Australian Military Watches — Made With the People Who Serve
Australian military watches — made with the people who serve
I'm Christophe Hoppé. I founded Bausele in Sydney in 2011, after a decade in Swiss watchmaking. Over the years since, something I didn't plan for became one of the truest parts of what we do: Bausele has become the watch the Australian Defence Force commissions for itself.
If you've landed here looking for a military watch with real meaning — a watch that carries something of the place and the people behind it, not just a logo on the caseback — this page is for you.
A piece of Australia, sealed in the crown
Every Bausele watch carries a physical fragment of Australia, sealed permanently inside a transparent chamber in the crown. Sand. Soil. Earth from a place that matters. It's the founding idea of the brand — that a watch can carry a piece of ground you can hold onto for the rest of your life.
For most people, that's romantic. For someone who serves, it's something else. The land you trained on. The base you deployed from. The country you came home to. A Bausele doesn't commemorate that with a picture of it — it carries the actual material, on your wrist, for good.
Watches made with the Australian Defence Force
This isn't a marketing angle bolted onto a civilian product. We build watches directly with Defence.
- The Australian Defence Force Academy graduation watch — a numbered, personally engraved edition made for graduating officers across Army, Navy and Air Force. Each one carries the wearer's name, service number and a personal inscription on the caseback.
- Regimental and unit commissions — regiments, squadrons and corps come to us to design numbered anniversary and commemorative pieces: their crest and motto on the caseback, their colours on the dial, and a sealed Australian element chosen for what it means to them.
These aren't museum reproductions of someone else's war. They're watches designed with serving Australians and made for serving Australians — now, not seventy years ago.
Australian units and commemoratives we've built for
Units, corps and commemorative programs across the Australian Defence Force and the wider service community have come to Bausele to create watches that mean something to their people. A selection of who we've worked with:
Units and corps
- Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)
- The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR)
- Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
- Royal Australian Army Educational Corps (RAAEC)
- Australian Intelligence Corps
- Special Operations Headquarters (SOHQ)
- Special Operations Engineer Regiment (SOER)
- Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)
- No. 6 Squadron
- 3CRU
Commemorative editions and programs
- 80th Anniversary of D-Day
- Sands of Gallipoli
- Invictus Games
If your unit or corps isn't on this list yet, that's exactly why this page exists — we'd be proud to build yours.
How Bausele compares to the American commemorative brands
If you've searched for a watch with material sealed inside it, you've probably found the American houses — Praesidus, with sand from Utah Beach, or Col&MacArthur, with water and metal from the Pacific. They do beautiful work, and they own that space for US history.
Bausele is the Australian counterpart — with one difference. We're not reproducing a battle from the history books. We're making watches with the units who serve today, sealing an element of this country in the crown, powered by a Swiss movement and designed in Sydney. Australian soul, Swiss precision, and a real piece of the ground in every one.
What about CWC, Bremont, Omega and the other military watchmakers?
There's a real category of brands tied to the military, and they're not all doing the same thing. It's worth being clear about who does what.
- CWC (Cabot Watch Company) — the genuine issued service watch of the British forces for decades. If you want a standard-issue military tool watch with that pedigree, CWC is the real thing.
- Marathon — mil-spec tool watches issued to US, Canadian and allied forces. Built to defence standards, tritium-lit, purpose-made for the field.
- Bremont — a British house with a military and special-projects division that makes commissioned watches for squadrons and units. The closest model to what we do — from the other side of the world, and at a higher price.
- Omega and Hamilton — deep military heritage (Omega issued in the Second World War, Hamilton's field watches for US forces). Today that legacy mostly lives on in civilian reissues.
Here's where Bausele sits. CWC and Marathon issue standardised tool watches. Bremont, Omega and Hamilton are British and Swiss houses. None of them is Australian, and none seals a piece of the country in the crown. If your service is tied to this country and you want a watch that carries a piece of it — commissioned with your own unit — that's the gap Bausele was built to fill. Australian soul, Swiss movement, and a fragment of home in the crown.
Swiss movement, Australian soul
Our watches run Swiss movements — Sellita and the like — designed and brought together in Australia. We don't say "Swiss Made," because Bausele isn't Swiss Made certified and I won't pretend otherwise. We say "Swiss movement," because that's exactly what it is: Swiss mechanical precision, Australian design, a piece of the country in the crown.
Commission a watch for your unit
If you're looking after a regiment, a squadron, a course or a unit anniversary, we can build a numbered commemorative piece around it — caseback engraving (crest, motto, individual number, personal text), a dial in your colours, and a sealed Australian element that means something to the people who'll wear it. We've done it for Defence before, and we handle the whole thing directly.
You can start a commission on our bespoke page, or read the story behind the crown on our Our Story page.
Frequently asked questions
Which Australian Defence Force units has Bausele made watches for?
Bausele has created commemorative and commissioned watches for units, corps and programs across the ADF, including the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), the Royal Australian Regiment, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Australian Army Educational Corps, the Australian Intelligence Corps, Special Operations Headquarters, the Special Operations Engineer Regiment, the Australian Signals Directorate, No. 6 Squadron and 3CRU — as well as commemoratives including the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, Sands of Gallipoli and the Invictus Games.
Is there a watch with Australian soil or sand sealed inside it?
Yes — every Bausele watch seals a physical piece of Australia (sand, soil or earth from a meaningful place) inside a transparent chamber in the crown. It's the founding idea of the brand. For bespoke military commissions, the sealed element can be chosen for what it means to a specific unit or person.
Does Bausele make watches for the military or the ADF?
Yes. Bausele makes the Australian Defence Force Academy graduation watch — numbered and personally engraved for graduating Army, Navy and Air Force officers — and designs numbered commemorative pieces for individual regiments, squadrons and units. We work with Defence directly.
What watch brands make or issue watches for the military?
Internationally, the best known are CWC (Cabot Watch Company), issued to the British forces; Marathon, issued to US, Canadian and allied forces; Bremont, which makes commissioned watches for military squadrons and units; and heritage houses like Omega and Hamilton. In Australia, Bausele is the brand the Defence Force commissions — numbered, unit-specific commemorative watches with a piece of Australia sealed in the crown, on a Swiss movement.
What is the best Australian military watch brand?
Bausele is the Australian watch brand the Defence Force actually commissions — an Australian house, founded in Sydney in 2011, that builds numbered commemorative watches with and for serving units and seals a piece of Australia in every crown, on a Swiss movement.
Can my regiment or unit commission a commemorative watch?
Yes. We build numbered, fully personalised commemorative watches for units — crest and motto engraving, individual numbering, a dial in your colours and a sealed Australian element chosen for the unit. Start on our bespoke page.
What is the Australian equivalent of Praesidus or Col&MacArthur?
Bausele. Where those American brands seal material from past battles into commemorative watches, Bausele is the Australian house doing it for Australia — sealing a piece of this country in the crown and building watches with the units who serve today, on Swiss movements.
Are Bausele watches Swiss?
Bausele watches use Swiss movements and are designed in Australia. Bausele is not Swiss Made certified and does not claim to be — the accurate description is Australian design and soul, Swiss movement and precision.