel, measuring 42mm in diameter. 11mm thick, with a slim center case making it seem thinner. Lug-lug at 50mm, where the lugs angle downwards making the watch wear smaller than the measurements would make it seem. Lug width 20mm, making it versatile when it comes to straps. It has a thin bi-directional Zulu time bezel, allowing one to follow 2 time zones or time events. The numerals are in black with great contrast to the steel bezel with 4 indices in between the numerals allowing you to time events with 10-minute intervals. The case has a mix of brushed surfaces and polished, beveled edges.  The same finishing can also be found on the crown. The bezel is brushed, but the surface has a circular brushing while the edges and angled surfaces have a vertical brushing, adding depth and character to the watch.

The dial is silver colored, being a different hue and adding a bit of a contrast, while keeping the watch uniform and simple. On the dial we find the Micromilspec logo, name, model, “Swiss made”, ETA 2824-2, 10 ATM and #031 at the left side of the dial at the 9 o’clock configuration. At 12 o’clock we find the text: “Sync at 12”. This is something that stayed on the dial, as it was a part of a prototype watch, where the testers were to send in a photo at 12 o`clock to see how it kept time. On the minute and hour track you have 2 indices at 12 and a single index at every hour, with a minute track in between. The indices are lumed. The hour and minute hand are pencil style hands with lume and the seconds hand is a stick-style hand and no lume. There is no date window, allowing for a clean and symmetrical dial without any disturbance.

One of their first designs was the Field testing unit. Handed out to a small group of people for testing,to ensure the design and build was able to withstand daily use and to receive feedback. The design is very simple, clean, futuristic and unique.This is what made it stand out to me when I saw it in the window of their offices the first time. It made me stop and stand there for a few minutes digesting the design. I love use of negative space broken up by the text on the left side of the dial. Something different, compared to the standard design with text at 12 and 6 o`clock. The red color working to separate the Micromilspec logo and text from the subtext.

The crown is located at 3 o’clock and is a screw down crown with the Micromilspec logo engraved on it. It also has some texturing allowing for a better grip. The watch also has 100m of water resistance.

This watch has an ETA 2824-2 automatic movement beating at 4Hz with approximately 38 hours of power reserve with hacking function allowing you to stop the seconds hand. From what I can gather, this is a good movement that keeps good time and is used in several different watches. Personally, it has kept great time and only needs adjusting here and there. A big positive is that a movement like this is also easily serviced and repaired most watchmakers out there.

It came with a steel bracelet that is an integrated style bracelet made to fit the case perfectly. There is no micro-adjustments or on-the-fly adjustments. There also are no smaller links, therefore it has been challenging to find a good fit. The lug spacing and case is custom and therefore it doesn’t allow for third party bracelets. But it allows for third party straps. Micromilspec also make their own straps, that are great quality. The image below shows the watch with a 3rd party strap.

my thoughts

So, now that all those numbers and specifications are out of the way, let’s get to how the watch feels and my thoughts about this watch. As I have already mentioned, this watch wears like a 40mm watch in my opinion and while the lug-lug seems long, the lugs angle downwards and the design of the case makes it feel smaller than the measurements might make it seem. This case design is also found on other Micromilspec models.

The finishing on the case, bezel and crown are great given the price point. The fact that this watch has a uniform look, makes it very versatile. It looks great with a bracelet and straps. It is a true GADA watch that can be used anywhere, for almost any occasion. The 100m water resistance adds to the versatility and I don`t feel like I must worry about damaging it.  I use this watch on the daily and I have banged it into door handles, rocks and so on. Due to this it has gotten a few small dings and scrapes here and there. This only adds to the character of the watch and is barely visible. My point here is that his is a tool watch/field watch in the truest sense. It is made to be worn and used as a tool. That is also the way I use it.

Lastly the bezel has some of the best action I have felt on a watch so far. Only rivaled by Glashütte SeaQ so far. There is no play back and forth, like I have experienced with a lot of other watches. I would not be afraid that a bump would make the bezel misalign.

Now for some of the negatives.  There aren’t that many but have a few nitpicks and this is really nitpicking. The bracelet could do with an upgrade adding micro-adjustment possibilities. Something I hope will be added in the future. It could also have a few smaller links, making it easier to adjust and even more comfortable. The crown is also a bit smaller than I would like, but I have thing with crowns where I like big onion style crowns, so this is very subjective. While the bezel has great action, it can be a bit difficult to grip if I have gloves on. That said, these a tiny details that would make an already great watch, even greater.

Conclusion

All in all, after handling several of their models and owning one for almost 8 months, I can recommend Micromilspec watches. They are great watches, at a great price point at around 1000 to 1500 $ for most of their models. The only thing is they are difficult to get. Given that they mostly make custom watches for military units, first responders and alike.

Time will show what the future of Micromilspec looks like, but I believe it is a brand to keep an eye on. I hope to get some hands on with their newer models and see what improvements and cool designs they release in future. I really want to see how they keep improving upon their already great design and tool-type watches.  

Check out Micromilspec.com for more information about their brand and other models.