Watches and the military have a long, intertwined history dating to at least the 19th century, when deck watches adorned the wrist of naval officers. The associations more commonly drawn today are to watches dating from World War II forward – Dirty Dozens, Willards, and others – that were either issued to service members or worn in movies with a militaristic focus. I am regularly dubious about companies using military roots to market watches, as the connotation is often too strongly tied to violence. With the utmost respect to those who have experienced such situations, the glorification of warfare as a marketing tool is of questionable taste.
That is what makes the ethos of Prevail, the brand behind the subject of this review, so refreshing. They eschew the backward gaze and combat-tested hyperbole common to watches with a military reference and instead market the Prevail Onward Future Field Watch on its singular design and functional capacity. As for the military connection, Prevail is focused on supporting the continued health and well-being of those who have put their lives on the line, a noble commitment. Per their own description, Prevail will “… never trivialize or glorify war to sell a watch. We are sensitive to the needs of our community and serve it through meaningful design choices and truthful representation.” Their commitment is more than rhetorical, as Prevail will donate 10% of all profits from watch sales to the Heart and Armor Foundation.
Fortunately, the Onward’s technical and design merits are strong, particularly the latter. The Onward looks like no watch I’ve seen before, a credit to Matt Smith-Johnson (@teenage.grandpa on IG), who designed the Onward, and is one of the best working industrial and watch designers. The closest comparison I can draw to the face-forward profile is the same angle of a Togruta, from Star Wars. When comparison requires a tenuous tether to a fictional species, it is fair to say the design has a strong case for originality.
Unexpectedly given its flaring sides, the case wears very comfortably. The dial-to-case ratio makes the Onward appear wider than it actually is at 42mm, and the 47.5mm span from lug to lug keeps the case nestled atop the wrist. The visual trickery of the case’s shape combines a select few lines with swooping and sloping curved and flat surfaces. There are two visual axes that run parallel down the left and right upper surface of the case, from lug tip to lug tip. Where they run through the lugs, the lines form a break in the surface, as they do along the top of the case, where they intersect the bezel structure. The four physical breaks that define these parallel lines are sharp enough for clear physical definition but are finished softly enough to match the case’s arcuate flanges. The area of the case between the two visual breaks, above and below the dial, is a flat slope that descends to the opening of the 20mm lugs. The fixed nature of the lugs doesn’t onerously limit strap choices – I was able to fit a variety of pass-through straps with ease, including one made of leather.
Nearly the entire case, including the bezel, bears a purposeful matte finish that will look even cooler as it acquires hard-earned scratches over years of use. The only variation to that matte finish are the deep vertical grooves along the flat portion of the left side of the case. The grooves also create an interesting flow to the underside of the case, which is similarly finished. The contrast of the striated background against the matte-finish caseback visually emphasizes the latter’s debossed central logo and should help the underside of the case avoid surface wear.
Within the case is the trusty workhorse Ronda 513 quartz movement. The 513 is part of Ronda’s Powertech quartz range and is a smart selection for the Onward. First, it is a reliable movement with a 45-month battery life, both qualities that befit the watch’s field-spec design brief. Second, it is an affordable movement, keeping the initial acquisition cost for the watch relatively low at $275, as well as maintenance costs down the line. Lastly, the utilization of a quartz movement helps the Onward keep its layered dial and stay fairly thin at 11.6mm to the peaks of the bezel.
That bezel is another fun piece of design. Unlike more traditional watch case designs in which the bezel – fixed or otherwise – visually rests atop the midcase, the Onward’s bezel is a single piece nested within that structure and calls to mind a warp pipe from Super Mario Bros. In the “Tactical” configuration you see here, the upper portion of the bezel structure has wide crenellations with a sloped inner surface. The alternate “Explorer” configuration – named with some reference to the Rolex Explorer’s signature 3-6-9 dial – trades the castle motif for a flat, smooth top.
Sitting visually within the bezel is a multi-layered dial available in three colors and two formats. The subject of this review is the “Shovelhead” brown colorway with the “Tactical” graphic-only format, but the Prevail Onward is also available with a green or black dial and the aforementioned “Explorer” format with Arabic numerals at the cardinal positions. For each configuration, the dial is comprised of a base plate and a floating perimetric ring with hour markers cantilevered inward to the dial’s center. There isn’t a bad choice of the bunch, but I prefer the Shovelhead-Tactical combination, as it offers an atypical color and a more intriguing design for the cardinal markers.
Text on the dial is blissfully minimal, with only the brand’s logo below the pinion, allowing the floating time scale to be the star of the show. A finely-printed minute and second track follows the circumference of the ring, with Arabic numerals at the 5-minute intervals. The hour markers project inward of that track, rendered in circles and angular parabolas for this configuration. The former are familiar to dive watch fans, except the lume is only a circular outline. The parabolic cardinal markers, though, are unique and ingenious in their execution. On many watches that use pronounced printed or applied cardinal indices, the size of the markers requires the removal of a few minute markings to either side of the cardinal hours. Here, the cardinal markers are only outlines of the parabolic shape, and they terminate in the location of the minute marks to either side of the cardinal positions. With this design, you get the boldness of a large hour marker without having to sacrifice the specificities of timing.
Those specificities are tracked by a handset with familiar shapes but rendered boldly. The hour hand is a syringe style filtered through Minecraft blockiness, with a metallic surround, lume fill, and an applied white linear tip that adds precision to the broad shape. The minute hand is a sword shape but with the proportions of Gameboy-era Zelda, with two-thirds of its perimeter length painted white and bisected by a white line over the same distance. Both are easily visible, which is unfortunately not the case for the second hand. It is tipped in red, which is visible at times, but the hand disappears too easily against the brown dial. Carrying the motif from the other two hands and painting the outer half of the second hand white would help improve its visibility.
When the day gets dark, visibility – legibility, truly – is enabled through a robust application of lume. As you’d expect from their broad reservoirs of luminous paint, the hour and minute hands glow a bit brighter than the hour markers, but not so much so that the result looks imbalanced. The glow of the hour markers actually exceeded my expectations, given that the application there is limited to the outline of the shapes. The red tip of the second hand does glow, but it fades quickly – again, a healthy dose of white luminous paint over the outer half of the second hand would greatly aid its visibility, both day and night.
Even with the functional limitations of the second hand, the Onward is an exemplary package and a heck of a first offering for a new brand. In an industry presently caught in backward gaze, the Onward earns its full moniker as a Future Field Watch. It utilizes a striking design to not only stand out in the market but to increase the functionality of the watch. The deep inset of the dial, relative to the flanges of the case, creates a Doxa Sub-like effect that draws your eye to the center point of the dial. That emphasis is further aided by the inward-pointing shape and orientation of the cardinal hour markers, which create a target-like aesthetic. Aside from the, at times, hide-and-seek seconds hand, the composition of the dial and case make the Prevail Onward a very legible watch, ideal for its intended use as a highly functional tool.
The platform potential of this case is tantalizing. Imagine a version with a rotating bezel that turns the upward crenellations into outward grips – with the available space at the 12 and 6 positions on the case; you could wear medieval gauntlets and still rotate the bezel. For an initial release to be this good and also catalyze thoughts about what’s next is a commendable accomplishment for Prevail and a refreshing deviation from the grip of vintage-inspired design.
Check here for more info about the Prevail and the Onward Future Field Watch.
