In October 1962 the U.S Government set down a specification for infantry watches which became known as GG-W-113, this was MIL-W-3818B and which replaced the earlier MIL-W-3818A from March 1956. This full specification details be seen at this link
In January 2009 MWC were approached by a U.S veterans association who asked them to examine the viability of making a watch which was indistinguishable in appearance from the original watches which were made by Hamilton, Bulova and Benrus during the Vietnam war. They were sent examples of two watches to examine and also the original specification details, the result was a watch which is very close to the original in appearance and uses a high grade fully jewelled automatic movement with hacking function, this movement is very similar to the original 1960s hand-wound movements except that it has the addition of a rotor to remove the need for manual winding although it retains the ability to be wound by hand should you wish to do so.
In mid 2023 MWC also decided to make a further improvement to this watch by upgrading to a box sapphire crystal, box sapphire has the advantage that it is both shatter and scratch resistant whilst being visually identical in appearance to the original plexiglass crystal used in the 1960s and 70s. The other major advantage with sapphire crystal is it greatly improves the water resistance of the watch.
The actual Benrus sent to MWC in 2009 was from 1965 but as you can see from the final image of an original watch their homage watch is virtually indistinguishable from the watches which were manufactured at the time.
The originals of these watches are now very difficult to find in good sound condition at a realistic price but this watch is a very convincing recreation with all of the advantages of modern technology, such as the self winding and the increased water resistance and general reliability making the watch suitable for day-to-day use.
DIMENSIONS
Width Inc Crown: 38mm
Width Exc Crown: 36mm
Thickness: 12.9mm
Lug Size: 18mm
Lug to lug is 43mm
Dial Colour: Black
Case Material: 316L stainless steel
Caseback: Screw-down 316L stainless steel
Crown: 316L stainless steel
Water Resistance: 5 atm (50m/165ft) *
Movement: 24 Jewel Automatic
Crystal: Shatter & Scratch Resistant Box Sapphire with Anti Reflective Coating*
Luminous Material: Luminova
Serial number on caseback
Strap: 18mm x 2
Supplied in a gift box
* A lot of people ask us what are the benefits of sapphire crystal over a standard mineral crystal? The answer is that synthetic sapphire is by far the best material for watch crystals because it is very strong and also shatter and scratch-resistant, these characteristics make it very appealing to military and security personnel, police officers and people who lead active outdoor lifestyles, these groups account for over 70% of our customers. To get things into perspective we find that when clients have accidents with watches resulting in a cracked crystal over 90% usually watches with mineral glass crystals, even factoring in that we use hardened mineral crystals they still do not come close to sapphire for durability under adverse conditions. The reason that sapphire crystals are so strong is that after the sapphire glass is manufactured it is also heat-treated to remove its internal stresses—which can cause weakness—it is then made into the watch crystals and two layers of anti-reflective coating are applied, interestingly sapphire crystal is now used on the latest iPhone. Of course, sapphire crystal comes at a price hence you find that it's normally only fitted to higher-end watches.
