Modeled after the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which served various elite military units around the globe, this diver’s watch uniquely conformed to U.S. military specification MIL-W-22176A—an achievement that no domestic manufacturer could replicate in the early 1960s. Due to the 1933 "Buy American Act", the U.S. Navy was unable to directly commission Swiss-made Blancpain watches. To navigate this challenge, Allen V. Tornek, a New York-based diamond dealer, established a local testing laboratory, allowing Blancpain watches to be tested and certified on American soil.

According to scholarship, 780 pieces of the reference TR-900 were initially delivered to the U.S. armed forces in 1964, followed by a second batch of 300 examples produced in 1966. These watches were never available to civilians and remained strictly government property. To prevent them from falling into unauthorized hands after their military service, a significant number of TR-900 watches were discarded in the early 1970s, sent to the ocean floor in concrete-filled boxes alongside low-level atomic waste, such as uniforms and badges. This unceremonious burial has rendered the TR-900 exceedingly rare. Most original pieces that were actively used were never returned to the military and are identifiable by engravings on the caseback, along with their serial numbers, as seen in the present example.

Numbered 0472, this watch is part of the first batch delivered to the U.S. armed forces in 1964 and is preserved in outstanding and honest condition, likely having seen considerable action.