The Beachmaster Automatic is Elliot Browns apex mission timing watch, 4 years in the making, limited to 500 per model and so original it possesses a patent. Initially imagined in response to a request at a Royal Marines event then finely honed into the most capable watch that Elliot Brown have ever put their names to. Aptly named Beachmaster due to it’s natural mission timing link with the D-Day landings. Imagine you’re nine hours out from mission start, simply rotate the split scale inner bezel and set it nine hours in advance of the GMT hand. The GMT hand will count around the bezel scale to H hour, mission start, then automatically begin it’s journey around the second half of the split inner bezel, counting up to a rendezvous say 11 hours after H hour, mission start. At the same time it’s a GMT automatic with ceramic 60 minute uni-directional divers bezel. Powered by a high grade Swiss Sellita SW330-2 Automatic with 56h power reserve, a heart encased in body armour within a highly effective movement shock protection system. Every detail of this watch is discreetly ruggedised to shrug off all typical areas of weakness. Every component over engineered to out-perform the demands any human is likely to endure, including 100% testing in water at 300m. This high end specification is further enhanced by subtle story telling, a signature ethos applied to every one of the Elliot Brown special project watches that they have been fortunate enough to create but choose not to talk about due to the discreet nature of the audiences involved. The dial is deftly split into outer and inner dials divided by the finest metallic border, framing a textured inner dial with subtle wavy texture, created from the NATO symbol for amphibious assault. A double arrow GMT hand is simultaneously capable of displaying a second time zone via the inner 24h track whilst also referencing the split inner 24h timing bezel for mission timing duties. View the watch at night or in poor visibility and everything changes. High grade Superluminova glows blue for mission timing and green for normal time checks. Simple, functional, elegant. The case back is of course perfectly straight and true because it’s precisely bolted down, compressing the oversized seal perfectly whilst tensioning the movement shock protection system. If the watch descends into a high pressure environment, the case back seal increases effectiveness like a compressor case back. In the centre zone, the word Beachmaster is deeply stamped and polished above the wave NATO amphibious assault symbol. An octagonal frame represents the ‘spatial placement symbol’ from the NATO APP-6(C) Joint Military Symbology manual, used to control the proportions of all NATO battle space signage. The features don’t stop there. One turn of the high grip upper mission timing crown is all you need to ‘feel’ an obsessive pursuit of detailed perfection. As the inner bezel moves, spring-loaded ceramic ball bearings plunge in and out of precisely machined chambers, securing the bezel at the required mission start time. If you enjoy mechanically satisfying objects, you’ll appreciate the skills required to deliver a detail so functional but delightful to operate. Guiding the eye to each unique function set of the Beachmaster is the work of intense refinement, culminating in carefully curated numeric line weights deployed at ten minute intervals within the matt ceramic bezel without the visual framing often created when adding a minutes track. The bezel design alone imbues Beachmaster with a classy simplicity but as with everything else on this unique time piece, it’s the simplicity that adds to its function.
