TIMEX Sprite 'Military'
In the Sixties military inspired watches were very popular. TIMEX introduced their Sprite 'Military' in 1966. It turned out to be a model that kept it's place in the TIMEX product portfolio untill the early Eighties. During this period, this Sprite 'Military' was available in a non-date and a date (calendar) version and in various case forms. The dial configuration however remained unchanged.




Here is an overview of the different models and references of the Sprite Military.
Model 24 (no-date)
1966 - 1970*
round case
ref. 1158
1969 - 1970
square case
ref. 1137
1971
square case
ref. 2307 / 23070
1972 - 1973 - 1975
round case
ref. 23172
1974
round case
ref. 23570 / 23070
1975
cushion case
ref. 23070
1978
tapered case
ref. 23371
1979
tapered case
ref. 22529


* Cathedral hands - the US models of reference 1158 from 1966 - 1968 have cathedral hands where the European models have the regular dauphine hands
Model 25 (date)
1970
round case
ref, 1178
1971 - 1978
round case
ref, 23571
1974 - 1975
round case
ref, 23570
1979
round case
ref. 22728
The calendar version of the Sprite Military only came in one case configuration, the round one.
Military or something completely different?
The Sprite is called military because of the resilience to the military watches in the past. However, as the Sprite models are boys size watches they also can have a different purpose. According to the Italian TIMEX Collezione 75 catalog this watch was 'didattico per imparare a leggere l'ora' which means they were meant to educate the youth to learn telling time by looking at their watch.

