Re:How the Casio F-91W became the world’s most versatile (an...
by chrisseaton on Monday October 10, 2016 @11:37AM
(#12677682)
Until recently officers usually had to provide most of their own equipment. You can still see leftovers from this in the British military, where for example you are responsible for buying your own dress uniforms from private tailors (but you get a grant to somewhat cover it these days).
This could be a hold over from habits established before cell phones became common. Back before, say, the '90s, most people in the US (and I assume in most other first world countries) from their teens onward had a watch.
Perhaps militaries assumed that everyone coming in would already have a watch.
Furthermore, watches were often of great sentimental value, and many people would have viewed the military telling them what watch to wear as being as absurd as, say, issuing a standard military wedding ring to married soldiers to replace their civilian wedding ring.
As long as a soldier's watch was accurate and reliable enough for military needs, they probably saw no reason to not let the soldier use his own watch.