The History behind Tactical Watches

Tactical watches were born from wrist watches that came from a man named Louis Cartier. Cartier made his friend, a Frenchman, Alberto Santos-Dumont a leather wrist band to hold his pocket watch for him and he made it popular in his native France.

Tactical Watches and Service Men -

The wrist watch gained more popularity during World War I when officers came to realize they were more suitable than their normal way of telling time. In addition, pocket watches were more of an item for the middle and upper classes, wrist watches were for the working class and the servicemen were certainly among the working class.

Infantry and artillery men needed to depend on their timepieces as the battles became more and more complicated. Because the attacks needed to be coordinated and the watches were needed on the ground as well as in the air, the military pilots found them to be just as useful as the patrolman on the ground did. Ultimately, the military commissioned their own manufacturer of wrist watches that had a black face and white numbers for ease of reading. They produced them by the masses for their troops, both airman and ground soldiers.

Tactical Watches in the Second World War -

During the Second World War, a popular watch was similar to the former watch called the A-11 and had the basic needs of airmen in mind. It had a large black face and white numbers with aviation coordinates available.

Post War Tactical Watches -

Following the war, soldiers wore their watches around town and they became even more popular with the middle and upper class. Then they helped to modify the wrist watches into more than just a timepiece. The standards were raised and watch makers added a chronometer, which is a clock that is used for navigational purposes and is designed for long term precision and accuracy. Then came the slide rules which made appropriate engineering and scientific calculations for many applications for both airmen and artillerymen.

Today's Tactical Watch -

It wasn't before long that watch makers began tweaking and adding to the wrist watches and they began to come up with more and more sophisticated watches. Today's tactical watches have had the input of several law enforcement agencies, Special Operations Units, SWAT teams, and military personnel before coming up with a design suited for all grades of tactical units. There are tactical watches today that come with software you download on your computer and then plug into the tactical watch and load various programs for what you want the watch for. You can customize your tactical watch to fit your needs.

Watches with Computers -

Some tactical watches are actual computers that are no bigger than the ordinary sized watches, yet hold some of the most complicated programs for military; Special Forces and police would need out in the fields. There may be a few more buttons on the outer circle and a few more items to read in the manual, but other than that, these tactical watches are the same, durable and dependable watches as the rest of the tactical gear: ready for all conditions.

There are programs for the tactical watches that are similar to a GPS tracking system. There is software that can help you with your gun scope, or what's known as a ballistics calculator and wind velocity and muzzle velocity for shooting purposes. The watch is water resistant to 100 feet or more.

Of course tactical watches have the date and time. Sometimes the watch will give more than one time zone, and has an alarm, as well as a stopwatch, a second hand, and a back light for night viewing. All of these features come in handy for many of the military and police who use the tactical watches. They are also made for high altitudes and diving specifications such as being water resistant.

Traditional Tactical Watches -

Somewhere along the timeline, the leather watchband became a thing of fancy watches or everyday watches and the tactical watches adopted the strength of the nylon strap with Velcro to hold it in place. This has been a traditional piece of the tactical watch since its beginning.

All of the traditional watchmakers manufacture tactical watches and military grade timepieces, but several clothing, knife and gun manufacturers also make and produce tactical watches. They are all certified to military grade specifications and guaranteed to perform under the worst of conditions.

Tactical watches are durable, dependable, military grade watches that are sold to the Armed Forces, Special Forces and police SWAT teams, as well as to the general public. There is a wide variety of styles and types to choose from depending on what you are going to be doing while wearing the tactical watch.