Todd Snyder knew he wanted to do something with the Timex MK1 watch the first time he saw it on another guy’s wrist.
“They were showing this watch to me about a year ago,” said the designer in an interview with Men’s Journal, “and I got really excited by it. They originally did a launch in Japan about, I think it was a year ago … and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to have this. This would be great for the United States. Let me launch it here.'” From there, Snyder and Timex worked on the straps and design of what would eventually become the new Timex and Todd Snyder MK1 Steel Collection, a line of six sturdy stainless steel watches that you can get starting Thursday. “It’s a great take on a classic,” Snyder says.
Snyder and Timex designed the MK1 SST water-resistant steel, acrylic crystal wristwatches with olive, black, and steel straps. The original version of the watch was issued to U.S. Marine Corps members, and its limited production (it was available for just two months in 1982) was Timex’s only contract with the American government. Snyder, for his part, can’t pick a favorite. “I’m really trying to decide between doing the classic style, or doing more of the chrono style,” he says. “And, I’ll probably end up getting both. But, I love the black face with the olive green strap.”
As watch aficionados and Timex fans know by now, this is not the first collaboration between these two American brands. (In fact, this will mark their fifth.) Just last month—before Snyder’s fashion show during New York Men’s Fashion Week—the menswear designer and watchmaker dropped the 41mm MS1 Maritime Sport Watch.
And, Snyder explains, this latest line of MK1 Steel timepieces won’t be the last time the two work together on a project.
“We’re definitely working on more,” Snyder says. “That’s the best thing about working with Timex: There’s so much within their archive, and there’s so much possibility that just when I think, ‘OK, we’ve done everything,’ you know, you come across another classic watch from the past or you come up with an idea.” Take a look at the six watches from the Timex x Todd Snyder MK1 Steel Collection below.
