It has been months since I’ve been anxiously waiting to type this review. Various delays and set-backs whose origin most of us will never have to deal with—war—prevented Zavod from putting the final touches to the collection and the launch campaign. But today then is the day we finally get to talk about The General, the brand Zavod, and the sources of inspiration for this de facto incredible field watch. There are many lenses through which to analyze this model—design, specifications, cultural and geopolitcal—however this article won’t be an essay on the war in Ukraine, or as many keen observers put it, Russia’s invasion of it. It is generally easy to keep politics out of horology because the two are almost always automatically seperated—at least looking at the brands I write about—but pretending that The General is not related to the conflict would be akin to dipping my head in quicksand. Instead, we’re going to briefly talk about the origin of The General and then focus on what it is for us watch nerds. 

Zavod is a Ukrainian multi-brand online retailer of watches, fashion accessories, and books, and carries its own horological brands, Real Time and Rider1991, on its website, both of which demonstrate a high interest for avant-garde designs. At the onset of the conflict, Zavod’s co-founders Andriy Kravchuk and Olga Kuchmeeva, as well as designer Dmytro Klishchyk and communications specialist Valeria Nazvanova, enlisted the help of industrial designer Fred Bekher (who co-founded Horizon) to create a field watch to honor and be worn by Ukrainian soldiers living at the heart of the conflict, by any brave soul willing to step in to stop what many do see as being a profound injustice, and alternatively, watch nerds. The name of this collection pays homage to Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny profiled by Time Magazine in 2022 who was key in modernizing Ukraine’s armed forces after the collapse of the Soviet Union and whose military tactics and dogged preparation helped the country make a stand against Russia. 

For a more generic note, The General is launching today on Kickstarter with an Early Bird price of $415 USD. 

Specifications 

At its technical core, Zavod’s The General is a tough son-of-a-bitch of a field watch that was spec’ed out to operate without skipping a beat on real battlefields, not only proverbial ones, as well to become anybody’s perfect tool watch whatever occasion may arise. As we will see, its design was inspired by multiple instruments of warfare since World War II, including the old school and iconic Willys MB SUV as well as the modern Ukrainian MRAP Inguar-3 (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle), and in the same vein, was technically conceived from an horological perspective to be robust and reliable. Not only is this a requirement many of us watch nerds have for a good field watch regardless of our real-world needs, and what serving members of the military do need, but a key defining element for a capable, professional, and apocalypse-ready utilitarian watch. In other words, The General is one of the most technically comprehensive field watch I’ve come across since I started typing many good words* about timekeeping devices. 

*You will know the reference if you pay attention to American news.

To keep things straightforward, let us dissect The General’s spec sheet to better understand how it is indeed adapted to do so many actual things with. As tradition would have it, we’re going to first discuss the case and how it wears on an average male European wrist of 6.50”/16.5cm such as mine: excellent. Review’s done. But practically, the body of this watch is made of sand-blasted 316L stainless steel whose scratch resistance was raised to 1,200Hv on Vicker’s Hardening Scale by way of a hardening coating, which is a big plus to have for someone who operates weaponry on the battlefield. To look natural on a soldier’s wrist, or that of an urban financial hedge fund manager, the case was sized to 40mm in diameter, 47mm lug-to-lug, 11.2mm thick, and comes with a standard 20mm lug width. These dimensions live within the Goldie Locks parameters for such a type of modern military watch which makes it suitable for many, hence my above reference to a finance mogul, showing it is for everyone regardless of someone’s political creed. 

Whenever we speak about tough and reliable field watches in 2026 our mind formulates an ideal spec list which might include one of the following elements: a proven mechanical movement such as the Miyota 9015 (4Hz/48 hours of power reserve) which is the date variant of the popular 9039; superior (to what we actually need) water resistance, for example 200 meters of it made possible by way of a large and deeply knurled 7.8mm screw-down crown and screw-down case-back; clear and long-lasting unobstructed view of the dial by way of a flat piece of sapphire crystal endowed with five layers of clear inner anti-reflective coating; superlative nighttime legibility insured by Lumicast blocks of lume composed of ceramic-base material and BGW9 pigment; and sturdy fastening systems for example a NATO-style nylon strap color-matched to the dial (more on that later.) Evidently, as I know we agree, The General is indeed rather incredibly sturdy and mechanically comprehensive to withstand the challenging environments of the battlefield—or else.

Design 

The team behind this horological project didn’t skimp on the technical aspects of the watch which shows it is indeed meant to be used by soldiers fighting an on-going conflict which is a bit strange to think about. However, when we look at, and analyze the design of The General we are met with something rather special: on the one hand, a traditional field watch in the legible, fully numericalized, and monochromatic dial; on the other hand, a bespoke ensemble of shapes and forms which come together naturally and create a compelling visual spectacle. As mentioned earlier, the team found inspiration in multiple machines of war from the 1940s through today, not only the Willys MB and Inguar-3, but also the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle and the German Leopard 2A5 tank both in the way they look and what they represent—specialized warfare equipment—which transpires, I believe, in the watch’s generous technical specifications and its deep military soul. In its moodboard, Zavod also incorporated different military colors and the Prevail Onward Field. 

If you’ve read my review of it, you’ll know of another exceptional modern military field watch.

One of the key visual characteristics of The General is the angular and muscular case whose profile was inspired by First Person View (FPV) combat drones’ frames and propellers. In other words, a case dominated by wide chamfers which narrow towards flat case sides, and are integral part of the lugs which themselves showcase vertical and angled bevels. To me the case resembles a fighter jet’s aggressive fuselage augmented by, if you Google it, the Inguar-3’s angular profile which does indeed create something unique and whole. The modern high-tech aspect of The General’s case is further emphasized by the aforementioned flat case sides which also add a dash of symmetry, and the large screw-down crown which is equipped with groups of  tight rows of knurling separated by little gaps which make it easier to grab and operate. Above the mid-case, if we can call it that, there is a narrow and short fixed bezel which gives the dial more room to spread, and the ultimate utilitarian nature of The General can last be seen in the drilled lugs. 

With this model, we are met with one of the rare examples of perfect visual harmony between dial and case as each looks good on its own and matches the other. Well, the dial comes with a few commonplace design elements found on many military watches which are however neatly organized through the project team’s unique horological sensibilities. For example, a blasted handset composed of a large hour and a long minute hand filled with BGW9, paired with perfectly sized applied Lumicast Arabic numerals shaped in a military typeface, all organized around a stone-textured matte black dial for superior contrast. The seconds hand for its part is composed of a trapezoidal lumed element and orange painted tip representing the color of rescue services. And to complete The General’s time-telling functionality, we find a clean minute track printed on an elevated rehaut, where the five-minute increments are highlighted with numerals. Moreover, a neatly tucked beveled date aperture at the six made of white numerals printed on a black date disc. 

Zavod didn’t leave any detail to chance and it shows. 

The Heart of the Matter

There is a lot to unpack with this model and special horological project. Zavod’s The General was evidently born from the violence and horror which stems from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and both the rage and pride felt by its citizens to stand out for their country. Its name was not only inspired by a key figure of the Ukrainian military who is a national hero, but its design is also sparkled with many references of military equipment and technology used in 20th and 21st centuries armed conflicts, including the Ukrainian Inguar-3 MRAP. After all, the entire team behind the field watch, with the exception of Fred Bekher, is Ukrainian and thus this collection is powered by a particular need to represent a country’s strength and resolve. As indicated in the introduction, it would have been impossible—if not a travesty—to speak about The General without mentioning the war (or “excursion” as one American President recently said about another on-going war in the middle-east.) As many field watches had in the past, The General was born from conflict.

Beyond that, we can see this new model from the perspective of pure watch nerds who have a thing for robust and legible field watches, like I do. The asking price of $415 USD on the lower end of the spectrum is a reasonable sum of money to ask for such a technically accomplished tool watch and one whose design instantly makes it stand out amongst a sea of other field watches. For it is one thing to design a military timekeeping device to represent an on-going horrifying event, and it is another to do it well. Zavod and the project team could have easily leaned into the far-fetched design language of military theme-based watches but instead it came up with a sensical field watch anyone can wear with pride—either because it is designed and engineered in Ukraine or as a de facto professional utilitarian watch. 

Conclusion 

In this review we focused on one version of The General, the Nightfall with its deep black dial and perfect monochromatic color scheme. But Zavod made several versions of The General grouped into two categories: the “Basic” models which include the Nightfall but also the Sylvan (forest green dial,) the Dune Fox (self-explanatory,) and the Tempest (dark blue,) and two “Limited Edition” models, the Lumen Sight (full-lume dial) and Carbon Spiderweb (made, guess what, of a carbon fiber dial.) Zavod will make 100 units of each LE and all are scheduled to ship in December of 2026. In terms of pricing, the basic models will start at $415 USD for the first 50 units on Kickstarter then will go up to $470 USD; the limited editions will start at $475 USD for the first 50 then go up to $520 USD which remains rather affordable. The campaign started today and will run through July 10, 2026. 

Thanks for reading.