Every professional requires a serious watch built to suit their needs. Sure, they might not be the first line of defence given that computers are a thing, but when all else fails the mechanical precision of a timepiece can be the thin, ticking line between success and failure – especially when failure can mean death. But while 007 has Q for all his horological needs – lasers, grappling hooks and the like – the rest of the world has Ollech & Wajs Department.0000 and its new iteration, Department.000.
Ollech & Wajs – or OW as I’m going to abbreviate it to – have been pushing tool watches to their limit for over 70 years. In the mid-1960s, they became internationally lauded as the first watch brand to build a 1,000m depth capable watch, the now legendary Caribbean 1,000. But that wasn’t all they were up to in the ‘60s. When the US Army went to war in Vietnam, they realized that their standard issue watches weren’t up to the task. Vietnam, in case you didn’t know, is wet and humid, even outside of monsoon season, and most watches just weren’t built to cope.
Ollech & Wajs Early Bird (1965) ref. 72
So, OW stepped in with their proven waterproofness. They received countless military orders, too many for the main body of the company to cope with. Instead, they set up a new division specifically to handle non-civilian matters dubbed Department.0000. While it sounds like a shady government organization, they were quite the opposite, offering affordable yet professionally sound timepieces to the troops – and a thank you box of Swiss chocolates to go with it.
Department.0000 wasn’t just a glorified distribution centre though. As their military sales kept climbing, OW began to actively develop models specifically for their newly specialized clientele – models like the Early Bird. Named after the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, the Early Bird had a solid 38mm case, a two-tone 24-hour bezel and eye-catching indexes. It was a contemporary of iconic watches like the Glycine Airman and many servicemen in Vietnam quickly replaced their standard-issue watches with the superior OW model.
OW ref. C-905 ‘US Army Aviation’ Pilot Wings (1969) (left) OW ref. B-905 ‘US Airforce’ (right)
It was a theme that Department.0000 continued with the Ref. 105 diver and watches specifically designed for different regiments across the US army (the ref.C-905 for the US Army Aviation and ref.B-905 for the US Air Force, for example). It has to be said that they were never formally issued to the US Forces; they were what individual soldiers actively replaced their inferior service timepieces with.
A lot has changed since the ‘60s, especially when it comes to OW themselves who, like many brands before them, suffered in the quartz crisis, only being revived back in 2017. But as their cool, affordable and historically slanted tool watches have shown since, have retained what to this day makes vintage OW watches eminently collectible. That’s as true of Department.000 as it is of their civilian pieces.
Ollech & Wajs Bespoke OW 350CI Ugly Angels caseback
They may have knocked a 0 off, but Department 000 (Triple Zero) is still hard at work building commissions for regiments and federal agencies around the world. As many of these regiments are operating across the globe, we’re not at liberty to say precisely who OW have built these watches for. Government secrets and all that; we don’t want a very different kind of department knocking on our office doors. But there is one watch we can share, one that ties in nicely with the history of the department itself – that being the OW 350CI for the flawlessly-named Ugly Angels.
Ugly Angels Squadron (1969)
Technically the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 362, the Ugly Angels – whose Latin motto translates to ‘always ugly’ – are transport specialists that take soldiers into and out of combat, making theirs one of the most necessary yet dangerous jobs in the US Army. These days they fly in the instantly recognizable MV-22 Osprey, but as a squadron they actually date back pretty far.
Back in 1960, the Ugly Angels were the first Marine aircraft unit in South Vietnam and became the longest serving squadron in the region. They almost certainly would have originally had dealings with Department.0000. That they have reprised that relationship so many decades later illustrates just how much faith they – and other likeminded squadrons – have in OW’s specific brand of tool watch.
Ollech & Wajs 70th Anniversary National Gendarmerie Air Force C-1000
We can also reveal a Department.000 timepiece that until very recently was still protected by confidentiality but that is now declassified (to use slightly over the top secret intelligence language). It’s the 70th Anniversary National Gendarmerie Air Force watch, which was created in commemoration of The Air Forces of the National Gendarmerie’s historic anniversary. It’s a variant of the C-1000 that has been adapted to be more useful for pilots rather than diving, seeing its diving bezel replaced by a 60-minute compass bezel. It also features distinctive blue lumed hands and a matching RAF style strap in the signature colours of the Gendarmerie pilot’s flight suits. It also features their logo in pride of place at 3 o’clock.
OW isn’t the only watchmaker creating regiment specific watches of course. Most tool watch brands big and small have their hand in it occasionally. But given Ollech & Wajs’ specific heritage, inextricably tied to one of the most demanding and brutal conflicts in history, Department.000 is, like many of the squadrons they build watches for, a cut above the rest.
More details at Ollech & Wajs.
