2021 Tornek-Rayville TR-660 Automatic 40mm
Ref: TR660ND

Points of Mention

This watch is sold with an original Tornek-Rayville box & paperwork. The watch comes paired with its 20mm single pass nylon strap with a signed buckle. The watch is from November 2021 and is in worn condition, however as you can see from the photos it is in great overall condition with few signs of wear. The watch comes with its Manufacturer Warranty.

The Watch

MKII Watches acquired the Tornek-Rayville Trademark several years ago. Tornek-Rayville supplied the U.S. Navy’s Experimental Diving Unit in the early 1960s. They sent a request to Bulova to produce a rugged and reliable dive watch. In the meantime, they selected The Rolex Submariner, Enicar Sea Pearl 600, and Blancpain Fifty-Fathoms to be put through rigorous testing. Out of the three the Blancpain survived and was ordered whilst the Bulova was brought up to speed in production. Due to the red tape of the “Buy America Act” of 1933 buying the Blancpain's was a real headache. That was until a far-sighted importer from New York Allen V. Tornek came up with the idea that  Blancpain relabels the watch “Tornek-Rayville” and allows him to sell them to the U.S. Navy. The ingenious idea worked and an order for 1,000 TR-900s between 1964 and 1965 was put in place just in time for the Vietnam conflict. Today Bill Yao of MKll has created the Tornek-Rayville TR-660 which is inspired by the original TR-900. 

Here we have a 2021 Tornek-Rayville TR-660 with a bead-blasted 40mm stainless steel case. The case curves over your wrist towards the drilled lugs. A lug to lug length of 48.5mm and a case thickness of 14mm gives the watch an impressive wrist presence. On the right side is a screw-down crown with a reinforced inner sleeve and double gasket The 120-click unidirectional bezel has a black dive 60-minute insert and knurling around its edge to give your good grip when turning. A domed sapphire crystal AR coated on the underside sits above a black dial. An outer minute track with baton and disc indexes coated in luminance mark the hours. “Tornek-Rayville, U.S.” is printed at 12 o’clock with “Automatic” and the moisture indicator at 6 o’clock just like the original TR-900. On the reverse, a screw-down case back. Inside an Automatic SII NE15, 24 jewels, 21,600 beats per hour. The Seiko movement has hacking and hand winding for your convenience. The watch comes fitted on a 20mm single pass nylon strap with a custom signed buckle and reinforced spring bars and also comes with its Tornek-Rayville presentation box and papers.

Personal Note

A brand with serious history and heritage brought back to life and redesigned in the right way, but would we expect anything less from the team that brought us MKII? I think not! This is a great opportunity to pick up one of these models and save yourself on the taxes and get a great watch that those in the know, will know!