I believe they were The Edge(?) and Lifeboat , respectively. Hold the butter on the popcorn though, I'm counting calories. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I wear a Timex Helix. It has a built in thermometer, barometer, and altimeter. I have not had occasion to seriously use the first two yet but they seem to be reasonably reliable and would give me some rudimentary forcasting ability.

> Buy those Suunto wrist mounted compasses, altimeter and thermometer...and stick them on
> the watch band.

I had a wrist-mounted compass, but I found it too obtrusive. I kept knocking it. Now I have a Casio Sea pathfinder, which is solar-powered and has compass, barometer and thermometer.

The compass is better than nothing, and it does save me carrying a separate one on my keyring, but I don't really rate it. It can give misleading readings if I don't hold it level (which usually means taking it off my wrist).

The barometer is not as good as the one on my previous Casio because you have to press a button to see it. In practice it doesn't get used. Also, it has no altimeter (which suprised me).

I've never used the themometer. Normally it gives a reading somewhere between my body temperate and the room temperate, which is useless. The only survival use I can think of is if you have to sterilise water by heating and can't boil it.

I am undecided about the solar power. The power is of course stored in some kind of battery, so I doubt it will last forever. A good replacable battery watch might be better.

For my recent skiing holiday I left this watch behind and took my previous Casio instead. The older one is less bulky, has a better barometer, and also has an altimeter which could be more valuable in mountainous terrain.

I like having an objective measure of time. I should think it would be useful both for elapsed time (eg how many hours have I been walking?) and for absolute time (how long til dusk?). It can help plan and allocate resources, and coordinate with other people.

It is pretty much essential to have a watch with you for alpine skiing, because the lifts close at 4pm and missing that deadline could be the start of a bad night. The guidebooks say as much: each person in the group should have their own watch and piste map. Sometimes, a watch gives the first indication that you are in trouble.

Speaking of mechanical watches, what do you think of Hamilton watches? I think they have an Swiss ETA movement but are put together in China and are originaly designed in the US and were issued during WWII. They also have a hand wound mechanical field watch at a very affordable price and they have sapphire crystals as a bonus. What do you think about a hand wound watch in a survival situation, would you think about winding it? Anyway they have a big crown so that the pilots could wind them with gloves on I guess... They also have automatic movements (with a rotor like the Rolex). In about the same range there's Glycine Combat watches. The point is that military mechanical watches look interesting.



Frankie

Most all 'good' mechanical watches have an ETA movement, brands like Glycine will just encase an ETA in a custom case. Expect to pay a few to several hundred dollars. Only with really stratospheric watches (Patek, Rolex etc) will you get a movement made by someone not ETA.

A good alternative is a Seiko mechanical, some in the military or diver style are very reliable and durable. They can be had from hong kong via ebay for less than a hundred dollars. Be advised that some entry level automatic winders cannot be manually wound, so you have to wear them every day to keep them running.

For a truly comprehensive coverage of high end mechanical watches see:
http://www.timezone.com/
For info on less expensive watches:
http://www.pmwf.com/cgi-bin/Forum/webbbs_config.cgi

I'm NOT certain in the case of Hamilton, but I know this is true of Benrus and some of the others so I just pass this along. Some of the great old names in watchmaking actually left the business for whatever reason. Then years later (now) companies with less stellar credentials have bought the company names and are producing watches using the previously respected name. That doesn't necessarily mean the product won't be good, but it does mean it might not be what you think it is. I bought a couple Benrus watches of this sort. They have been OK. I discovered what I have just recounted through what someone told me and then researching Benrus on the web. I have been told other company names have suffered similar fates.

I used to have a Helix and really liked it until I broke the "switch" that disengages the knob to keep you from unintentionally changing modes. I have often thought of replacing it with a comparable model from Suunto. Perhaps eventually I will.

I like mine too except that the light on mine has an annoying habit of getting locked on. If I don't notice the beep right away then it drains my battery. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

In a "survival situation"?

How about fleshing that out a bit more?

Hmm. I think pretty much anything:

- rugged and reliable
- waterproof
- easy to read

Would be good. It might be helpful to have a date feature.

-john

Brangdon, what Sea Pathfinder models do you have?
I have the older model SPF-40 and I find it pretty good, but bulky, and a little heavy on batteries.
I would be interested to hear of which models you have and a little comparing how you like their features.
I was thinking about updating mine shortly so I'm interested inwhat you have to say about them.