The Military’s Best Kept Secret? MicroMilspec’s Henrik Rye on Custom Watches & Erling Haaland Artwork

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The Military’s Best Kept Secret? MicroMilspec’s Henrik Rye on Custom Watches & Erling Haaland

June 03, 2026 • WatchDNA

0:00 | 4:06

The Military’s Best Kept Secret? MicroMilspec’s Henrik Rye on Custom Watches & Erling Haaland

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How did a brand-new watch company sell 400 watches in just two weeks to a military unit based only on a drawing? We sit down with Henrik Rye, the CEO and Co-Founder of MicroMilspec, to uncover the incredible origin story of this modern professional watch brand.

From being unemployed and sitting in a watchmaker's store to designing custom timepieces for performance athletes like Erling Haaland and elite corporate directors, Henrik shares the vision behind their utility-first aesthetic.

In this video, you’ll discover:

✔️The secret behind their Grade 5 Titanium construction and 200m water resistance.

✔️ The mystery of the stolen prototype and why collectors are desperate to get their hands on one.

✔️ Why the US market has become their biggest fan base.

✔️ A close look at their tactical data displays and 24-city time zone bezels.

MicroMilspec is quickly becoming the reference point for modern professional watches. Watch until the end to see which prototype is turning heads!

Timestamps:
00:00 – The Mystery of the Stolen Prototype
00:26 – The Vision: Modern Professional Utility Watches
00:57 – How We Sold 400 Watches to the Military in 2 Weeks
01:35 – From Unemployed to Global Watch Brand
01:45 – Top Markets: Why the US is 40% of Business
02:05 – Custom Watches for Erling Haaland & Athletes
02:54 – Prototype Showcase: Grade 5 Titanium & Specs
03:33 – Tactical Features: 24 Time Zones & City Bezels
03:47 – Giveaway Contest & Viewer Poll

#MicroMilspec #HenrikRye #MilitaryWatch #LuxuryWatches #WatchCollecting #ErlingHaaland #Horology #ProfessionalWatches #TitaniumWatch #ToolWatch #WatchReview #CustomWatches #WatchDNA #EDC #TacticalGear

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WatchDNA — Where Time Connects Us All.

0:00

One of them got stolen. Uh-huh, okay. There's always somebody that does something bad, you know? How are you doing? Henry. Nice to meet you. Pleasure. This is so cool. So what's the vision for the brand? So what we're building out with our collection is what to become the reference point for modern professional watches. Little other diver, more field watches, three hand pieces, and really focused on the utility of your time pieces and maintain that aspect of our brand. And so you launched the brand 2019? How long from the first day that you had the idea of 2019, how long it took you to actually create the brand? The finding the suppliers and the you know creating the design and all that. So within two weeks, we sold the first 400 watches to a military unit. Just on the drawing. So I went to Switzerland with a pre-order 1000 pieces from the military. So from the day that you were you said I'm going to sell the watch two weeks after you got an alert. No way. No. Wow. But then by then you didn't have the suppliers, you didn't have the cases, you didn't have the movements. I I knew a lot of the suppliers from doing your work. Okay. How? Because I've been I was in the watch industry before I started this company. So put it on this brand. Is that also Brazil out or not? I sold I well, I went out of that company and then I was actually unemployed for a year. Yeah. Sitting in that watchmaker store, and then this happened to become cool. Beautiful. Where are your uh biggest market right now? US by far. Really? Okay. So it's um US, Singapore, France, UK, but US is probably 40% tough. Okay. Yeah, you have a great aesthetic identity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. You can look at every watch and you can. I love to have one. This is actually one over there which uh got me interested in the mechanics as well. Henrik, we also discussed about you kind of created a timepiece for Erling Halland. Apart from military, are you going to be collaborating with maybe performers, athletes, or some different, you know, uh sports person? We have a couple of them, but they've all been uh private, like individuals, you know, directors of uh bigger companies and so on. So it's nothing that we're willing to go public about it. And so it's it's a private planning. But absolutely, we do have quite a few of these one of one or four pieces and so on. So we do that still, of course. And usually when you do a limited edition or very limited, do you keep one for yourself? You have a museum or you have a safe or you have it, or it's just a one-on-one and that's it. No, not yet. We made two samples of the milligraph. Okay, yeah. One of them was stolen. Uh-huh, okay. And we got one of them stolen. Okay. There's always somebody that does something bad, you know? Follow it. But don't worry, I will take care of this one. This is the prototype. Okay. It became also an interesting piece for collectors. Yeah. So we started to have people coming into our design office asking if they could buy one. Okay. And obviously I said no, it's a prototype. Yeah. I can't buy one. They were supposed to take a photo every day at 12. Yeah. And then we were able to read from the DAW the serial numbers, the movement type, and water resistance. Same titanium grade 5, 200 meter water resistant with a tactical date, display, all 24 time codes, and it's city to go with it on the vessel. But this one has a right right composition on it. Do you think I can grab some and do a contest? Alright, which one you guys are are liking? Tell me. Alright. Listen, thank you so much.