What's the best watch for walking away from explosions and not looking back? Action stars have been known to rock everything from luxury watches like Rolex, Omega and Panerai to true tough-guy beater watches. We don't chronicle every such example, but what John Krasinski is wearing as the titular character in season 4 of the Prime Video's political thriller Jack Ryan is truly notable.
Made by the independent American brand Vortic, Jack Ryan's watch in season 4 is called the Military Edition, and here's why it's so interesting.
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Vortic Military Edition Read More
The Character Previously Wore a Hamilton
For the first three seasons, the intrepid CIA analyst wore a Hamilton Khaki Field Auto Chrono while foiling bad-guy plots. With the collection's military roots, it made some sense for the character (though we take issue with the legibility of a completely blacked-out version as chosen for the show) and it was of little surprise to see a Hamilton watch in one more franchise after the brand has claimed hundreds of Hollywood film appearances.
Fans noticed, however, that Ryan had changed up his wristwear for season 4, and the Vortic watch was identified in short order. It's a particularly cool choice because of the brand's relatively niche and under-the-radar appeal, its military/American connection befitting the CIA agent character — and simply because the watch and brand themselves are highly unique and compelling.
Why the Vortic Military Is Special and an Interesting Choice
Beginning with a Kickstarter campaign in 2014, Vortic's business is to restore antique (read: beyond merely "vintage") pocket watch movements and dials and fit them into wristwatch cases they produce themselves in Colorado. They make it a point to specifically use American pocket watches, which a lot of people might not know were among the best in the world back around the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. They're truly beautiful creations, and with in-house cases and other components Vortic can therefore claim genuinely American made watches.
The brand's Military Edition, however, is even more special. American companies Waltham, Elgin and, yes, Hamilton produced the AN5740-1, also known as the Master Navigators Watch, under government contract for the Army Air Corps at the beginning of WWII. The brands retrofitted high-quality and beautifully decorated Railroad Grade movements to meet government specs. It's these movements and the pocket watches' black dials with 24-hour markings that form the basis of the Vortic Military Edition watches.
As pocket watches are generally larger than most wristwatches, Vortic fit them into 49mm cases made from lightweight titanium to reduce heft. Vortic doesn't place its name on the dial and instead maintains the original GCT for "Greenwich Civil Time," meaning GMT or UTC (though this is not a GMT watch). It might be large for some, but it's also not out of character for the watch's military vibe — or that of a fictional CIA badass.
Vortic's co-founder R.T. Custer explains how the watch ended up on the show. "We got a watch on Michael Kelly [playing CIA field officer Mike November on the show] in season three of Jack Ryan and that was the first edition ... And John Krasinski saw it on Mike Kelly's wrist and was just like, 'why don't I get one?' So they emailed us and they were like, 'can we get a watch for John Krasinski?'"
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