Most of the .mil blokes I know go for the following: Marathon SAR models (Automatic GSAR and TSAR in particular) - Timex Expedition (quartz) Seiko SX007 diver (Auto) Seiko SX009 diver (Auto) Casio G-Shock (Riseman, Mudman and Frogman especially - Digital or digi-analogue quartz) IMO a Seiko 5 like mine is a bit iffy for hard use while deployed, but some of the Seiko 5 Sports models would probably be OK - you want a screw-down crown, solid opaque steel caseback and more than 30m water resistance along with that sapphire crystal. Not that 90-300m water resistance will be an issue while deployed, but blast overpressure may be - especially if you're working around EOD folks or spending a bit of time in vehicles. In my rotation, the only watches suitable for hard use are the G-Shock and the Omega - but I wouldn't wear the Omega off the beaten track. The others are daily wear watches which MIGHT be able to handle a bit of seriously rough stuff, but they are unproven.
Interesting I have given up wearing a watch for several reasons. 1) I am stuck carrying a smart phone anyway so the only place I might need a real watch is at the movies. 2) even the watches that I have that I used to be able to wear now give me contact dermatitis 3) I am too hard on them none of them seem to last more than a couple of months for me before they have to go back to the shop. Some thing seems to be strange with my body's electrical field 4) I got tired of my wife and daughter (both of whom care smart phones asking me for the time). Now I just show them my bare wrist and shrug my shoulders. 5) and all the bands that I have tried have a wear life of about a couple of months before they fall apart. I even managed to break the sapphire glass on the Omega Dive Master that I had just swinging my arm and hitting a wall with it.
Yeah, watches aren't suitable for everyone. With the wide availability of Android and IOS phones, are watches even necessary for those who are not purists? There will come a time when a wrist watch will no longer be an indicator of your age to younger generations, but will be an indicator of refinement and classy-assness. I look forward to that day.
Marathon - The only one I'm interested in thus far is the GSAR but it's constantly sold out due to many wanting the same watch as our SARTechs are issued. (Wish they'd give us electronic warfare guys $1000 watches LOL) Timex - Beaten the snot out of too many of them. Sure they're cheap but when you're getting several per year it gets not just expensive but also ridiculous to be on a first name basis with the lady at at the WalMart watch counter. Seiko Divers - SWEET AND AFFORDABLE. Gonna go tomorrow afternoon and have a look at one of the local places to see if they carry them. Seiko 5 - I've only been looking at their sport models lately now - basically I'm hunting for a dive watch not in the price range of a Seamaster or Submariner. Might, against my better judgement look at Invicta.
Love this watch! Titanium is pretty light and quite strong. The glass doesn't scratch easily. Classy and practical, I wear it all the time, except at night!
I used to love dial chronometers but the ones in my price range (I splurged on a few) had dials that got to be too small to see with my eyes...a dedicated 30 second sweep dial rather than 60 would be far more useful, readable and make more sense, but all mine had 60 seconds. Plus, they all broke.
I know the feeling as it's almost impossible for me to see the date window in my watch now without reading glasses.
I'm not a collector by any means, and have a couple battery and mechanical movements. In the end, I love wearing metal, machinery, and leather. Here's what I sport these days:
My father liked to collect things and watches were one of his favorite things to collect. As he ages, he keeps unloading his collections off on me. Not that I'm complaining as he had quite a gun collection. I probably have about 30 different watches. Unfortunately, for the last 30 years I've worked in a wafer fab and wear a bunny suit quite often. Not this kind. This kind. It doesn't really allow for a watch because of all the gloves and gown etc. Even though I may be considered old I guess, I use my phone to tell the time. With all that said, my favorite is my Tag.
The Skagen Jorn hybrid came in the post. Firmware updated, provides for 12 notifications. I'm glad I got the slimmer, lighter Jorn instead of the Hagen. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
This is an old winder I found a few months ago for a couple bucks. Ran for about a week then quit. Was messing with it last night, wound it backwards and that must have loosened up some crud because it's been running like a champ. Put an older "comfort fit" expansion band on it, much more comfortable than the modern crap expansion bands. I know it could use serviced but ain't got time or money for that. Will wear it often as long as it runs.
I don't wear a watch much since I retired a couple of years ago - I now prefer a fitness tracker/heart rate monitor/GPS for my daily run - but when I do wear one it's usually this Tag-Heuer that my wife bought me about 25 years ago. It's looking a little beat up but it's been a great watch. It has a luminous face which has come in handy as I have done well over 500 scuba dives with it. I sent the watch off to Tag a couple of years ago for a full service which cost me a little over $100. They cleaned it, replaced all the O-rings, and to my surprise just swapped out the mechanism for a new one before pressure testing it and returning it to me within a couple of days. I also have a gold Cartier Tank on a black leather strap that I have hardly ever worn (even though it's a beautiful watch) and a drawer full of Seikos, Citizens, Hamilton and Skagens all waiting for me to put new batteries in them.
I have a similar one, but with a black face. The bracelet is long gone and it just sits in a box someplace. Maybe someday I'll get it back to normal.
We'd love close up details on the pocket watch. What do you know about your watch and those who carried it?
