Military Issued Stocker And Yale Sandy 55595

The History

When military issued watches get brought up the conversation usually immediately goes to some incredibly rare and incredibly expensive vintage Rolex. The word unobtanium comes to mind. There is an entirely different side to military issued watches that rarely gets discussed and that is the every day issued watches made for the normal soldier. These watches, much like the rest of a soldier’s kit, were designed and built to be simple, reliably, and cost effective.  Stocker and Yale, a US military contractor, checked all three of those boxes with the Sandy 184 and various iterations of that watch which were issued by the US military for nearly 20 years.

The Reference

There are various references in the Stocker and Yale Sandy lineup. Early references featured ETA mechanical movements movements but as time went on the movements were changed to an Asian mechanical movement and then to Quartz like the movement in this reference. One of the defining features of these watches is absolutely the unconventional case material, a fiberglass composite said to have been used on handguns. It makes the watch extremely light, yet robust. Due to the fact that these watches were made in such high numbers prices have remained low but it doesn’t diminish how cool these watches are. The perfect military issued watch to add to your collection.

The Case

The 37mm matte black fiberglass composite case is in excellent condition. Due to the material used, polishing and repairs are not possible so what you see is what you get. In this case what you get is near new with no major flaws whatsoever. The bezel, unlike the case, is aluminum, and the crown is a plated bronze.

The Dial and Hands

Much like the case, the dial and hands are in excellent condition with the only flaw being a small crack in the tritium lume located on the hour hand. The other tritium lume is full and has started to take on a lovely patina.

The Movement

This watch is powered by an ETA quartz movement. The watch is running well and the service history is unknown.

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