The Anonimo Militare Chronograph Vintage Green

I don't really think that it would be fair to call what you are about to read a review. A review involves impartial assessment, and an unswayable adherence to sticking strictly to the facts at hand. But my relationship with Anonimo goes back to 2003 when I was a "young-ish" sales person at Tourneau San Francisco 1.0.

Back in those days, Anonimo (at least in as much as we at the store understood it) was comprised of a handful of models, some more desirable than others. These bore the legend "Opera Meccana". The most popular (at least in my experience) was the Millemetri -

Courtesy of Dino Zei - From Anonimo to Firenze Orologi

It was available in orange, black, beige, silver, and I believe one limited edition in blue. It was a fairly straightforward watch.

Courtesy of Dino Zei - From Anonimo to Firenze Orologi

Another model based on the Millemetri was the Wayfarer, which never met the popularity that I thought certain it would. It featured a second time zone and power reserve indicator. There was also the D-Date which was the same case, and crown configuration, but with the day of the week indicated just under the 6 o'clock marker, and the date just under the 12 o'clock marker. To the best of my knowledge we only sold a Millemetri (black dial) during my tenure. And the less said about the ill-fated Match Racing the better -

Courtesy of Dino Zei - From Anonimo to Firenze Orologi

The other hot topic was, of course, the Militare. But curious to relate (and again, my memory might be failing me here), I do not recall that we ever had one in stock. This (to me) was baffling as the US distributor lived just across the Bay Bridge. So ironically, although (to my knowledge) we were the sole sales point for Anonimo in the the San Francisco Bay area, we had a very, very small selection, most of it in less than great condition. The other problem we had in marketing and selling the Anonimo watches that we did actually have in stock was the truly less-than stellar after sales service being provided at Anonimo HQ in Florence. Watches would sit, and sit, and sit for months on end. When they finally arrived back? Human hairs on the dials, straps not fully attached, one instance where the case back had not been fully screwed down and in. It was frustrating. Because the watches themselves were really good looking! The Millemetri, the Militare, and for my money the most under-appreciated model Anonimo came out with at that time, the Centometri -

Courtesy of Dino Zei - From Anonimo to Firenze Orologi

But not unlike that beguiling guy or gal that you dated in university. You remember, they borrowed your car while you were out of town, racked up dozens of parking tickets, and managed to total it when they forgot to put the parking brake on and it rolled down the hill into a ravine. Every once of common sense told you to walk away, but there was just something about him or her that made it impossible for you to imagine even short-term life without them...but I digress. Unfortunately, the blasé approach to after sales service and some truly dubious design choices put paid to Anonimo 1.0. 

Fast forward about 9 years, and Anonimo had changed hands once or twice, and was being led by a Belgium based manager, who if memory serves was something of a big wheel in the diamond trade in Antwerp. Without going into too much detail about the heroes and zeros, the long and the short of it is that the company went into the Italian equivalent of receivership. And Anonimo continued to struggle to establish and maintain any sort of consistent brand identity and product line. The Belgians returned north, and Anonimo stumbled along for another year or so. 

Finally, a new owner came in, and the entire enterprise was moved lock, stock, and mainspring barrel to... Switzerland! And slowly, but surely some order emerged from the chaos. Under the present ownership, a very talented manager/ CEO has emerged, and her name is Carla Duarte. In the past year or two she and her team have steadily revised and improved the collection, synthesizing it down to 3 product families:

Epurato, Nautilo, and the main protagonist in today's post - the Militare. It bears mentioning that the Militare is the only surviving remnant from the earlier iterations of Anonimo.

While it has a long name that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, the MILITARE Chrono Vintage Green is a fairly easy to understand time machine. A bicompax, automatic chronograph (SW 300), the crown is at 12 o'clock with the two pushers right where you would normally expect to find them at 2 and 4. The case itself is reminiscent of its forbears. Cushion shaped, it measures 43.50 mm in diameter, with a height of 14.50 mm. It is crafted of 316L stainless steel with a display back. And this is the one thing that I would change. The Militare is not a "show-pony", and in truth? Neither is the movement and its finishing -

I mean, it's perfectly okay, but not in keeping with the tool watch ethos that the Militare otherwise exudes in excess (in a cool, but not overly cloying way).

The watch itself is very comfortable to wear, easy to read, and the chronograph works exactly as advertised. I am a particular fan of the chronograph push pieces (buttons).

Red to start and stop, black to return to the starting position.

And my review model came with an extra twist - a suede finish strap in addition to the nylon/leather that comes standard.

For me, this is the perfect counter-point to the watch. And it also harkens back to the early days of Anonimo when each watch (for the most part) came with a Kodiak strap. For those of you unfamiliar, allow me to inform you that for one brief moment in time, Anonimo offered the ULTIMATE water-resistant (I say water proof) leather strap ANYWHERE! This was absolutely an artisan type of product and unfortunately one that has been left behind. But to the owner / shot callers of Anonimo - if you are reading this? BRING BACK THE KODIAK STRAPS!

Okay, so again, you can't really call this a review. But what you can call this is an enthusiastic endorsement. If you are into the Italian military style of Panerai, Anonimo (1.0), and others that have come and gone in the past 20 years, this is a wonderful choice. Moreover, I would personally pass on the other 2 options in the Militare Chronograph (black with white sub dials and white with black sub dials). Everyone offers a color way like these - or at least they seem to. My other peeve is that these two models have the words "Militare Vintage" on the dial. It's sooooo vintage, we had to tell you so ; )

At CHF 3,890 this is a bargain. And on the Henki Time "Visceral" scale, it scores a 10+

As a longtime follower of Anonimo, I have been often more disappointed than pleased. But in recent years with the current management team that feeling of disappointment has turned to enthusiastic support! And I look forward to the next offerings coming from Anonimo!

Here are the pertinents:

Case

• Diameter 43.50 mm, height 14.50 mm, 316L steel, cushion shape
• Green khaki matte dial
• Water-resistant to 120 meters, 12 ATM
• Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
• Hands with Super-LumiNova®
• Crown with patented protection system at 12 o'clock
• Open case back

Movement

• Swiss Made SW 300, 13 ¼'''' self-winding, personalized Anonimo oscillating weight with a bi-compax DD2035M chronograph module developed exclusively for Anonimo
• Power reserve 42 hours minimum
• 49 jewels
• Frequency 28'800 A/h (4Hz)
• 30-minute counter at 9 o'clock and central second, small second counter at 3 o'clock

Strap

• Aged black Mohawk calf leather strap, or Aged maraca Mohawk calf leather strap, or Green khaki fabric strap