MICROMILSPEC Field Testing Unit Review

A few months ago I was blown away by a new watch release from a brand I had never heard of before. The brand was called Micromilspec and the watch in question was the MILGRAPH. The MILGRAPH basically took everything I loved about watch design and shoved it into one watch. I've constantly complained that most modern watches are just too polished and buttoned down and stray too much from the tool watch aesthetic that I loved so much from the 90s and 2000s. The MILGRAPH was the first watch in a long time that really grabbed my attention design wise and I instantly started looking more into MICROMILSPEC.

MICROMILSPEC was founded in Oslo, Norway on May 29th, 2019 by Henrik Rye. Henrik wasn't in the watch industry at all prior to starting MICROMILSPEC and kind of bounced around different ventures trying to figure out his true calling. After moving to Oslo, Henrik became fascinated with Erik Sutterud who owned a small watchmaking shop in the old city. This shop was kind of a cultural hub constantly having jazz music playing in the background and most of Erik's time being taken up by people stopping in to chat.



Henrik loved this vibe so much that he ended up renting office space right behind the watchmaker's shop, where he stayed for six years selling various overstocked products he could resell including shoes, coffee and even watches. Since Henrik was within earshot of Erik's watchmaking shop he could hear most of the conversations the watchmaker was having.

One day a man walked into the Erik's shop and asked if he would be able to produce a small batch of watches for a special military unit. Since Henrik was already selling closeout watches he had some good contacts in the Swiss watch industry. Henrik quickly came into Erik's shop and joined the conversation.



The visitor happened to be there on behalf of the Norwegian military and Henrik hit it off well with him. In just a few months Henrik had designed and produced 200 watches for the Norwegian Military. The resulting watch was so good that Henrik went on to found MICROMILSPEC with this visitor shortly after. Four days after their official founding the Royal Norwegian Air Force ordered 330 watches from the newly formed brand. The last time they had ordered a custom timepiece was from Heuer in the 1970s. Needless to say, MICROMILSPEC had big shoes to fit.

News of the watches delivered to the Norwegian military spread and MICROMILSPEC soon found themselves the darlings of bespoke military designed watches. As of today MICROMILSPEC has been used by over 30 military units from all over the world who requested specially designed watches.

While MICROMILSPEC is best known for their custom designed military timepieces, recently the brand has decided to open up to the public with limited production runs a few times per year. This consists of seven watches including the previously mentioned MILGRAPH. These releases are typically limited to less than 200 pieces annually and sell out extremely fast.



After being blown away by the MILGRAPH and reading up on MICROMILSPEC I reached out to the brand to see if there was a chance I could get a watch in for review. With how limited these pieces are I knew it would be a long shot. Surprising to me the brand's Chief Marketing Officer Theo reached back out to me and said he would see what he could do. Within a few weeks Theo contacted me and let me know that a Field Testing Unit watch was available if I'd like to review it. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity. I also found out that Theo was a veteran of IWC during a period of time when IWC was releasing some of their best watches. This was a great indication that Henrik was building MICROMILSPEC around a very qualified team.

Initial Thoughts

While I was well versed on the MILGRAPH I didn't know much about the Field Testing Unit. I wanted to wait until the watch was in my hands to learn more about it. The first thing I noticed about watch when it arrived was its extreme simplicity. Besides some markings on the dial and clasp the watch is completely void of any text. For example there are no markings on the bezel, case back or crown. This was intentionally done to mirror the first 30 watches handed over to the Norwegian military in 2019 to act as a test bed for future development. This choice was done to easily allow wearers to document damage to the watch as well as think of design elements that would transform these simple test watches into focused military timepieces.



The second thing I noticed about the Field Testing Unit was just how solid the watch felt. It honestly feels like the watch could take a true beating and come out unscathed. When sized for my 7.25 inch wrist the watch weighed in at 154 grams, which isn't overly heavy but definitely noticeable. The Field Test Unit is crafted out of 316L stainless steel and comes on a stainless steel bracelet so the weight isn't too unexpected. The high build quality of the watch and MICROMILSPEC's reputation of building tough timepieces really gives me the feeling that this watch could accompany you on any adventure you could throw its way.

The final thing I noticed about the Field Testing Unit from my initial time with the watch was its packaging. Typically today watches arrive in minimal packaging to reduce the watches environmental impact. I don't really see the point of this and love seeing a nice watch presented inside equally nice packaging. Let's be honest most people don't throw away their watch boxes and a nicer box really isn't going to cause any more damage to the environment than minimal packaging. In the case of the Field Testing Unit, the watch comes double boxed with the inner box that holds the watch being crafted of high quality wood with a piano black finishing. The box is housed inside of a cloth covering as well. The overall presentation reminds me of boxes from Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe. Also the box is very heavy, it really gives a first impression that something special is inside.



Technical Specifications

Now that we've gone over my initial thoughts on the MICROMILSPEC Field Testing Unit, let's look over the technical specifications of the watch. Like I mentioned earlier the watch is crafted out of 316L stainless steel and has a case diameter of 43 mm and a lug to lug length of 50.3 mm. The watch weighs in at 154 grams and at its thickest point is 11.8 mm tall.

The Field Testing Unit uses a slightly domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating applied to it. Under the crystal clear sapphire is a silver sunburst dial that matches the brushed stainless steel case perfectly. Around the outside of the dial is a black printed minute track and round hour markers with a double marker at 12. These hour markers along with the polished hour and minute hands are covered in Super-Luminova that glows a brilliant bluish green in low light. There is also a polished central running seconds hand that is not coated with lume.



At 12 o'clock "Sync at 12" is printed on the dial, which was MICROMILSPEC's ingenious way to quickly check to see if their test watches were performing as expected. The brand instructed the test users to photograph their watches at noon and then send the pictures in to see how the watches were performing in the field in real time. This allowed MICROMILSPEC to gather crucial data about the watches and their usage and see what affect it had on the movement's accuracy.

The only other markings on the dial are found at 9 o'clock where the MICROMILSPEC logo and branding is displayed. Underneath you have "Field Testing Unit" in red and then some stats on the watch printed in black. These specs which would normally be engraved on the caseback are "Timekeeper", "Swiss Made", "SW200-1", "20 ATM" and the case number. Overall the dial of the Field Testing Unit is extremely clean and lets the wearer focus primarily on telling the time.



Moving past the dial you have a nicely scalloped stainless steel uni-directional rotating bezel. The bezel lacks any form of markings and takes 120 clicks to rotate a full turn. The bezel action is very crisp and there is very little to zero back play. The bezel produces a nice audible click and also provides ample grip. It's easy to imagine this bezel with a 60 minute scale making a great dive watch when designed to meet a military's diving needs.

The case of the Field Testing Unit is octagonal in shape and all major surfaces have a brushed finish. The watch does add polished chamfers which gives the watch a bit more of a luxurious look, I feel having brushed edges might have been a bit too tool-like given the lack of markings on the watch. The Field Testing Unit has sharply angled lugs that integrate nicely with the bracelet. Even with an over 50 mm lug to lug length it really seems like watch would fit smaller wrists well with the sharp downturn to the links. The bracelet also doesn't flare out like say a Royal Oak Offshore.



On the right hand side of the case there is a polished screw down crown that is once again nicely scalloped. The top of the crown has no markings on it and is high polished. The crown guards on each side of the crown seem to organically come out of the case and cover the bottom third of the crown. Once the crown is unscrewed you can manually wind the automatic movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to the first and final position allows you to set the time and stops the seconds hand. There is also no phantom date crown position which is nice to see. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand either allowing for precise time setting. Finally screwing the crown back in requires no additional care to line up before it catches. With the screw down crown the Field Testing Unit rated up to 200 meters of water resistance.

Flipping the case over shows, well nothing… like I said earlier the Field Testing Unit lacks most markings found on other watches, this includes the case back. The case back is brushed and features absolutely nothing on it. Underneath the solid caseback is Swiss Made Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement. This movement runs at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of 38 hours. MICROMILSPEC rates the movement as having an accuracy of +/- 7 seconds per day. On our timegrapher the SW200-1 showed an accuracy of +/- 0 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. That is as accurate of a movement as you're going to see.



The Field Testing Unit we tested came on the stainless steel bracelet, but the watch is also available with rubber or leather straps. Even though the watch has the look of an integrated bracelet it actually features traditional lugs. The bracelets end links actually fit over the outer most part of the lugs giving the look of the lugs flowing into the bracelet. If you remove the bracelet you are actually left with a standard 20 mm lug width that can accept literally thousands of aftermarket straps.

The bracelet tapers down from 22 mm at the lugs to 18 mm at the deployant clasp. The clasp requires both buttons to be depressed to release the bracelet and has a hidden design with one end having the MICROMILSPEC logo and the other having the MICROMILSPEC text. The bracelet construction is made out of an H shaped main link connected by a smaller rectangular link that fits in between. The removable links are fitted with a pin and collar system that just requires a watchmakers hammer and pusher to remove. The links mirror the finishing of the case with the large areas being brushed while the chamfers are polished.



On The Wrist

During my time with the MICROMILSPEC Field Testing Unit I used the watch as my primary timepiece. This included using it to run my boring errands and also wearing the watch out to dinner and drinks. To be upfront I'm just not a fan of bracelets on watches, every watch I personally own that came with a bracelet is now on a strap. Having grown up in Texas the summer just kills bracelet watches for me, where you go outside and its 110 degrees and then go inside and its 68 degrees. You either end up with a watch that is too tight or too loose and this train of thought has stayed with me.

I know that in this regard I'm pretty much in the minority and most collectors actually enjoy watches on bracelets, just look at how popular Rolex is… Getting over my personal grudge with bracelet watches the Field Testing Unit did wear just fine while on the bracelet. The weight of the watch is evenly distributed over the bracelet and the watch never felt top heavy. The 50.3 mm lug to lug measurement also falls perfectly in my personal goldilocks watch sizing with the watch covering my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area perfectly.



Also with my weird hatred of watch bracelets I'm also not the biggest fan of stainless steel as a watch material. Once again this isn't something shared with most watch collectors who absolutely love stainless steel. My personal collection is solely comprised of ceramic, carbon and titanium cased watches and they are larger in size so these materials drastically reduce the weight of the watches. With the Field Testing Unit being a larger watch and being crafted out of stainless steel with a bracelet the weight took a bit for me to get used to. It wasn't enough to cause any wrist fatigue but the watch always seemed present on wrist. A lot of collectors do see this as a positive, but I've become used to having a watch disappear on the wrist.

As for the legibility of a watch I try to see how much effort it takes to tell the time while driving at a glance. Even with the lack of markings on the Field Testing Unit the hands are well pronounced and do not blend into the silver dial. Also the hour markers are well defined and make telling the time with just a quick glance relatively easy. In low light situations the watch makes time telling a breeze with how bright the hour markers and hands glow.



As a bit of a surprise the MICROMILSPEC Field Testing Unit actually got noticed a lot when wearing it out. I actually thought its minimalist design and lack of markings would mean people wouldn't take notice of it. I guess with how popular stainless steel integrated sports watches have become over the past few years it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that a larger watch in this niche received the look of some eyes. I had a few people approach me about the watch and it was fun explaining the story behind MICROMILSPEC and letting them handle the watch. Everyone remarked on how well built the watch felt and were also blown away by the price.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking about price, the MICROMILSPEC Field Testing Unit retails for $1,715 on the stainless steel bracelet and a bit less on rubber or leather straps. For that price you are getting a very exclusive watch that is only available once a year and in very limited quantities, 200 in the case of this model. You also know the watch is designed and produced by a company who is best known for producing watches for the most demanding professions on earth, military special forces units, where failure is not an option. On top of all that the watch is just deadly accurate as well. Finally the Field Testing Unit might be the most solid feeling integrated sports watch that I have handled in person, and I've spent lots of time with all the top names in the field. To see how good of a value the Field Testing Unit is, let's go ahead and compare it to other watches with similar designs and see how it holds up.



First let's take a look at the least expensive watch we'll be comparing the Field Testing Unit to, the Christopher Ward The Twelve 40 mm in stainless steel. The Twelve is an integrated stainless steel sports watch with a twelve sided bezel and a pretty decorative dial. The watch is also powered by a Sellita SW200-1 movement and offers half the water resistance at 100 meters. The Twelve doesn't seem nearly as rugged as the Field Testing Unit based on the time I've spent with the watch but does cost less than the MICROMILSPEC at $1,225.

Next up is the Alpiner Extreme from Aplina which is a cushion cased stainless steel watch with a 42.5 mm case diameter. The Alpiner Extreme is marketed as a tough go anywhere do anything style of watch and also has a matching 200 meters of water resistance. The Alpiner Extreme is also powered by a variant of the Sellita SW200-1 found in the above two watches. The cushion case of the Alpiner Extreme might give some people pause and the watch is a little more expensive than the MICROMILSPEC at $2,195.



Moving on we have the U1 from Sinn which is 44 mm and crafted out of German submarine steel. I have owned this watch twice previously and can attest to just how tough the watch is. The U1 and its submarine steel construction also makes the U1 heavy. Like all the watches we have compared so far the U1 also runs on the Sellita SW200-1. Being a hardcore dedicated dive watch the U1 does offer over the top water resistance at 1,000 meters. Finally the Sinn U1 is much more expensive than the Field Testing Unit at $2,920.

Finally we have the Ingenieur Automatic 40 from IWC which is an integrated sports watch in stainless steel with a 40 mm case diameter. The Ingenieur straddles the line between dressy and rugged very well and also feels substantial in hand. The Ingenieur only offers half of the water resistance at 100 meters but does run an in-house IWC caliber 32111 with a substantial 120 hours of power reserve. The IWC is also by far the most expensive of the compared watches coming in at $11,700.



When comparing the Field Testing Unit to the above watches you can see that the watch is indeed a great value. The Field Testing Unit is also by far the most unique and scarce of the watches as well. It is tied for the highest water resistance and runs the same movement as all but the IWC while being the second least expensive. All of these watches are great pieces in their own right and the MICROMILSPEC still manages to stand out amongst them.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the MICROMILSPEC Field Testing Unit for me? There are a ton of things I love about the Field Testing Unit, but there are two main reasons the watch wouldn't be for me personally. First is the case metal, I just can't do stainless steel. The whole time I wished the watch was crafted out of titanium, but I know I'm in the minority here. Also I can only wear a bracelet for so long before I get tired of it, no matter how good the bracelet is executed. I wish the watch would have come with the MICROMILSPEC rubber strap, but once again I know the bracelet option is more than likely the most popular. Also MICROMILSPEC produces the MILGRAPH which in theory will check pretty much everything on my personal watch checklist.



So would I recommend the Field Testing Unit to somebody looking for a stainless steel sports watch? I think for under $2,000 MICROMILSPEC has released a really special watch that lets you join a very exclusive club. The minimalistic design is also something that isn't seen too often, if I had to liken it to another watch it would be the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Offshore ALYX releases. Both the Field Testing Unit and ALYX pieces are bold yet minimalistic releases. The Field Testing Unit also needs to be experienced in hand to really see how solid the watch feels, it's not really something I can convey through pictures or text. The one caveat I would have is that if you're going to be doing any diving and plan to use a watch as a backup to a dive computer, the lack of bezel markings is a negative. Once again this was a design choice done on purpose and MICROMILSPEC offers many other models with dive bezels.

Finally military buffs will just love the ties MICROMILSPEC has to so many military units all over the world and see the value in that the Field Testing Unit is homage to the original test watches given out to the Norwegian military to help develop their bespoke watches. Even with only having a passing interest in the world's militaries I find this fact super interesting.



The Field Testing Unit has served as a great introduction to MICROMILSPEC for me. While getting ready to write the review I did a ton more research about the brand and really love what they are doing. I feel that IWC in the 90s and 2000s were producing some of my favorite watches of all time which were pure tool watches. In the decades since they have sort of gone the route of producing more polished pieces and leaving the tool watch segment alone. There is a huge void in the market for watches like these and MICROMILSPEC seems to be positioned to come in and fill that void with their collection of tool watches. While my weird collector quirks about case material and strap preference kept the Field Testing Unit from being for me, the amazing build quality and how well the watch wore really got me even more anxious to get some hands on time with the titanium case on a rubber strap MILGRAPH.

For more information about the Field Testing Unit please visit : MICROMILSPEC

Technical Specifications

Retail Price: $1,715

Case Size: 43 mm

Lug to Lug: 50.3 mm

Thickness: 11.8 mm

Weight: 154 Grams

Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel

Bezel: 316L Stainless Steel

Strap: Stainless Steel Bracelet with Deployant Clasp

Movement: Sellita SW200-1 Swiss Made Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds

Power Reserve: 38 Hours

Water Resistance: 200 Meters