Enoksen 'Fly' E03/H - Dirty Dozen Special Edition - 36mm
The watch that won WWII
If you are interested in historic watches you may have heard about the famous Dirty Dozen.
During WWII the British government realised the importance of providing the troops with a general-use watch. Up until then, servicemen had been reliant on whatever timepiece they already had. So in line with what their opposite numbers in Germany and America had already done, the British Ministry of Defence created a set of specifications that a new watch would have to meet in order to be suitable for active duty.
The UK didn't have watchmaking capability in abundance, and the relatively few watchmakers in operation during the war had shifted their focus to naval and aviation instruments, rather than wristwatches. So the British MoD had to look for Swiss watchmakers to meet the need for its new military spec watch, known as the W.W.W., short for Wrist Watch Waterproof.
12 companies - 11 from Switzerland and one from the UK signed up for the programme and began to manufacture the W.W.W. These companies were Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor and Vertex.
Some of these brands are long gone today, others are still going strong.
All 12 manufacturers added individual touches to their watches, making each of the variations unique. A total of approximately 150,000 watches were manufactured across all 12 companies. CYMA, Omega, and Record all made over 20,000 watches while IWC, Eterna, and Jaeger-LeCoultre all made less than 10,000 pieces.
Our Tribute
As a watch brand with a documented passion for tool and service watches, we are pleased to announce a watch that honours not just the original Dirty Dozen, but also the soldiers that relied on the timekeeping they provided. It is always tempting to follow the original specifications to the letter, but we had another thought: to honour the original size requirements, and materials, but to use affordable, modern movement technology to give the watch the single most important feature, apart from robustness: Accuracy.
Model
Case Architecture
Screw-down case back
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Width
36.0 mm (excluding crown) 39.5mm (including crown)
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Lug-to-lug
43.2mm
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Strap Width
18mm
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Case Thickness
12.8mm (measured at the centre of the watch)
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Weight
57g (excluding strap)
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Material
316L steel
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Bezel
Fixed steel
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Crown
Waterproofness system
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Crystal
Perspex Plexiglass
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Water Resistance
Waterproof to 100 metres / 330 feet
Movement
Movement
Hybrid Quartz, 2 jewels, 14,400bph (4 per second)
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Calibre
VH60 Manufacture Seiko
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Functions
Centre Hour, minute, sweeping second hand, 24 hour mini dial
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Power Reserve
Battery life approximately 2 years
Hybrid movement
Whilst the Enoksen Fly E03/H Dirty Dozen shares the aesthetics of a WWII watch, it relies on modern day movement technology. We've chosen the new Seiko VH60 Hybrid Quartz Movement, a movement which combines the extreme accuracy and robustness of Quartz with the coolness of a sweeping second hand. Instead of one step per second, the second hand makes four, creating an elegant sweep and a nod to classic manual, or early automatic movements. Furthermore the VH60 adds a complication which we think would have been relevant in the field: A 24-hour indicator.
Utility by Design
The 36mm wide watchcase is made from 316L surgical stainless steel. As a nod to the original Dirty Dozen the Fly E03/H has a domed Perspex crystal made of plexiglass. The dial has sublime legibility thanks to generous use of Super Luminova on hands and markers. The solid, crown allows easy adjustment of time without compromising the case’s 100m water resistance.
Strap
The Fly E03/H Dirty Dozen is supplied with our G10 NATO Seatbelt strap in khaki. Robust, water resistant, and extremely comfortable this strap compliments the watch in the best possible way.
