There are lots of recycling and climate change ideas taking hold in watchmaking now. In truth the resources used to collect discarded materials, ship them around the world and then use more energy making them into something new might only make a marginal saving when you add up your corporate carbon footprint. But it’s a start and it teaches consumers that they should recycle stuff and be part of the circular economy too.

So that’s why it makes sense to gather plastics from the ocean and make them into dial plates, bezels, or watch straps, as Breitling, Blancpain and others are doing. But you can go further and recycle scrap petrol/diesel engined cars, aircraft or other automotive memorabilia into watch cases, dials, bezels and hands. It’s all good and we feel sure that Harry & Meghan would approve

That’s exactly what Danish brand REC are doing, and their Mini Cooper and Porsche 911 models have proved popular. The latest addition is the Rockfighter, which features a dial plate made from the damaged door, taken from a classic Land Rover Defender. This Swiss SW200 movement powered retails for about £1340 and takes inspiration from the classic, squatred off lines of the Landy. The grey theme colour, canvas strap and winding crown protection lugs all add a utility, tool watch vibe that’s perfect for this model. Limited edition and you can choose your serial number.

Choose a green Beachrunner model and you get a dial made from the roof of another Defender, limited to 552 pieces and a handsome green dial theme, with a green chapter ring and sub-second inset dial too. Think the hands suit the watch better on the Beachrunner, more balanced somehow.

Both models are an interesting take on the Land Rover Defender’s astonishing globe-trotting heritage, for this is the vehicle that has taken medical supplies to the developing world, stopped poachers from killing animals and helped David Attenborough make all those Planet Earth shows over the decades. If you celebrate that life-enhancing history, then check out a REC watch.

More info at REC’s website.