Militado (brother of Baltany?)

Some time back I bought the Baltany (because it was being hyped up on the Reddit Chinese watch sub) and found that everything that was said about how good the front crystal was, was completely correct. However there is more to a watch than the wanking about the AR on the Sapphire crystal and so I ended up selling it.

However AliExpress had already sussed out that I had a taste for Chronographs (having bought the Pagani, the Phylida and then the Baltany) and amid the suggestions I found the Militado.

Which at first glance could be mistaken for the Baltany (see below) and so pretty much anything I've said about the Baltany (see my review here) goes for the Militado. Note the absence of the date complication (which I'm sure still exists below the face...). As you can guess by the position of the subdials it is a Seiko VK67 movement meaning it gives you a Chronograph that will measure up to 12 hours duration.

Note that the pushers are unscrewed in the Baltany shot, but are locked down (gently) on the Militado further up.

Bottom line first:

I like the watch. I like its dial marking and hands creates a better readability and that its an improvement over the Baltany ... except for the AR.

I like simple dials in, less distraction from the task at hand (identifying and reading the time). So I quickly found that the big printed minutes (with a nod to a flight navigators watch) got in the way of me "recognising" the time at a glance as my brain went "ohhh numbers, lets read that" and I was delayed. Further it then lacked the hours which the hour hand should point to that a Flieger has, this Farer is a perfect example of that

So I ditched the Baltany and waited for the AliExpress 11.11 sales and got the Militado for a good price (AU$125, or about half of the Baltany).

I've been wearing the Militado for about 24 hours now and am finding it is indeed a much more visually practical watch than the Baltany, however one thing stood out as soon as I took it out of the box: the AR coating (which was actually claimed in the AliExpress item details) was either absent or just shit.

This can be seen above, but let me show you in a single picture combining them.

The glass (crystal) just isn't there on the Baltany except in the bright points, and even then you can see behind it. The Militado just has nothing. This is clarified in this test with showing the reflections and at the angle you should see only a faint reflection from the front of the crystal (which isn't AR coated) but not the back, which is AR coated.

So if I was the type to make a big deal out of AR (which I'm not) then I'd say "go for the Baltany".

Getting back to what I like its stuff like

• lighter weight
• smaller bulk in the case yet bigger dial to see
• clear legible dial and 
• clear easy to read polished hands that enable precision of reading the values
• functionality (an actual hour accumulator which goes to 12 hours
• the somehow vintage look to the hour numerals

In practice, when just glancing at it, the Chronograph features don't clamour for attention, but when you are looking at them are easy to read. However its easy to see above the reflection of the ceiling and the contrast black where my (black) phone took the picture. Definitely a reminder that AR (if it even exists) isn't present on this watch.

Lastly (as I observed with the Baltany case) the way that the lugs curve around helps make the watch sit nicely on the wrist. Note this isn't the case with a NATO where (like the Baltany) there really isn't much room between the spring bar and the case. So its either a flimsy crappy NATO or two part straps like this one.

Depending on your wrist I find that the extra angle of the lugs and the fact that they go below the bottom of the watch can result in the (slightly sharp) lugs being a bit "sharp" on the skin when the watch is taken off or you're doing work. Again, refer to the above Baltany post for details

The intelligent choice of dome angle means that you can also see the time properly at a slight angle, something that lately people seem to eschew. So many reviews go on about the distortion and "playing with the light". Personally I suspect that some folks may want a carnival of mirrors, but I have my own opinions about that.

Lastly this blog post took this amount of time to photograph and write:

So just under 3 hours.

I posted this picture of the dial of the (stopped) chronograph so you can see clearly how hands are readable and also why the original Omega Speedmaster had narrow hands (and these on teh Militado are narrower than the Baltany) which are better in the context of actually wanting to use it as a tool (a stopwatch).

On the Baltany (with its wider and blunt sub dial hands) its even harder  to see just where the minute pointer is pointing to and that sort of defeats the purpose of a chrono in my view. Still its only around 10:30 to 1:30 where its an issue (unless the minute hand gets in on the act too).

But who buys a chrono to act like a stop watch anyway, its all about a big bulky watch with lots of markings on it that looks complex right? Something for a big handsome man ... not a tool (the watch, not the man).

So on that note, if you're after a low cost but nice tool, the Militado is good, and if you're wanting a big chunky watch to signal; then perhaps go for a Rolex (maybe copy?).

Happy Watching