I recently reviewed the “Daily Beater” Field Watch and I ended the review by saying ‘this is the best value watch I have ever seen.’

After 21 days it is currently tracking at 0.3 seconds slow. That is ridiculous for any watch that is not receiving a signal from a satellite or the internet and it is proving to be easily worth the £75 asking price.

And now we have the ML08 from Militado which retails for $85 on a metal bracelet, but the reality is that you can pick it up for around £50 after a tiny bit of shopping around, and that is what I did.

The reason I was curious is because I used to own a Hamilton Murph which is now retailing for £940. That is a lot of money for a watch, but in the grand scheme of the watch world the price is actually passable. I loved that watch, I really did, but time came to move to the watch I will likely be wearing for the rest of my life and so I let it go.

You can see above why the Militado caught my eye- it is a complete homage of the Murph and for once I decided to try something from a brand whose design team appears to be just a photocopier. The main reason was because there was something very special about the Murph dial and hands which could not be replicated by any other watch and I am not spending £940 to get that experience back if it is not going to be a watch I wear often.

I was hoping that the Militado could bring that feeling back for not a lot of money and the specs seemed too good to be true-

Model: Militado ML08
Movement: Japan VH31 Sweeping Second Movement/Swiss Ronda 515 with calendar
Case material : 316L. Case full brushed and bezel polished
Glass: Double Domed Sapphire Crystal High Clear AR Coating
Dial Color: Vintage Matte Black/ Blue/Green
Luminous: Super C3 Green Light, Dial, Hands and Markers. Black Dial -White Indices one hands is BGW9 .
Crown: Screw Down
Case Back: Screw-down Case Back, Brushed Process
Strap/Band:20mm
Water Resistant: 10Bar=100 meters
Watch Dimension
Case： 38mm in diameter
Lug to Lug： 44.5 mm
Thickness 10.2 mm(including glass)

A few specs stand out here- the sapphire crystal, 100m of water resistance and the VH31 movement. Those alone make the price feel like a bargain, but the reality is that specs alone very rarely make a watch good.

Militado appears to have made a great watch. The price does not matter much because this feels like a great watch if you can ignore the fact it is a brazen homage of a model that caught the attention of many. The bracelet is well made with a milled clasp and a decent amount of adjustability thanks to 5 holes which you can adjust to. The edges are somewhat sharp on the bracelet, but not to the point that they could scratch and the case is classic in so many ways.

Nothing is original in this watch, nothing stands out as new, but everything from the well-sized crown to the crystal which has some anti-reflective coating works well. The Hamilton Murph has no anti-reflection at all.

Militado created a homage to the Murph and has ended up building something that feels more like a Rolex from the 1960’s. Except that unlike any vintage Rolex, this one is well built and easily worth the money. Even the military logo on the dial works well to hide cheap branding and to just about fill in what would otherwise be too much empty space.

It’s brilliant for the price. Actually, it’s just brilliant.

Categories: Watch Reviews, Watches