Following on from the last watch the Vietnam era combat favourite Seiko 6105 “Captain Willard” today we are looking at another watch from the same era that was also a favourite with American Servicemen, the Glycine Combat Sub. This handsome dive watch in the same vein as the Rolex Submariner is anything but a homage. The company has a heritage of making combat-oriented field watches going back to the second world war. Swiss watchmakers supplied both allied and Axis forces with timekeeping devices and instruments during the war and the Glycine supplied watches to the Deutsche Heer (German Army). After the war, these very cleanly designed field watches were developed into the Combat range of watches in the early 60s.
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These watches have clean simple aesthetics and a hallmark of later Combat-Sub models, the 12 and 24-hour markings around the dial. This segues us nicely into this 2020 special edition of the Glycine Combat Sub. A special edition because it has a unique to the range and oh-so-trendy blue and red Pepsi bezel insert and a Rolex Submariner style dial with triangle and circular indices. This change to the dial is somewhat controversial. The Combat range typically has a dual set of Arabic numerals for 12 and 24 hour time, ideal for military timekeeping. This deviation then is not one for the purists. However, for someone looking for a Swiss-made diver with an impressive spec sheet in the Pepsi look, there is very little competition. These watches are produced in collaboration with Drop (drop.com) and are when available very affordably priced. Expect to pay around $300-$400 which is a great price for a unique watch of this quality. I was happy to receive mine earlier this month and it has been getting a lot of wrist time over the last few weeks.
![](https://tfhorology.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/drop-combat-sub-1024x683.jpg)
For some of the highlights, the watch is a sensible 42mm in diameter and has a very impressive case thickness of just 10.6mm. That is very very thin in this class. It is more usual for 200m dive watches to be 12-13mm thick lending the entire genre bit of a bulky wobble on the wrist. Not so this one, I’ll go so far as to say that no other dive watch wears as well as a Glycine Combat Sub. The crystal is sapphire with a very effective cyclops. I have seen some terrible cheaply applied cyclops on Chinese watches. Here the application is perfect. The dial is beautifully legible in all lighting conditions. The lume, however, is not great, sort of middle of the road. It is not terribly bright but lasts a decent amount of time. It is one of my three points of criticism. The other two are the bezel action. It is 60 clicks which these days is not really good enough. I have another Combat Sub, in bronze and it has a 120 click better which feels so much nicer to use. Finally the bracelet. The bracelet is nice and solid but the integration of the oyster style end link with the case is very curious. The case shape makes it difficult to nicely integrate an end link, a simple straight end link probably would look best. Other than the end link the clasp is a simple pressed affair and has no micro-adjust or divers extension. There are very cheap replacement clasps out there that are much better than this.
Specifications
- Movement: Glycine GL224 26-jewel automatic 28800 vph
- 38-hour power reserve
- Case material: Stainless steel
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Caseback: Stainless steel
- Bezel: Aluminum
- Date display
- Unidirectional rotating bezel
- Case diameter: 42 mm
- Case thickness: 10.6 mm
- Lug width: 22 mm
- Lug-to-lug: 50 mm
- Water resistance: 200 m (654 ft)
This is really a wonderful watch and there are a few cheaper ways to get a swiss made diving watch with a Selita200 or ETA2824 on your wrist.
“When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.”