Benrus Ultra-Deep

For a full history of Benrus, click here to see our first journal entry.

Founded in 1921, the trio of Lazrus brothers began the journey of a brand that would go on to be a dominant force in American watchmaking. Benrus aimed to produce affordable tool watches by importing movements and parts. The company’s history is somewhat of a rollercoaster as they made hasty decisions altering production in attempts for military contracts and dealt with major legal issues throughout their history. Ultimately, Benrus fell victim to a combination of the founding members passing and the Quartz Crisis.

Early on, the brand launched one of their most successful marketing campaigns with Charles Lindbergh. Advertisements showed a Benrus Tank watch with the title “Lindbergh Wears A Benrus Wrist Watch,” a major success for Benrus as Lindbergh was arguably the biggest celebrity in the world at the time. Following this major success, Benrus knocked it out of the park just three years later with a successful campaign for their new sportsman’s watch with the help of Babe Ruth. The new advertisements showed illustrations of Babe Ruth hitting with a Benrus on his wrist, a terrifying site as the lume likely was rolling around the case like sand in a shaker!

Benrus continued the success of Babe Ruth’s watch by providing aspirational Americans with affordable luxury designs. These iconic watches varied in design greatly from cushion cases to tank cases as the brand continued its growth throughout the 1930s. The company rose to the patriotic occasion as the second World War approached, as they refocused production to take military contracts for timing systems (fuses, etc.) commonly used in munitions. Despite some claims stating the company stopped manufacturing watches during WWII, Benrus was able to launch one of  today’s most commonly known Benrus’: the Sky Chief. The chronograph was developed alongside the world’s leading aviation companies and the watch quickly became the “Official Watch of Famous Airlines.”

After WWII came to a close, Benrus continued its climb as it fully embraced print advertising in the 1950s. It’s affordable luxury watches were seen by a wider audience than ever before as the company increased distribution and production. Dress and casual watches were produced and were advertised alongside one another as the decade became the company’s most profitable and most controversial ever. The controversy arose as Benrus actively began a hostile takeover of the famed Hamilton Watch Company as they attempted to increase their American production. After a short legal battle, Benrus and Hamilton agreed on a settlement that would impact Benrus for years to come.

The 1960s saw the introduction of its successful Ultra-Deep and standout pieces such as the Sea Lord, the Citation and the avant-garde Dial-O-Rama. Only three years into the decade, Benrus found itself the lucky producer of the Democratic National Convention’s gift to the late President John F. Kennedy. The DNC commissioned a unique Benrus for JFK, a 14k self-winding time and date watch engraved on the back ‘TO OUR PRESIDENT J.F.K.’

Continuing the monstrous decade for Benrus, in 1964 the company was awarded the MIL-W-3818 order for the standard issue Vietnam field watch. The field watch was given to nearly every service member in Vietnam and further cemented Benrus’ position as one of the finest producers of military field watches. Further proof came four years later when actor Steve McQueen wore his own Benrus field watch in the iconic 1968 film ‘Bullit.’ The Benrus 3061 is now commonly known as the ‘BULLIT’ Benrus. With the famous ‘Bullit’ Mustang selling for $3.74M (nearly 30x the market value of a standard 1968 Mustang Fastback), could one assume that the original ‘BULLIT’ Benrus would sell for 30x its own market value? Maybe not. But if someone knows where that watch might be, we’d love to be the ones to find out!

And to finally round out the fantastic rise of Benrus, we come to the 1970 release of two iconic dive watches: the Benrus Type I and Type II. These dive watches became the military standard for the UDT (Underwater Demolitions Team), the predecessors to the Navy Seals, the Army and even the CIA. These watches today wear incredibly well and have a soft spot in the hearts of many collectors.