f e at u r e
Blackhawk’s new tactical watches include (from left) the Race Operator, the Deep Sea Operator, the Field Operator, and the Advanced Field Operator.
The Unforgiving Minute
Blackhawk makes a tactical entry into watchmaking By Robert F. Staeger
I
n tactical situations, sooner or later you should really pay attention to the ticking. Not from an explosive—they rarely tick, despite what we may have learned from Road Runner cartoons—but from the ubiquitous timepieces on our wrists. In a world where wristwatch sales have been declining since 2005, watches are still popular among users of tactical products. On the whole, we aren’t the type of people who fish out our iPhones to check the time.
This didn’t escape the notice of the development team at Blackhawk, which is launching a new line of tactical watches. “Pretty much everybody in the tactical market is a watch person,” says product marketing manager Wade Krinke, though he admits the leap into timepieces took a little time for Blackhawk to make happen. “We just didn’t have the bandwidth—the employees and the staff—to put it together until we became owned by ATK. Now that ATK owns us, we have the bandwidth to do more things and branch out in different categories.” Blackhawk is launching its watch line with four basic models for 2013: the Field Operator, the Advanced Field Operator, the Race Operator, and the Deep Sea Operator watch. Each is designed to resist water and rugged treatment while keeping time, whatever the situation. “It’s basically a small machine that fits on your arm. The challenge is performance: making sure you get all the materials correct, that we’re picking the right materials and the right movements to do the job long-term,” says Krinke. “Basically, what can we do to this timepiece to make it last for as long as possible? The challenge is just getting the tolerances and the precision all lined up so this watch will last. You can hand it down over generations.” Part of the watches’ heirloom aspect is their simplicity. “They’re easy to fix,” says Krinke. “We don’t have anything quirky in them, just a basic timepiece. If, in 20 years, you find one or you hand one down that needs some work, it’s a standard movement. Any watchmaker can just pop a new movement in. At the same time, these watches are really high precision—their accuracy is within plus or minus 20 seconds. We understand there are some more highly accurate movements, of course, but those are specialty movements; you’re talking in the multi-thousand-dollar range.”
But what sets Blackhawk watches apart for active and tactical users is the company’s understanding of the human factor. For one thing, the watches all sport large dials, hands, and numbers, allowing the wearer to tell time in a nanosecond. “If it’s nighttime and the weather is bad, or if you’re in a tough mudder race and you’ve got slime all over your arm, the work we’ve done is to make it very quick to read and very easily understandable. We’re trying to focus on the classic elements and human factors, so when you glance at it, you can see it and be good to go.” Blackhawk’s two basic watches are the Field Operator models, with PVD-finished stainlesssteel cases, a fixed, 24-hour ring, an anti-glare coating, and Miyota movements. They’re waterproof down to 100 meters. The basic Field Operator model (SRP: $159) has a 42mm case and a nylon strap—easily washable, comfortable in warm temperatures, and very adjustable—while the Advanced watchband is molded silicone. “If you’re in deep water, if you’re in mud, it’ll clean up and dry off much faster,” says Krinke. “The Field Operator is good for dry conditions, and the Advanced is a larger watch for all kinds of conditions.” The Advanced (SRP: $199) is also a little bigger, and has a date function. Next up is the Race Operator, which features a 24-hour chronograph. “In today’s market you see 30-minute chronographs, you see one hour, and 12 hours, but we felt we needed a 24-hour movement, so we picked the Miyota OS-20,” says Krinke. Some day-long events last longer than 12 hours, and people who compete in them want to know exactly where they stand. “We wanted to make sure you had enough time, and were able to record all the time in 24 hours.” As a styling flourish on this watch, the numbers on the face are modeled after the numbers on Le Mans race cars from the 1960s. “We’re just trying to have a little
64 ■ Shot Business Daily ■ day 2, January 16, 2013
fun with it,” says Krinke. The final watch, the Deep Sea Operator, is a full-on diving watch—Blackhawk’s biggest—with a 48mm case. “The case is actually quite robust because the wall thicknesses are larger, the tolerances are tighter, and the gaskets on the back are thicker, because it has to withstand a 300-meter pressure test. So everything about the diving watch has been beefed up over the Field Operator watch,” says Krinke. Low visibility underwater prompted large numbers on this watch face, too, as well as a bulky hand design lifted from the gauges in airplane cockpits. “We use orange in the countdown timer because orange is the last color you can see, the farther you go down,” says Krinke. Cases come in plain stainless and black. “Our plain stainless is just raw stainless, so any wear it shows will be graceful. But our black watches are all PVDcoated, a titanium nitrate plating, so it takes a long time to work through the PVD. We’re estimating about five years of everyday use. They’re built for the long term.” Finally, Krinke has some advice for retailers considering branching out into watches. “If you want to get started in this and you don’t have a watch area, next to the handguns or optics is a perfect place for them. Make a little space between your handguns and your scopes in a lockable display case, and then take the top off the box and put it on the bottom, and you can display the watches very easily. Handguns and optics, that’s the precision case—that’s where you want to merchandise them.” In the long run, Blackhawk is planning its own display cases as the company builds up the line. That won’t happen immediately, but time is on their side. Or, at least, on their arm. Booth #14562. (800-694-5263; blackhawk.com)