Again and again we say that creating a new version of something that is so common that we know it inside and out isn’t easy. Whether looking at everyday household items such as a potato peeler and a glass or more complex machines such as cars and planes, and of course watches. The longer something has been around, the more ingrained its shape and function are in our mind. And so we take such objects as a general reference point for all similar looking and functioning items. Very much like calling a tissue a Kleenex or a pain killer aspirin. So in our world the commonplace field watch* has twelve Arabic numerals, a black or white dial, and no complication. That’s about it. So brands don’t change the inherent functionality of the field watch, nor its core design principles, but tweak how things are laid out in order to make another one. But let’s not be upset about this, we humans do this all the time with everything. 

*Spoiler alert: the brand doesn’t describe the watch we’re about to dissect as a field watch, I do. And we will get back to this later on. 

So yours truly is a huge fan of field watches. They’re simple, straightforward, and generally reliable. As all items we use everyday should be. No sparkles, no patented lever escapement, no industry-disrupting (why oh why people are proud to stand out from the crowd?) case composite material. And so it is even more challenging for a brand to say Hey look at my new field watch which you should find interesting even though there are hundreds of them without doing something bizarre with it. No painting pizza slices on it, no floating sapphire disc, no hands polished with a rare type of bamboo which is hand-picked, hand-worked, and hand-finished in Nepal. Nope, just a good field watch that tells time without fuss and which is aesthetically versatile so that we can wear it anywhere, anytime, to do about anything. Enter Carlingue and the Military 01 a.k.a. CAR-MIL-01 CT-003-B should you be into long watch references. 

Specifications 

What makes a field watch a capable one in 2025? We spend so much time talking about specifications that I feel we’ve lost track of what we need versus what we want. Watch Wisdom has spread some rumors and horological legends which have us convinced that we need too much of everything in order for our watch to make it. But I look at how I live my life and how most watch enthusiasts I know live their lives—working, playing with the kids, doom-scrolling Instagram and getting lost on Netflix’s home screen—we actually don’t need that much. We want more but we need what is enough. And one could argue that endowing a watch with enough specs gives the designer more time to make something pretty. And I say this because I feel that the Carlingue Military 01 has enough of the good stuff to make it capable of acing 99% of real activities we do on a daily basis. 

So what does it look like? First, a 316L stainless steel case of course, a push/pull crown, snap-on case-back, 50 meters of water resistance. Then a box-shaped sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating, beige-colored SuperLuminova on the hands and hour markers, and a Miyota 9039 caliber (4Hz/ 42 hours of power reserve.) A snap-on case-back you say for a tool watch? Well yes because technology has evolved in the past many decades which makes it ok to not have a screw-down case-back in order to have 50 meters of water resistance. Moreover, the brand wanted to be faithful to WWII fliegers which inspired the design of the Military 01 which had snap-on case-backs. And opting for that type of closing mechanism makes it possible to keep the watch thin and nimble: 36mm in diameter, 45.90mm lug-to-lug, and 10.80mm thick which is great in my personal horological diary. 

The Carlingue can be had on either a black leather or black nylon strap and will set you back $749/$772 USD. I mostly enjoyed it on a Marine National which added a little extra umph to the utilitarian package. 

Design 

So as it was established in the introduction, it is the design of a field/military watch and not its specifications that sets it apart from the crowd. Because you can have the most ultra-spec’ed watch—which could survive a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale—but whose looks will sorely disappoint you. (I know I want to sport a watch I deem attractive when my day will come, not one whose mechanics I could brag about using my last breaths.) I saw the Carlingue Military 01 first online and then at a watch fair and it is how it looks that dragged me to the table to pick it up, not its invisible spec sheet. Immediately there was a little something special about the way the hands and hour markers were designed which I found to be elegant and legible. And talking to the brand owner and learning that he created Carlingue in 2024 only sparked my interest as the Military 01 does not come from a first-rodeo designer. 

But we will come back to him later on. 

The Military 01 is a field watch to me but a multipurpose military watch for Carlingue whose looks were inspired by watches from the 1930s/1960s. We can see a bit of everything in it—indeed fliegers but also marine and field watches—and nothing at all at the same time. Because the mark of a good designer is to be able to find inspiration in the past and reinterpret iconic design codes in order to make something new and potentially iconic. So here it means a full set of Arabic numerals for the hour markers which have a vintage-like aesthetic—with a wide and round profile—which makes them extremely legible. Thin white borders frame the cream-looking SuperLuminova, applied in so many layers that it appears slightly three-dimensional, creating a double contrast with the dial. The latter has a sector construction with a matte inner section and sunburst, radially brushed outer section (difficult for me to capture in photos), separated by a CNC-machined “piqûre”—“point” in English—which is V-shaped, polished, and rhodium-filled. 

The hands are beadblasted, the hour and minute ones in the shape of syringes which are characterized by an elongated profile, semi-rectangular bodies, and needle-shape ends. The seconds hands is also designed in the shape of a needle which therefore creates visual balance and consistency across the dial. Lastly, a white painted minute track completes the time-telling functionality and is equally legible as the hands and hour markers. I like the fact that the minute track is painted in a different color and matches the brand name/logo and model name printed in the center section of the dial, to create a gentle contrast amidst all elements of said dial without leaning too much into one or the other. I feel that making everything white or cream would have drowned the design as there are quite a few things to read and comprehend here, and that a pure monochromatic color scheme could have ended up overwhelming the design. 

Lastly, the case. It isn’t deprived of interesting design traits as it complements and supports what I consider to be a well executed dial. The case also strikes a perfect balance between two things: a very classic top view with long and angled lugs, making the smaller 36mm diameter case command a strong wrist presence; and a modern, curved, and angular profile where the mid-case shoots downward from where the lugs begin and is made visually more striking by rounded and polished chamfers. Moreover, the outer and lower sections of the lugs are flat, to make the case visually shorter and physically rest more comfortably on the wrist. To complete the package, a large but narrow crown of 6.7mm in diameter adds another vintage feel which seamlessly tangoes with the dial lay out. So, as we can see, the Carlingue Military 01 isn’t someone’s first or second or even third try at designing a watch, but a mature creation from an experienced designer. 

The Heart of the Matter

So as promised, let’s talk about the person who created Carlingue Watches. That person is Alexandre Voirin who worked as a designer and almost like a curator for the Swatch Group and more notably Longines. He specialized in the relaunch of the brand’s iconic military watches of the Heritage line including the BigEye chronograph for which he won a GHPG Award. I know, that’s pretty impressive and had to be mentioned in order to weave a context around Carlingue and the Military 01. While someone who doesn’t know about Alexandre Voirin and Carlingue might see a bit of Longines in his horological creations and make of this observation something of a criticism, knowing the who and how and what immediately reframes this model within a logical context. Alexandre has experience and it shows in the ways in which he designed and packaged the Military 01. A field/military watch I would describe as coming with a proper but not classically-so recognizable heritage. 

In other words, the Military 01 is something I’m having a hard time to appropriately describe and lodge into one category. On the one hand, it’s a timeless and elegant looking multipurpose military watch which could have very well been a re-edition from a historical Swiss brand. On the other hand, it's a singular horological creation which also feels familiar and warm and fuzzy, so nothing weird nor outlandish, but everything that indeed feels we’ve known for a long time without really ever meeting it. Again, how I feel and how you might feel about the Military 01 stems from the expertise and experience of its creator, and I would say again that this model is the epitome of what a vintage-inspired military watch can look like. Alexandre Voirin obviously didn’t feel the need to radically change the way such a field (to me) watch looks and functions, but instead delivered what another version of it from a brand that didn’t exist in the 1930s-1960s could have created. 

Conclusion 

After taking a first peak at Carlingue’s website, and perusing through its three collections—Diver, Military, and Aviation—aptly named I would add, it is clear that the brand is about making classic and reliable tool watches which double as versatile timekeeping devices which won’t break the bank or force you to get into international investment banking to bankroll your addiction to watches. Moreover, the Military 01 is a proper strap monster and so it seems to be the case with its siblings: this collection comes in silver and green dials and stainless steel and PVD coated cases—and should you acquire one then I strongly encourage you to find various pairs of shoes for it.  For $749/$772 USD, you get a lot of watch for your money and more importantly, you benefit from the years of experience which have permitted Alexandre Voirin to create his own watch brand which he started working on in 2023 and Kickstarted in 2024. 

You can learn more about him here and this collection here. 

Thanks for reading.