‘Dirty Dozen’ Redux: Timor Heritage Field WWW Watch Review

The term “homage” stirs many emotions in the watch world. These watches pay tribute to an icon or borrow heavily from a classic design.

Take the Rolex Submariner. It’s a timepiece that launched a thousand tool watches. The diver theme inspired some versions. Others clearly copy from the Crown’s design sheet. Distinguishing the threshold between the two? Well, therein lies the horological fuss.

But what if the watch has a direct bloodline to the inspiration? Was the watch reissued under new ownership to match the brand’s mil-spec provenance? Can a modern revival stay true to classic while meeting the demands in the field? This drew me to explore Timor’s Heritage Field WWW (Wrist. Watch. Waterproof.), one of the original field watches commissioned by the British Military of Defense during World War II.

Timor kindly lent me a Heritage Field WWW automatic ($1,041) to put through the paces this spring. Happy to oblige, I took it cycling and trail running and brought it to Mexico for a week to test in the surf and tropical jungle. Throughout, the watch served as a charming little companion. I came away with some thoughts on the watch and what makes it a classic. Modern twists and all.

In short: The Timor Heritage Field WWW sports a few modern upgrades that only elevate the watch’s historical roots. At just over $1,000, it’s not cheap. But you get a lot of pedigree in a Swiss-made watch.

For more info about the field watch market, check out GearJunkie’s guide to the best field watches.

Timor Heritage Field WWW Review

I love a good backstory. And Timor is linked to one of the best.

Timor’s Heritage Field WWW was one of the original Dirty Dozen — 12 watch companies awarded contracts by the British Military of Defense (MoD) to supply timepieces to British soldiers during World War II. Only brands commissioned by the MoD brandish the Broad Arrow. The watches were built for hard use and launched the modern field watch we know today.

Founded in 1923, Timor took a hit from the introduction of quartz, where it remained largely obscure until British Army veteran Benjamin Briggs recently acquired the U.K. rights from the Swiss parent corporation, Aerowatch, to resurrect Timor. Briggs leaned on his own military roots and focused on the historical field watch that put Timor on the proverbial map.

In 2020-2021, Briggs reissued two classic field watches from the Timor archives. The Heritage Field WWW in 2020, and a year later, the Heritage Field ATP (Army Trade Pattern). Of the two, the WWW is the true revival of the Dirty Dozen and the watch Timor lent me for a month this past spring.

The Heritage Field WWW is available as a manual hand-wound watch ($1,041) or automatic ($1,021). Purists will probably open the wallet and pay an extra $20 for the manual-wound version. For the rest of us, you wouldn’t know the difference between the two.

What’s Old, What’s New

Those who pout about how things aren’t like they used to be will take comfort in knowing that the Heritage Field WWW is a faithful recast of the original reference.

The simple arrangement of elements hasn’t been scaled to match contemporary design principles. The case size remains the traditional 36.5mm. Time tracks along a railroad track minute ring. A small seconds sub-dial sits in the lower dial, with a subtle “Swiss Made” printed at the six. Down to the funky curve in the numeral 4, which vaguely resembles a Cyrillic script д, the WWW looks nearly identical to the original watch.

But it sports a few welcome upgrades. Instead of an acrylic crystal, scratch-resistant sapphire protects the dial. Timor cases the watch in bead-blasted steel over a smooth polished bezel, giving it a warm titanium hue.

Under the hood, the watch is powered by a modern Sellita, in either a hand-wound SW216 caliber or the automatic SW260, which smoothly sweeps the small seconds timer.

And, of course, the lume is charged with a modern Super-LumiNova instead of radium. Take that, cancer.

In the Field

Over the month of ownership, I took the demo model out on the road and onto the trails, running and riding. I brought it down to Mexico, where I (lightly) bashed through the tropical jungle. It’s a demo, after all. Small but charming, it didn’t skip a beat. That is until I took it off for the weekend.

With 38 hours of power reserve, it has a relatively short shelf life. If you take it off Friday, come Monday morning, you will have to reset the clock and wind it up to kickstart the automatic motor.

Fortunately, the crown is large, toothy, and easily pulls out to adjust the time. Switching timezones? The watch is hackable, pausing the seconds as you rotate the hour to match the new time. Pop the crown back, and you will be up and running.

Having owned a heap of digital watches over the past 10 years — from Garmin to Suunto to Apple — it’s refreshing to quickly set the time and go.

And that’s part of what makes a good field watch. It should be easy to use, unfussy, and legibly clear. Much of the usability is through the clean interface. Yes, the watch is 36.5mm wide, a size that, while trending, is still pretty dainty in a sea of smartwatches.

My Garmin Fenix 7, for example, measures its interface in inches (not mm) and dwarfs most modern automatic timepieces that punch in around 39mm. The Timor is a good 4-6 mm smaller than the norm.

Timor Heritage Field WWW Watch Review: Small but Legible

My eye adapted to the behemoth size of the Garmin, and by God, this is also true with the Timor. After a week of wear, the diminutive scale seemed natural on my 6.5-inch wrist.

No doubt it pulls this off with the clean face. The white hour markers contrast well against the matte black dial. Simple tropical beige Super-LumiNova indices are painted along the railroad track minute markers. To original spec, the sub-dial tracks the seconds in the bottom half of the dial.

It’s easy to read at a glance, though following the seconds is less so. While I like the idea of the seconds sub-dial, the vintage beige color doesn’t contrast as well as white. And the sub-dial is obscured when the minute and hour hands sweep between the 5 and 7. But if you want a true Dirty Dozen watch, the sub-dial is something you have to accept. It’s in the DNA.

Band and Fit

The watch wraps around the wrist with a hearty seatbelt nylon that ducks over-under the spring bars, locking the watch to the band. I do like NATO-style straps, and I appreciate the overlocking style.

While thick, the seatbelt nylon feels good against the skin and is easy to clean. The double-back system prevents the watch from accidentally sliding off the strap while putting it on. But this is also where I have a niggle with the watch.

The strap comfortably fits my 6.5-inch wrist but leaves about an inch of extra band. This is just enough to snug the watch against my wrist … but shy of enough to fold back and tuck the extra strap into the bead-blasted hardware. I occasionally feel the extra band catch on my computer. To me, it just looks unsightly.

If I were to buy this watch, I would either get an aftermarket NATO or fall back on my art degree and carefully trim the extra nylon.

Value Proposition

At a couple of Jacksons over $1,000, the Heritage Field WWW is inching into real money territory. This positions the WWW hundreds of dollars north of Seiko’s Alpinist (and several other watches listed on our best field watch buyer guide).

But if you were looking for an original-issue Dirty Dozen, you would likely be looking at a watch that either doesn’t work, or spending similar money to thousands more on a functional period-correct real deal. There just weren’t that many made.

Of the original 12 brands commissioned for the MoD, only Vertex and Timor have reissued field watches on the market today. And while the Vertex is powered by the same Sellita SW260 motor, it costs $2,000 more, and it sits at a modern 40mm size (compared to the original 35mm).

Timor’s Heritage Field WWW is a compelling choice for heritage enthusiasts considering investing in the pedigree without breaking the bank. There are legitimate historical chops infused with heavy user testing that backs the watch. And for many, that’s plenty worth the price.

But does it work well in the field? Definitively yes. Sure, the lume begins to wane a little early, and the band is a little in-between (for me). While the dial is small, it’s unobtrusive and easy to read. The timeless design functions as effortlessly tracking time in the hills as it does logging hours at the office. And not a lot of watches can pull both off with sincerity.