The alliance between Liam Whaley and Micromilspec is based on a very convincing point of contact: time under pressure. Whaley has spent more than a decade at the sharp end of competitive kitesurfing. The Spanish rider became freestyle world champion in 2015 and has twice reached the Red Bull King of the Air podium. In a famous 2022 heat in Cape Town, he launched his final trick with 14 seconds left, needing 9.88 points to survive. He scored 9.94.
Numbers in competition are certainly important, but only up to a point. Kitesurfing remains a relatively young sport and, as Whaley explains, the amount of data available while on the water is still limited. Riders can return to the beach, check scores between tricks and adjust accordingly, but when the conditions are changing by the second, experience takes over.
Left: Liam Whaley in flight, where more than a decade of competition has turned reading the wind, water and moment into pure instinct.
© Sebastian Porral.
Right: Liam Whaley wearing the Micromilspec Field Testing Unit, a watch whose stripped-back design and emphasis on real-world use
reflect his own belief that experience cannot be shortcut.
“A lot of the time instinct is still the most reliable thing,” he says. “After more than a decade of competing, that instinct becomes pretty accurate. You learn to read the wind, the water and the moment almost without thinking.”
Micromilspec comes at timekeeping from a complete different angle. Founded in Oslo in 2019, it built its reputation making watches for military units and first responders. Its first project was a 330-piece commission for the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s 330 Squadron. The Field Testing Unit chosen by Whaley grew from a programme in which 30 watches were issued to Norwegian military personnel for real-world testing.
Liam’s choice was quite interesting, maybe even unexpected. Whaley passed over Micromilspec’s chronographs and GMTs for its simplest watch: hours, minutes and seconds, an unmarked rotating bezel and silver dial. The brushed-steel case measures 42mm by 12mm, with 200 metres of water resistance, sapphire crystal and a screw-down crown. Inside, the automatic Sellita SW200-1 runs at 4Hz with a 38-hour power reserve.
Liam with the tools of his trade and his Micromilspec Field Testing Unit on the wrist.
The specification is deliberately straightforward. The bezel, crown and caseback were left undecorated so scratches and wear could be tracked during testing. This is a watch designed to show the evidence of being worn and used. That idea appeals to Whaley. “The more you wear, ride or use something, the more you get to know it and the more it becomes yours,” he says. He admits there is still excitement in receiving something pristine, but sees the marks that accumulate afterwards differently. “The scratches and signs of use become part of its story.”
It makes sense that he says this. Liam is an athlete whose understanding of performance is rooted as much in accumulated experience as technical progress. Whaley learnt to kite through his father and now runs a watersports centre in Tarifa, giving him a view of the sport from both ends of the learning curve.
He believes that almost every part of learning kitesurfing can now be accelerated. Equipment is easier to use, instructors are better and coaching has become increasingly sophisticated. What cannot be compressed quite so neatly is time itself. “A huge part of kitesurfing is experience, and experience can only really be gained over time,” he says. The value lies in encountering different situations on the water until responding to them becomes instinctive. “The more of them you’ve experienced, the calmer and smoother you become at dealing with them. You can accelerate the learning process, but you can’t really shortcut experience.”
Whaley has also spoken about wanting fewer things away from the water and preferring to do a small number of things extremely well. That gives the FTU a credibility most ambassador pairings struggle to achieve. Congratulations.
Author: Julia Pasarón
Other Micromilspec watches reviewed by I-M Inquisitive Minds include the Fieldmaster, presented at Geneva Watch Days 2026; and the Milgraph T5.
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