The New York City-based Benrus watches was started by three brothers in 1921 in the heart of the Big Apple’s jewelry district. Benrus began importing Swiss-made movements for their watches being assembled in the US and steadily grew throughout the early 20th century. While Benrus produced a wide array of wristwatches including alarms, calendars, chronographs, and dive watches, Benrus today is most well-known for the battle-hardened military watches they produced throughout the 60s and 70s.

At the top of that list is this, the MIL-W-3818B DTU-2A/P military field watch. If it looks familiar, it’s because countless manufacturersfrom Hamilton to Timex, Marathon, and othershave since co-opted the design. Truly the name may be a mouthful but the influence and iconicity of this watch cannot be understated.

The backstory goes like this: in 1964, Benrus won the US military’sMIL-W-3818B contract to make a field watch for soldiers fighting in Vietnam. As a result, it needed to be highly legible and built to withstand all manner of confrontation. The DTU is the result of that effort.

The Benrus DTU was only made between 1964 and 1969 and features a one-piece case design and the Benrus Cal. DR 2F2a hand-wound 17 jewel movement based on the ETA Cal. 2370working away on the inside. But it’s that now-legendary dial design that makes the watch so iconic clean white hands and hour markers, 12- and 24-hour Arabic numerals, and triangular lume plots on the dial. It’s been copied, homaged, and re-issued numerous times since then, but there really is no substitute for the original.

SPECS

CASE & BRACELET

The impressive and robust one-piece case appears to remain in unpolished, but honestly worn condition, and retains its factory anti-reflective parkerized finish and drilled lugs. The crown is believed to be original to the watch. The back of the case retains all of its original factory engravings and military contract numbers. The watch comes supplied on a two-piece cotton canvas strap.

DIAL & HANDS

The original matte black dial is in virtually perfect condition, showing no damage or notable elements of age. The tritium lume plots have taken on a lovely golden patina with nominal degradation present under UV light inspection. The original tritium hands are a bit lighter than the dial, and a piece of the lume has fallen out of the minute hand.

ACCESSORIES

None.The watch is keeping time perfectly, but the service history is unknown. A movement service can be provided upon request.