A Tudor FXD Unit Watch for the Coast Guard’s Elite Tactical Unit

For the USCG’s Maritime Security Response Team West, a Tudor Unit Watch is a Tool Honoring One of the Military’s Least Understood Tactical Law Enforcement Units. 

By Benjamin Lowry 

Beyond the occasional high-profile rescue operation, such as Scott Ruskan’s heroic efforts to save 165 children in Central Texas last year, the US Coast Guard generally manages to stay under the radar. However, recent high-profile operations that have been heavily covered in the media have propelled some of the Coast Guard’s least understood tactical units into the limelight like never before. At the center of many of these operations is a lesser-known tactical unit, the Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT). 

Watch culture among the military elite is strong and growing by the year, and recently, a new Tudor Pelagos FXD was delivered to a Coast Guard unit for the first time. The latest organization to earn a Tudor unit watch joins the ranks of  SEAL Team Six, the USSS Counter Assault Team, and various other special operations units. As the subtle dial text indicates, the new watch was made for current and former members of the USCG’s Maritime Security Response Team West (MSRT-W), which serves as the pointy end of the US federal maritime counter terrorism and law enforcement spear not only domestically but also, somewhat surprisingly, around the world. 

The USCG MRST-W Tudor Pelagos FXD is surprisingly subtle.

As a proud former Coastie, when the new FXD emerged, I set out to get the scoop and quickly learned that the guys who earned this watch are already members of the W.O.E. community. For this Dispatch, we tracked down the man behind the new watch to learn more about the process of creating one of our favorite Tudor unit projects to date as well as the unsung unit the watch is intended to honor. For those looking to organize a watch for their unit, this article offers some insight into that often opaque process.

Maritime Security Response Team West 

Housed within the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense/War with the other five branches of service, the Coast Guard is in a unique position. Founded in 1790, the Coast Guard’s primary duties today are not only search and rescue but also maritime law enforcement, enabled by an expansive set of congressional authorities that no other uniformed branch of service can claim. 

A member of MRST-W conducts training with their Tudor Pelagos FXD unit watch on the wrist.

While traditional military special operations forces were likely heavily involved in recent high-profile vessel boardings around the world, the legal authority to enforce US federal laws on the high seas depends on Coast Guardsmen from specialized Coast Guard units like MSRT. 

Following in the footsteps of Maritime Security Response Team - East, MRST-W was officially commissioned in 2017. The MSRTs are the Coast Guard’s elite, globally deployable counter terrorism forces tasked with high-risk boarding operations, direct action, and response to CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives) threats. 

MRST-W members fast-rope from an MH-60T onto the fantail of USCC Alert.

Regularly deploying with and operating alongside US SOF and international forces, the MSRTs and their precursors have deployed in support of the Global War on Terror, counter narcotics operations, and numerous other missions. Impactful yet largely unrecognized almost by design, the unit’s subtle approach is part of what spurred one of MSRT’s senior enlisted leaders to seek out a unit watch for its members.

A Master Chief on a Watch Mission 

A 30-year Coast Guard veteran with a career largely oriented around maritime law enforcement and tactical operations, the organizer of the new watch was a master chief working with the training detachment at MSRT-W, located in San Diego, California. For the purposes of this Dispatch, we’ll call him MC, and MC is an old-school watch nerd, having received his first “real” watch, a Breitling Colt, as a gift in high school. A passionate surfer and former windsurfing instructor who had a buddy with an Omega, MC was always intrigued by the Seamaster, and eventually purchased the “Great White” Seamaster GMT in 2004 at an authorized dealer in Bermuda with a pocket full of cash after a six-month deployment. 

The Omega led to Panerais, which led to becoming a part of the Paneristi online community in the early days of watch forums. “Every watch I own, I wear to work”, MC said, “But there weren’t a lot of guys wearing real watches back then.” In 2008, MC bought a Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller, and he also owned the legendary “Red Submariner” reference 1680, which he also wore to work, though he swapped to a nylon strap for “fast-roping or hook and climb” operations. His collection also includes numerous Seiko models, including a birth-year Seiko 6105. In short, he is one of us, a factor that eventually aided in the creation of the Tudor unit watch. 

The USCG MSRT-W Tudor Pelagos FXD

“In the past five to ten years, I’ve started seeing watches everywhere. Even more junior enlisted guys are showing up to work with mechanical Hamiltons and Seikos. I started asking whether anyone would be interested in a custom watch for the unit. The guys said yes, and I got to work. I wanted something with military legacy, so I researched Omega, Tudor, and Panerai, but the more I looked into it, the more Tudor rose to the surface.” 

With some help from an old friend in the watch community, MC connected with a Colorado-based Tudor dealer familiar with the brand’s internal unit watch team and process. Tudor, MC says, was selective, and he had to paint a clear picture of the type of work the MSRT does and the type of people they do it with. Eventually, Tudor said yes, and MC began the design process with the Pelagos FXD already firmly in mind. 

“We wanted a watch we could wear to work every single day, no matter what we were doing, and the FXD is the best option in Tudor’s lineup. The design concept was to be discreet, the kind of thing no one other than a serious watch guy would know from a distance. There are less subtle unit watches, but that wasn’t what we were looking for. So I asked to have the full unit name on the dial at six o’clock, black-on-black, assuming they would say no, but they sent back a rendering that was exactly what we were looking for. The shadowy nature of the dial text is also a reference to the unit’s motto, Nox Noctis est Nostri—We Own The Night in Latin—which is part of the caseback engraving.”

The entire process took about a year from first reaching out to actually having the watches delivered (Note: This was relatively quick, and unit watches from the main brands can regularly take anywhere between six and eighteen months). Anyone currently serving at MSRT-W or who had served at the unit before and left in good standing was eligible to order, and everyone from junior enlisted guys all the way through senior officers jumped at the opportunity. 

As the organizer, MC’s job was to create and maintain the list and vet everyone on it. “There are going to be some people who regret not taking the chance to get one of the watches,” he said, “But that’s the way it goes; not everyone is going to understand that the real value with these isn’t monetary.”

The caseback design displays the unit insignia along with an individual number out of the series of 28 pieces, many of which are already headed out on deployments around the world. 

It’s Never Just a Watch 

MC has spent 30 years in the Coast Guard and is a plankowner at MSRT-W. The watch represents his personal history, a significant chapter of his operational career, as well as the evolution of MSRT from its modest roots to now, regularly conducting missions on a global stage alongside some of the world’s finest special operators. 

MSRT-W team members conducting training while using the Tudor Pelagos FXD unit watch.

“The guys are out there doing so much more than I ever imagined possible, and more than anything, I’m proud of what we have built. The watch isn’t about its monetary value or what it could be worth down the line; it’s about knowing that we can one day pass them down to represent our service in our families. This is something we wore in the military, something that was meaningful to us, and now it’s yours.” 

For MC, the watch also represents a moment where parts of his life that were typically distinct came together. “There was a time when the watch community version of myself and the military part of myself were separate, but things have changed, and this watch shows how it can all come together.” 

Thanks again to MC for taking the time to chat. For more on the phenomenon of Tudors of Espionage and the brand’s close ties to our community, click HERE. 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider signing up for our weekly free newsletter for further updates HERE.