I have a soft spot in my heart for watches with little caps on the crowns aka canteen watches. The Praesidus A-5 UDT is such a watch. It’s a 38mm diver that is based on the USN BUSHIPS style of watch which had a screw-down crown protector and a little chain to keep things from falling off. From the product page:
By leaning on the WW2 USN BUSHIPS designs the A-5 is “field-tested” like no other. The proof is in the design – what else except for operational requirements would’ve led to welding an over- sized crown cap directly onto the case? For the A-5, we’ve pushed the original design further to extract an excellent 20ATM (660ft) water- resistance. Coupled with a double domed sapphire crystal not much is going to get in the way of reliable time-keeping for this tool-watch.
The BUSHIPS came from Hamilton and was a popular watch style for divers during World War II. The BUSHIPS designation came from the US Navy’s Bureau of Ships
The watch runs a SOPROD Swiss Automatic P024 movement and has a bright Super Luminova face. It’s a surprisingly clever design for a microbrand watch and the company claims that “5% of each sale” goes to Veteran’s organizations. The price, at $595, isn’t great but it’s definitely something to check out if you’d like a bit of history on your wrist.
