Worn with Respect: A Sailor’s Farewell to a Legend.
Dear Vertex,
Let me start with a confession:
I purchased this M100AWWC, having previously owned an M100A, which I had traded to a good friend.
And I don’t mean that as a knock. In fact, it’s the highest compliment I can give.
I didn’t buy the M100AWWC just to wear it. I bought it to honor it. To support a mission, a legacy, and a community I deeply respect.
The M100A isn’t just good—it’s damn near perfect. The 40mm case hugs the wrist like it was made for it. The slim profile and 20mm lugs make it effortlessly wearable. You could forget it’s there… until you look down and remember exactly why it’s there. The no-nonsense dial, the solid bead-blasted case, the crown you could operate in gloves—every detail whispers “field-born,” but nothing feels overdone.
It’s everything a capable timepiece should be.
But here’s the twist…
I’m a sailor at heart.
Not the yacht-club kind. The kind who looks at a chart before the sky. The kind who hears the creak of line against cleat and feels right. When your life revolves around the water, you develop a different taste in tools—tools that can take a wave to the face and not even flinch.
Though the M100 descends from the WWW Cal. 59, worn across all theaters of World War II, it's most associated with the field. I’ve always belonged to the sea.
That’s probably why I’m drawn to dive watches with brutalist bezels and purposeful overengineering. Not because I dive—I don’t—but because the ocean doesn’t care if you do. Out there, the gear you wear needs to work every time, no questions asked.
There’s no such thing as a “mariner’s watch,” at least not in the traditional sense. So we sailors borrow from divers, field watches, from anywhere we can find strength, legibility, and soul.
But make no mistake: this M100A has soul in spades. It just wasn’t mine to keep.
So to the whole Vertex team—thank you. For building a watch worthy of its heritage. For making something useful in a world obsessed with flash. For partnering with AWWC, whose work I’ll never stop respecting.
This may not be my forever watch… but I won’t forget what it taught me.
And yes, I’ve got my eye on the Blue Aqualion, aka The Taormina. That one? That might be the piece that speaks sailor fluently.
To everyone involved: thank you, deeply and sincerely.
With respect, salt, and gratitude,
Jason
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