Relatively new in the watch trade is a company familiar to many as a firearms company, UZI.
The company is now branching out into other areas such as outdoor products, watches and more.
The main topic of this article is the UZI Watch line.
With it's recognition for toughness, the UZI name keeps up this tradition with a new line of Tritium, or H3 timepieces.
The UZI(submachine gun) was developed (and hence its name) by Uziel Gal (1924-2002) a captain in the Israeli army who won an internal competition for the design of a new sub machine gun.
The first prototypes appeared in 1950 and soon after the first production, batches were issued to selected units for field testing.
An improved design appeared just before the Sinai Campaign of 1956 and it was in this desert war that the UZI emerged as a winner in the highly demanding terrain.
The UZI became well known not only in battle, but also as a favorite of elite forces and security services.
During the unsuccessful assassination on U.
S.
President Ronald Reagan in 1981, the press cameras caught one of his security team pulling an UZI from his jacket.
The reason for this fame is the small size and reliability of this famous weapon.
Easily concealed, it is a formidable weapon.
Now, lending the UZI name to a line of Tritium watches, the UZI is achieving quick popularity among watch aficionados.
With great features and inexpensive, the UZI watch will become much sought after.
Using the UZI logo, these watches are easily recognized.
At this writing, they are available in 2 basic styles; the Protector and the Defender.
The Protector is available with nylon or rubber strap for durability in the outdoors.
It comes with several dial colors.
The Defender is available in stainless steel, black stainless steel and titanium.
The UZI-32-BSS also known as a Defender type, comes with a Black stainless steel band.
The dial is Black in color.
The watch is water resistant to 200 meters.
There is a battery rated at 3 years and a 1 year manufacturers warranty.
All styles will display luminescence in the dark for at least 25 years.
Even with a dead battery, the luminosity will still be visualized.
The tritium glow is independent of any power supply.
The tritium, which is encapsulated in a small plastic vial, gives off beta particles.
These particles excite the phosphor coating in the vial and gives off light.
Beta particles do not pass through the through the walls of the capsule.
Beta particles won't even pass through a sheet of paper.
This makes this technology much safer than the old radium dials.
What results is a blue-green glow that is easily seen at night.
Different color phosphors can give off other colors, such as red.
The military style watches are used by law enforcement and other agencies.
For this reason, they are designed not to glow as brightly as consumer models.
It would not useful for these watches to be easily seen by suspects that may be under suspicion.