Portland, Oregon based watch brand VERO is revealing a new collection of four watches inspired by their partnership with the USDA Forest Service, honoring the work done to preserve and protect our nation’s most special places. The new watches each feature distinctive colorways meant to evoke a different element of the Forest Service, and in the process they’ve created some truly great looking combos. Further, these watches look to have a knack for tackling the outdoors beyond the funky colors.
The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service was established in 1905 with a focus on conservation through sustainability. These officially licensed watches from VERO recognize just some of the ways in which this is accomplished. This isn’t the first time the brand has put a spotlight on the Forest Service, having used the Smokey Bear icon (which the agency has used to raise awareness of the dangers of forest fires) in a series of field watches in the past. This aligns with VERO’s values around conservation and the creation of sustainable products.
The collection begins with the Hotshot Yellow, a nod to Interagency Hotshot Crews who manage status for all phases of fire management and incident operations. These crews originated in the late ‘40s, and are immediately recognizable for their yellow uniforms. The Hotshot Yellow from VERO utilizes the same high visibility yellow against a smokey gray dial and desaturated blue accents. It’s a lovely colorway and a rightful tip of the cap to the highly capable IHCs of the Forest Service.
Next is likely the most recognizable colorway, the Ranger, which lifts its colors directly from the iconic uniforms of the Forest Service rangers. This watch pairs a khaki base with a black dial and deep green accents. There are more than 600 ranger districts that can staff from 10 to 100 covering massive pieces of land, meaning rangers are on the go quite a bit, each step in one of these uniforms. Wide brimmed hat sold separately.
One of the more eye-catching variants is the Airtanker, which gets a burnt red dial against a gray case with black accents. These Airtankers can deploy anywhere from 800 to 8,000 gallons of fire retardant to support firefighters on the ground. The VLATs (Very Large Airtankers) are DC-10 planes with a red undercarriage for high visibility, and the material they deliver has the same distinct color, which has inspired this colorway from VERO.
Finally, the Service Green colorway takes inspiration from the service vehicles at use by the Forest Service. A bright green case gets brown and black accents, mirroring the look of the utility vehicles that help the rangers explore the vast tracts of land under their care.
Each of the watches share a 39mm case diameter, which gets bars at the top and bottom as an added layer of protection to the crystal and the operating crown and charge button. They are fitted to hook and loop straps that accent each of the distinct colorways. The dials are clean and simple, with each hour represented and an internal rotating bezel that’s adjustable via the second crown on the 9 o’clock side of the case. Pricing is set at $475. VERO