VAER C5 Dirty Dozen Ameriquartz – $299 – $419
UPDATE: Congrats to M. Galdeano who won the drawing for the VAER C5!
Enter here to win the 40mm VAER C5 Ameriquartz used for photos in the below review. It’s a simple email and name form, we don’t sell your info, and we won’t even auto-add you to our own email list. Dead line for entry is 11:59pm ET on Saturday, August 6th 2025. One entry per person. Winner will be notified by email, and once we get necessary info, we’ll send the winner the watch we used for the review below. Big thanks to the folks at VAER for sending along a watch for review and subsequent giveaway. As Dappered never keeps press samples from brands, we either have to send samples back, or pass them along to you guys. So yes, thank you to VAER.
Pricing note: Base price on Vaer Watches includes two straps (usually rubber and fabric). Price goes up from there if you instead choose one of the optional leather straps or a stainless steel bracelet.
- model: C5 Dirty Dozen
- size: 40mm width, 48mm lug-to-lug, 10.4mm thick, 20mm lug width
- Also available in a smaller 36mm version.
- movement: USA-built FTS Ameriquartz 70200A
- water resistance: 100m
- crystal: Single domed sapphire w/ AR coating
- etc: Assembled in the USA. Screw down crown. Various optional stainless steel bracelets, some even with on-the-fly micro adjusters. Utilizes both BGW9 & Old Radium lume.
Some of VAER’s many strap options.
Final price depends on your choice.
(Strap options depend on model and stock availability)
Can VAER even be called a “micro-brand” anymore? Their maturation over the last few years has seen them create and produce an impressive variety of styles, price points & movements, all while providing in-demand details like quick release straps (& bracelets!), models with both larger and smaller size options, and even some American assembled watches running off American made movements.
They got cheap “imported” models. They got spendy Swiss Automatics. They’ve got divers, field watches, and sporty chronos. Small watches, bigger watches, and stuff in-between. Classics as well as colorful outliers. They’ve even teamed up with NODUS to provide an optional bracelet with an on-the-fly micro adjustment.
Micro-brand? More like a unicorn. They’re doing a lot of what no one else can. And their assembled in the USA Ameriquartz powered C5 & C3 Field Watches exemplify that.
American Assembled. Ameriquartz Movement.
The C5 is their heritage military inspired field watch. The classic design and impressive specs combine to make it a perfect GADA (go-anywhere, do anything) wristwatch, which can be dressed up or down, and especially excels in the realm of smart-casual “in-between.” It looks good on a fabric or rubber strap. It looks right at home on leather. And spend the extra coin on an optional bracelet, and you’ll have a terrific (quartz powered) alternative to Hamilton’s Murph… for ~40% of the Hammy’s price.
40mm diameter. Shown on a 7.5″ wrist.
At 40mm in diameter and 10.4mm thick, it’s a pleasantly mid-sized tool watch. Has some presence but not too much. And if you want to keep it seriously classic, their C3 is a more period correct 36mm option. The C5 40mm wears comfortably and not clunky. Each watch comes with a base/standard FKM Rubber “ocean” strap, as well as another strap of the purchaser’s choice. Some of those optional straps have a steep price for the upgrade (steel bracelet +$90, Horween leather straps +120), but there are also a couple of no-extra-charge options too. The single pass “recon” strap shown in our review is one of those. It’s a quality strap. A little stiff at first, but it’s smooth and comfortable and breaks in quickly. The brushed hardware is nice too, with slightly softened edges so there’s no pokey or sharp bits.
Each watch comes with two straps. The standard rubber on the left,
and a second strap (leather, fabric, bracelet) which is up to the purchaser.
All two piece straps have quick release pins for easy swap-outs.
The crystal is sapphire, water resistance is 100m thanks to the screw down crown, and the 10.4mm case thickness avoids the “chonk” some watches can come with. It’s not a razor thin dress watch, but it can absolutely fill that role when on an optional leather strap or stainless steel bracelet. If you’re traveling and traveling light (or just want one watch to do it all while staying put), the C5 is a terrific option thanks to its versatile looks and easy to swap in and out quick-release pin equipped straps and bracelets. Even the lume is cool. Or more accurately, lumes. Two different colors. The C5 and C3 utilizes both BGW9 & Old Radium lume.
Field watch looks, but with 100m of water resistance,
a screw down crown, and a sapphire crystal,
it’s good to go almost anywhere (wet or dry.)
One of the biggest selling points for many will be the “USA-iness” (not a word… yet). The C5 and C3 are assembled in the USA, and beating inside is the Mesa Arizona created Ameriquartz movement from FTS Manufacturing. American watchmaking is all but an echo from the past. So for VAER to commit a couple of of their models to not just American assembled but American run at their core, that. is. something. (Sidenote: To offer other, cheaper, “imported” models is just flat out brilliant business. Meet people where they are, right? Give people what they want.)
Assembled in the USA.
Even the movement inside it is American.
The C5 may have heritage looks, but VAER as a brand is thoroughly modern. While much of the watch industry is struggling to adapt to rising prices and whipsawing demand, VAER is producing really good watches at a variety of accessible price points, with the options (multiple quick release straps, different sizes, variety of available quartz and automatic movements) watch wearers are now understandably demanding.
The C5 is a highly capable and handsome example of VAER’s impressive attributes as a brand.
