CWC Type 1 Royal Navy Issue Fab Four Military Chronograph c.1973.

At the start of the 1970's, the need for war died down and as military spending was reduced in Britain's Forces, the quality of watches produced consistently followed this as a consequence. The Ministry of Defence's DEF-STAN (Defence Standardization) was altered in order to produce more commercially viable pieces for the military.

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The result of this was the creation of watches over a decade. Despite the change in specs, these watches followed the specifications of its predecessor, the Lemania Monopusher as it remained housed in a 39mm asymmetric stainless steel case and consisted of a black dial with luminous hands and markers. The change was that instead of one chronograph pusher, you now had two. As such, the movements that powered these pieces were the workhorse cam activated Valjoux 7733.

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 The 4 companies chosen were: Hamilton, CWC, Precista and Newmark.

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Today's example is in fantastic condition and was issued to the Royal Navy in the 1st Year that CWC started producing these Chronographs for the Military, 1973 and is known as a "Type 1". CWC would go on to produce 6 Variants of these over a period spanning from 1973 to 1982. You can read more on these: Here.

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For the full scope on these Watches, including how they came to be and how they very almost became the "Fab Five" please visit our friend Jon over at CWC Addict: Here.