Glock Milgauss
• Rolex Milgauss-themed Glock
• Based on a Glock 19 Gen3
• Custom Cerakoted & stippled
When it comes to timepieces, there may be no other brand that can top Rolex in terms of precision timekeeping, excellence in design, fine craftsmanship, and the prestigious cachet that it affords its owner. It is this combination of factors, plus others, that has kept Rolex a sought-after brand for generations. Every Rolex wristwatch is designed and crafted with the utmost care and deliberateness.
Many Rolexes are made for specific tasks, and the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Milgauss is no exception. The Milgauss is an anti-magnetic watch that was originally created in 1956. It was developed for engineers, technicians, and scientists who worked in burgeoning fields of science that oftentimes exposed them to magnetic fields in their working environments. These fields would affect their watches, throwing off any kind of precise timekeeping, which as you can imagine would not be conducive to their work.
Rolex’s response was to create the Milgauss. It was designed to withstand up to 1,000 gauss of magnetic induction interference. It does this with a magnetic protective shield that protects its movement. This shield is made up of two parts created out of two different ferromagnetic alloys. Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and home of the Large Hadron Collider, tested and confirmed that the Milgauss was not affected by magnetic forces. Suffice it to say that the Rolex Milgauss is a unique wristwatch indeed.
The customized Glock featured here was made to match the look of the Rolex Milgauss. Leigh Guarnieri is the owner of both the Rolex and the Glock that it is made to resemble. He takes us on his Glock customizing journey, but first he reveals how he came to own a Milgauss. “Instead of having some big expensive wedding, I chose to buy a Rolex Milgauss for myself—and the wife got a Mercedes. For our fifth anniversary she came to me and said, ‘Buy yourself something nice.’ Of course, to me it seemed appropriate to build a Glock to match the Rolex.”
The Glock 19 is a Gen3 model that’s received custom services to both its slide and frame. Guarnieri provides some more information on the services that he had done to it. “The frame and slide are both Cerakoted but were done at different companies,” he says. “The slide is a Zaffiri Precision ZPS.3 G19 that’s made in 416 stainless steel with an RMR optic cut. I sent it to one of the premier graphics applicators in the Southeast, Tampa Cerakote Facility in Pinellas Park, Florida.”
Guarnieri asked Tampa Cerakote Facility owner and operator, Tony Mittelstaedt, to come up with a color scheme that would match the Milgauss. Mittelstaedt applied a MultiCam pattern on the Zaffiri Precision slide using Cerakote Armor Black, Safety Orange, and OD green. The slide’s Cerakoted camo job was then finished off with a matte finish. With the slide coating complete, Guarnieri moved onto getting the frame sorted out.
The factory G19 frame was sent over to Rocket City Stippling, where owner Jeck Bardos worked his magic. A list of services Bardos performed on the frame during his first round of work included an overall frame reduction that helped with proper grip positioning. Bardos also removed the frame’s finger grooves and added a slight undercut. With phase one of the framework done, the frame was then sent out to Brian Rychetsky of Arsenal Engraving & Coating in Lacey’s Spring, Alabama.
Because two different outfits were coating the pistol, Guarnieri knew he needed to take extra care ensuring that the two halves of the pistol matched. To this end, he asked for an OD green base with a light coating of spotted OD green and black to complement the slide. Rychetsky obliged and expertly applied the Cerakote as requested. The frame turned out just as Guarnieri wanted it to look. It then went back to Bardos at Rocket City Stippling for the finishing touches.
After the frame came back from Arsenal coating, Bardos added gap borders, stippled the grip, and rounded its index points to allow for proper thumb placements. The area under the trigger guard was rounded out as well. Bardos finished it up with some magwell borders following the lines of the Taran Tactical Innovations aluminum G19 magwell that Guarnieri intended to install.
With all the parts back from the Cerakoters and stippler, Guarnieri was eager to get to assembly. “I left the coatings and stippling to the experts and I did final assembly by using some cool off-the-shelf parts,” Guarnieri tells us. We saw that he installed Tactic Enterprise custom trigger pins, a GlockStore extended slide stop and slide release, a Hyve Technologies Monarch Trigger System, Ghost Inc. connector and spring, and a Cerakoted-to-match Taran Tactical Carry Magwell.
The gold-toned barrel is a Zaffiri Precision 9mm slab-side stainless model that features a flush target crown and TiN finish. We noticed that the Hyve trigger sports some of the highlighting orange color that’s seen on the Milgauss’ hour markers and Cerakoted spots on the slide—a nice touch.
We asked Guarnieri what he thought were some of the stand-out parts, ones he’s most fond of, on his Milgauss Glock. “I love the Cerakoting,” he says. “It’s subtle but makes me think of the watch, which makes me think about how much time I get to enjoy shooting—I mean being married. Second would be the Hyve Monarch trigger system. It has a great feel and I shoot quick and accurately with it. Last, did I already say the Cerakote?” We’ll throw in the stipple work as well. It has a clean look that works well with the overall look of the pistol.
When asked if he encountered any problems with the build, he informed us that everything went smoothly and according to plan. This isn’t the first pistol that he’s customized; he has a safe full of them. He further affirms: “After building so many Glocks, you know what parts work well together so there isn’t a lot of trial and error anymore.”
The finished product speaks for itself. The Milgauss Glock and Rolex combo looks like it’d be quite the eye-catching pair while on the firing line. How many matching pistol/wristwatch sets have you encountered at the range? We can’t say that we’ve seen many. Images by Jerry Tsai
Build Sheet – Glock Milgauss
Specifications
Caliber: 9mm
Barrel: Zaffiri Precision 9mm, slab-side stainless, flush target crown, TiN
Coating: Slide/Tampa Cerakote Facility, Frame/Arsenal Engraving & Coating
Framework: Rocket City Stippling
Featured Accessories
Trigger: Hyve Technologies
Monarch system
Sights: Ameriglo tall suppressor tritium night sights
Parts & Accessories: Magpul G19 magazine, Taran Tactical +02 baseplates, Tactic Enterprise custom trigger pins, GlockStore extended slide stop and slide release, Glock extended magazine release, Ghost Inc. connector and spring, Taran Tactical Carry magwell
About the Owner
Name: Leigh Guarnieri
Occupation: VP Marketing FMS
IG: @lguarnieri
FB: /leighguarnieri
Special Thanks: Hiroko Guarnieri for supporting my hobbies and also pretending to be excited when I show you a new gun.
