Elliot Brown Beachmaster Ghost Quartz

The Beachmaster Ghost Quartz is Elliot Brown's apex mission timing watch. 4 years in the making and so original its design and functionality was granted a patent.

Initially imagined in response to a request at a Royal Marines event then refined into the most capable watch they have ever put their name to. As a nod to its inception via the Royal Marines, it was christened Beachmaster: the Beachmaster is the military officer in charge of the disembarkation phase during an amphibious assault.

Imagine you’re ten hours out from mission start ('H Hour'). Simply rotate the click-lock split scale internal bezel using the upper crown so that the tip is pointing at 10 and H is ten hours in advance of the GMT hand. The GMT hand will travel around the internal bezel scale to H hour, mission start, then automatically begin its journey around the second half of the split inner bezel, counting up to a rendezvous up to 12hrs in the future after mission start.

The external ceramic 60 minute uni-directional bezel counts down rather than up and can be read in conjunction with the minutes hand: if mission start (or your pizza) is 20 minutes in the future, turn the external bezel anticlockwise until the tip of the minutes hand is pointing at 20. When the minutes hand is pointing at the luminous triangle marker on the bezel, 20 minutes have elapsed.

Every detail of this watch is discreetly ruggedised to shrug off all typical areas of weakness. Every component over engineered to out-perform any demands, including 100% testing in water at 300m.

This high end specification is further enhanced by subtle story telling, a signature ethos applied to every one of the Elliot Brown Special Project watches Elliot Brown has been fortunate enough to create but choose not to talk about due to the discreet nature of the audiences involved.

The dial is deftly split into outer and inner sectors divided by a fine border, framing a textured inner dial with subtle wavy texture, inspired by the NATO symbol for an amphibious assault.

The bespoke double-arrow GMT hand is simultaneously capable of displaying a second time zone via the inner 24h track whilst also referencing the split inner 24h timing bezel for mission timing duties.

The case back is of course perfectly straight and true because it’s precisely bolted down, compressing the oversized seal perfectly whilst tensioning the movement shock protection system. In the centre zone, the Beachmaster wordmark is deeply stamped and polished with the NATO amphibious assault symbol above. An octagonal frame represents the ‘spatial placement symbol’ from the NATO APP-6(C) Joint Military Symbology manual, used to control the proportions of all NATO battle space signage.

The features don’t stop there.

One turn of the high grip upper mission timing crown is all you need to ‘feel’ our obsessive pursuit of detailed perfection. As the inner bezel moves, spring-loaded ceramic ball bearings plunge in and out of precisely machined chambers, securing the bezel at the required mission start time. If you enjoy mechanically satisfying objects, you’ll appreciate the skills required to deliver a detail so functional but delightful to operate. An embossed triangle on the end of the crown separates it visually from the time-setting crown, which has the Elliot Brown shield logo.

Each unique function set of the Beachmaster is separate from every other with locations and line weights chosen to provide clarity and just the right amount of information.