Field watches are supposed to look like tools. Timex just took its most tool-like chronograph and gave it a green sunray dial, which is the kind of finish you normally see on a watch meant for a jacket sleeve rather than a jobsite. The MK1 Chronograph 40mm Leather Strap Watch, model TW2Y71200, is Timex describing its own military-inspired MK1 as more elevated and dress-ready.
Timex MK1 Chronograph 40mm Leather Strap Watch (TW2Y71200)
Price: $239
Where to Buy: Timex
It’s a small change on paper. It’s also the whole pitch.
What you’re actually paying for at $239
The movement is the headline.
Timex fitted a meca-quartz chronograph, which pairs quartz timekeeping with a mechanical chronograph module so the elapsed-seconds hand sweeps instead of ticking. That combination usually shows up in enthusiast-leaning microbrand chronographs, and it’s the reason this one costs more than a plain quartz Timex.
Quartz handles the daily accuracy, and the mechanical module handles the part you actually watch.
The spec sheet is deliberately old-school
Timex kept the 40mm brushed stainless steel case, and the numbers are friendly to average wrists at 46.5mm lug to lug and 9.5mm tall. The dial carries full Arabic numerals with luminant in-fill on the hands and markers, so night legibility isn’t an afterthought. Over it sits a vintage-style domed acrylic crystal, which scratches more easily than mineral or sapphire but polishes clear again with a cloth and some patience.
The crystal choice is worth a second look. Acrylic sits in the Plexiglass family, softer than mineral or sapphire but much harder to shatter, and Timex uses it across vintage-leaning lines like Marlin and Q Timex. It reads as a period-correct call rather than a cost cut.
Inside, the meca-quartz movement runs on an SR936SW battery, and the watch ships on a black sustainable leather strap with a 20mm lug width and a buckle closure. The band is rated for wrists measuring 150 to 205mm, or 5.9 to 8.1 inches, so it covers most of the range without extra holes.
Water resistance lands at 50 meters, which Timex rates for light swimming but not snorkeling or poolside diving. The two registers read differently than most people expect, and Timex has spelled out the layout for the MK1 Chronograph: the left sub-dial marked 60, 40, and 20 counts elapsed chronograph minutes up to an hour, while the right sub-dial marked 24, 6, 12, and 18 is a 24-hour time indicator. Elapsed seconds run on the sweeping center hand, which is the part the mechanical module drives.
One caution comes straight from Timex: don’t touch the pushers while the watch is underwater. With a chronograph that’s the instruction people forget, and the 50 meter rating covers splashes and short swims rather than poolside timing.
The strap tells you who this is for
Timex went with black sustainable leather and green side stitching, plus quick-release spring bars so you can swap it without tools. A field watch built for actual field use would come on nylon. This one comes on leather with matching stitch detail, which is a fairly direct signal about where Timex expects it to be worn.
The hide has a paper trail too. Timex sources it through the Leather Working Group, a body that audits tanneries on environmental practice, and it tells the same sourcing story on the Marlin Jet Quartz Chronograph.
Where it lands in Timex’s chronograph run
Timex has been busy in this category. The brand pushed a proprietary fly-back complication into the Waterbury Ace at $289, then moved the Expedition Capstone upmarket with a chronograph without raising the price. Against those, the MK1 isn’t chasing a complication or a case shape. It’s chasing finish.
That’s a different kind of upgrade, and it’s cheaper to execute. Whether it earns the gap over a standard quartz MK1 depends on how much the sweeping seconds hand and the sunray dial matter to you.
The MK1 family isn’t only quartz now. Timex also sells an MK1 Automatic on green Cordura with an exhibition case back, so the collection spans automatic, meca-quartz, and plain quartz in the same 40mm footprint.
A blue sunray version is arriving alongside the green, which suggests Timex sees the finish as a line-wide direction rather than a one-off. The brand frames the dial as taking the watch from casual weekends to more polished occasions.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants a beater.
Acrylic and leather both ask for a little care, and a green sunray dial is a style commitment rather than a neutral default. If you want the shape without the green, the MK1 Chronograph also comes with other dials on leather as TW2Y71100 and TW2Y71300, and on a stainless steel bracelet as TW2Y71000. Timex lists the black-dial leather version at the same $239.
Timex MK1 Chronograph 40mm Leather Strap Watch (TW2Y71200)
Price: $239
Where to Buy: Timex
For readers watching the cheaper end of the range instead, the Timex Retroware Digital covers the opposite impulse entirely.
Gerber Gear Suspension 12-in-1 EDC Multi-Plier Multitool with Pocket Knife, Needle Nose Pliers, Wire Cutters and More, Gifts for Men, Camping and Survival, Grey
(as of August 8, 2026 09:51 GMT -05:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
