This is the Vaer C4 Tactical Solar Field Watch, each is assembled in the United States, and as the name suggests, it has solar cells in the face that keep the battery charged.
These watches are designed to be highly affordable while still being tough and well-designed. The price point on the C4 model shown here starts at just $479 USD and still comes with a bead-blasted stainless steel case, a screw-down crown, a 200 meter water-resistance rating, and both rubber and nylon straps are included.
This is the Vaer C4 Tactical Solar Field Watch, each is assembled in the United States, and as the name suggests, it has solar cells in the face that keep the battery charged.
History: Vaer Watches
Vaer Watches was founded in 2016 in Venice Beach, California, by Ryan Torres and Reagan Cook with the goal of producing accessible, well-engineered sports and tool watches that were built for toughness, legibility, and longevity.
The company arrived on the scene during a period of rapid growth in the direct-to-consumer watch market, but positioned itself differently by focusing on functional field and dive watches rather than fashion-led designs or vintage pastiche.
Vaer released its first production watch, the C5 Classic Quartz, in 2017. From the outset, the brand would use sapphire crystals, screw-down crowns, stainless steel cases, and meaningful water-resistance ratings across its lineup – even at the more entry-level price points.
As the catalog of new designs expanded, Vaer introduced both quartz and automatic (mechanical) models, including the C3 and C5 field watches, D4 and D5 dive watches, and some additional later chronograph offerings.
Many of Vaer’s watches are assembled in the United States using a mix of Swiss, Japanese, and globally sourced parts, allowing the brand to meet “assembled in USA” standards while maintaining good cost control.
These watches are designed to be highly affordable while still being tough and well-designed. The price point on the C4 model shown here starts at just $479 USD.
Vaer is now regarded as a key American player in the American microbrand space, known for pragmatic design, good overall specifications, and a focus on real-world usability and affordability over unneeded ornamentation.
The Vaer C4 Tactical Solar Field Watch
The Vaer C4 Tactical Solar Field Watch was developed as a larger, more capability-focused evolution of the brand’s field watch lineup, aimed at those who wanted military-style legibility combined with dive-watch toughness.
As with much of Vaer’s catalog, the emphasis was placed on practical specifications rather than styling flourishes, with the C4 positioned as a crossover between a true field watch and a classic tool watch.
The C4 uses a 41.5 mm stainless-steel case with a bead-blasted finish, a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, and a recessed crown at four o’clock to reduce snagging. Water resistance is rated at 200 meters, a solid figure for a watch marketed primarily as a field model, and it incorporates a unidirectional 12 hour bezel for basic navigation and time-zone tracking.
Legibility is central to the design, with a matte black dial, bold numerals, and extensive C3 Super-LumiNova application for low light use. Power comes from a Japanese Epson solar quartz movement, eliminating battery changes while keeping excellent accuracy.
The C4 uses a 41.5 mm stainless-steel case with a bead-blasted finish, a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, and a recessed crown at four o’clock to reduce snagging. Water resistance is rated at 200 meters, a solid figure for a watch marketed primarily as a field model.
Each of these watches is assembled in the United States, and they come with interchangeable rubber and nylon straps.
The watch is now being offered for sale on Huckberry here with free US shipping and returns, and a $479 USD MSRP.
Images courtesy of Huckberry
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
