Swiss Army/Wenger Commando Watches Review

Wenger Commando pushes the boundaries of Swiss Army further by offering professional and uniquely modified traveller's and extreme sports watches. Some of the timepieces were designed for various units of Swiss military special forces, others for races and competitions in impossible weather conditions.

The collection contains over thirty models featuring a long list of complications – GMT, calendar, chronograph, and day-date to mention just a few – and visual characteristics. As a result, almost no watch looks like its sibling; this fact might appear unusual to civilians, but to professional military men and women this is a natural outcome of their highly specialized tasks and job requirements.

Variety of materials matches that of movements and dials: pieces come outfitted with steel bracelets, or leather or rubber bands – cases, though all stainless steel, can carry a PVD coating, or display different textures manufactured by polishing or sand blasting techniques.

• Chrono Special: a black chronograph with a tachymeter scale within the dial (rather than on the bezel), which also hosts a trio of cleanly painted yellow subdials. A straightforward, slightly angular case and the uncompromising dark tone disclose this watch's military provenance.

• Open Date Chronograph demonstrates a dramatically different dial, though still no marked bezel. A much busier dials and asymmetrically arranged subdials create a visual grid suitable for pilots. Hours and minutes hands are cut through up to the middle to facilitate time reading.

• Swiss Raid Commando will appeal in particular to special forces that prize camouflage above all else : green lume (or blue in the “Patrouille Des Glaciers” model), and a completely black band and case make it a highly effective night vision timer.

• Commando City incorporates a second time zone complication, located at nine o'clock in the form of an additional large subdial (a smaller one for seconds hand flanks it from the right). This watch can function as a casual timepiece.

• Calendar watches include a calendar turning ring positioned slightly above the dial, a second time indicator and a date aperture. These join the club of Swiss Army timepieces with three or more complications.