Turn on virtually any movie made in the past four decades with American military characters in it, and you鈥檙e going to see actors wearing timelessly stylish, metal-framed sunglasses with distinctive straight temple tips. Many of聽those are made by , and the talent is wearing them for two reasons: they鈥檙e the real deal, and they鈥檙e聽perfect. I鈥檝e been wearing mine since December.
Based just south of Boston, Randolph Engineering is a small, family-owned company that鈥檚 been making eyewear in the U.S.聽since 1973. It was awarded its first military contract in 1978聽and still produces glasses adherent to the military鈥檚 20-page-long technical requirements, for both Department of Defense and civilian customers.
That means these aviators are made using a six-week, 200-step process that鈥檚 completed 80 percent by hand. Only one step鈥攅lectroplating the frames to give them a durable finish鈥攖akes place outside of Randolph鈥檚 own facility.
You might expect such an exhaustive pursuit of quality to warrant聽a very high price tag, and while these aren鈥檛 of the cheap gas-station variety,聽, only a few bucks more than foreign-made competition from the various Luxottica brands. The value proposition is boosted by a lifetime warranty for frame joints, a two-year warranty for all other defects, and an in-house, mail-in repair service for anything else, starting聽at $25.
Randolph spent the past decade attempting to pivot its business away from the boom-and-bust cycle of military contracts toward聽the more predictable consumer market, but it does still make eyewear for all branches of the armed forces. Today聽it offers聽styles beyond its original aviator, in a wide variety of finishes that go well beyond the classic chrome.
I wear a 55-millimeter聽aviator with a聽bright chrome frame聽and polarized, green-tinted glass lenses, options that take聽the total price up to $279. The green tint cuts blue light, reduces glare, and aids contrast. Polarization is a chemical laminate applied to lenses in a vertical pattern, designed to help reduce reflections coming off horizontal surfaces, like water and snow. These聽lenses only allow 10聽percent of light through, making them more suitable in very bright conditions than the 15 percent that鈥檚 more typical from aviator-style glasses. They鈥檙e also shatterproof聽and polished to the same clarity standards as a camera lens.
Randolph employs聽a unique bayonet聽temple that eliminates the traditional hooked earpiece. The glasses squeeze your head to remain on, rather than resting on your ears. I find this arrangement more comfortable. Designed to be compatible with helmets, the bayonet temples easily slide on and off through the viewport of聽a motorcycle helmet. That lack of a hook also eliminates a pressure point that鈥檚 always bothered me while trying to wear other glasses under helmets.
Aside from the classic, understated look聽that makes these shades go well with anything from a tux to a T-shirt, and their comfort, the thing that makes Randolph鈥檚 aviators so good is the vision they deliver. As anyone who鈥檚 ever looked through a really expensive set of binoculars knows, the difference between low- and high-quality glass is astonishing. The view through these things is just as good as it is through its聽rivals I鈥檝e tried that cost three times as much, and it鈥檚 vastly better than anything I鈥檝e experienced from mainstream brands.
All this adds up to a pair of glasses that look聽so聽classy, I wore them at my wedding,聽on the 5,000-mile drive down to Baja Sur, Mexico鈥攚here I married my wife鈥攁nd back, and virtually every day since. Their extreme clarity improves my ability to drive safely by helping me identify potential obstacles at a greater distance in bright light than naked eyes alone could. For sportswear, they鈥檙e not quite stable enough to wear on a mountain bike, and I add a leash to them when donning聽them on the water, but they will stay in place through slower-paced activities, like hiking or resort skiing. While fishing, the polarization eliminates the most water-surface reflection of any glasses I鈥檝e tried.
Now that I鈥檓 so familiar with these aviators, watching聽TV has gained聽new entertainment as well: Randolph spotting. One night during the height of the COVID-19 shutdown, I counted these exact same sunglasses in three separate action movies. And now I know why they鈥檙e so ubiquitous on-screen.