The Timex Midget was released as a Japanese market limited edition in 2017 and then sold as the Waterbury Welton in the US in 2018. It is no longer available from Timex, but you can still dig up new ones here and there online. That is how I found the Japanese Timex Midget TW2R45000 I’m reviewing today.
The Midget/Welton is Timex’s homage to the Ingersoll Radiolite Midget, one of the first widely marketed World War One trench watches. They took a small pocket watch from their women’s collection, welded on wire lugs, slipped on a one-piece canvas or leather strap, and sold it to doughboys as they shipped out for the battlefields of Europe. Today, the trench watch is its own design category. I’ve owned a few myself of varying styles and sizes and have found I prefer those that stick to the original formula of smaller size and fixed lugs.
The Timex certainly fits the bill. Its stainless steel case is 38mm wide and just 43.5mm long. Like the converted pocket watches of old, it has softly rounded sides and a prodigious crown. Of course, the lugs are solid, necessitating a pass-through or tabbed strap. It is 12.5mm thick from the case back to the domed mineral crystal.
I’d say the watch wears true to size on my 6.75″ wrist. Wire lugs always make a watch seem smaller but the leather pad tends to beef it up a tad. I know some may balk at watch that is under 40mm and some sellers list it as a women’s watch but for me, it’s just right. I wouldn’t want the Midget/Welton to be much larger than this.
Water resistance is a scant 30m. That’s nothing to crow about today but far better than what was available during the Great War. If those watches survived the battle of Verdun, this Timex should handle most of your daily trials.
Timex is not known for its elaborate case backs, so it comes as no shock that this one is rather simple, but it is neatly engraved. Among the details is the fact the watch was limited to 2500 pieces. Not exactly rare, but probably low volume by Timex’s standards. Behind it, is a Timex quartz. Which one? I’ve got no idea. I’ll venture that it doesn’t really matter.
I’ve seen three different variants on this model. This JDM Midget is satin-brushed with a cream dial and orange numbers. The Weltons were either antique bronze PVD with a cream and gold dial or tumbled steel with a charcoal and orange dial. All share the same dial layout featuring large Arabic numbers outlined in black, a black index highlighted with diamonds at the cardinal points, and a small seconds indicator at 6 o’clock. The handset is flat, brushed, and painted. A pear on the hour hand harkens back to its turn-of-the-century roots. (No, not the 20th to the 21st century, I mean the 19th to the 20th you smartass Millennials and Gen Z’s.)
It’s a handsome face no matter which you choose, but I must give the nod to my JDM model as it is the only one with the old-timey arched logo. US Weltons had the standard Timex logo. There isn’t a speck of lume on any of them, but Indiglo makes up for it – assuming you have a free hand to press the crown, of course.
My Midget wears an orange-brown leather bund by S.B. Foot Tanning, the home of Red Wing Boots, as well as many of Timex’s other better quality straps. I like its looks, but I don’t actually love wearing it. You see, the loops on the pad are a good 10mm from the lugs, so it tends to travel. As a result, the watch is never centered. Folks with big wrists can simply eliminate the pad, but I must note that the strap is on the long side (240mm) to account for the pad so those of us with sub-7″ wrists will have a lot of extra tail.
Now is when you might raid the old strap collection. We do have two complicating factors to consider: fixed lugs and a 19mm gap. Oh Timex, you couldn’t find it in your heart to go 18mm? You just had to have that extra millimeter, didn’t you? Well, no need to panic. Because there are true wire lugs and not faux wires hiding spring bars, an 18mm fits just fine. In fact, this old Crown & Buckle Saddle Brown NATO was a great color match too.
If you find one, the Timex Midget/Welton trench watch is a tremendous bargain. Really, the only thing that compares is the 37mm Vario 1918, which is over three times more expensive (but also surpasses the Timex in every way – buy one of them too). That said, this is an utterly charming piece and for as little as $91 from Watches.com, it should not be hard to squeeze it into your collection.
