Timor Releases the Heritage Field ATP, a New Field Watch with a Military History

When we last reported on Timor back in early 2020, it was to bring you news of the introduction of the Heritage Field, a recreation of the original field watch they made along with eleven other brands for the British military in the 1940s. Vintage examples of the “Dirty Dozen” watches have become highly collectible, particularly the watches made by firms that are not household names, unless your household is full of watch collectors, in which case it’s quite possible you need from all of this. But if you’re not at watch content capacity, and have an interest in Timor’s newest release, the latest variant of their Heritage Field is certainly worth a look. 

The Heritage Field ATP gets its name from the British War Office invention of the “Army Trade Pattern.” The ATP is essentially a precursor to the “Wrist, Watch, Waterproof” (or W.W.W.) standard, with watches with an ATP designation first issued in 1939. The W.W.W. watches began appearing about six years later, but ATP wasn’t fully phased out until 1957. ATP might be a lesser known standard than the W.W.W., largely because of the latter’s association with the Dirty Dozen and the collecting community that has sprung up around it, there’s a real historical importance to the ATP standard as it represented an early attempt by the military to modernize the watches that were issued to soldiers, pilots, and other service members from the pocket watches and early “trench watches” that were common at the time. 

The Heritage Field ATP is a handsome and modest timepiece that’s dominated by a cream colored dial and thick, black Arabic numerals. This is very much a traditional field watch layout with a small subsidiary seconds register at 6:00 and clearly defined minutes track around the perimeter, punctuated by radium colored lume plots at five minute intervals. The sizing would appear to be spot on, coming in at 36.5mm in diameter and 11mm thick with a domed sapphire crystal. There doesn’t seem to be a single square millimeter of the case with high polish applied, which should please fans of vintage tool watches. 

Timor is offering a choice of either a Sellita SW260 automatic movement or an SW216 hand wound caliber. We’re big fans of offering consumers a choice between the convenience of an automatic and the vintage feel of a hand wound movement, so big points to Timor there. At a retail price of £1,100, this is a solid and affordable offering from a brand with some real watch nerd cred and military heritage. Only 100 examples will be made, 50 with each movement. For more information, check out Timor’s website right here.