Gang,

After 10+ years of not wearing a watch (medical reasons) I'm in the market again.

My wants are:
analog
self powering (no batteries)
water resistant at least
not overly big (I'm not "Blast" sized)
don't need calendar functions
robust (I'm a clutz)
compass feature would be nice
so would two time zone functions
cost between $100 & $200
Chronograph would be nice but think that's out of my price range

What's the favorite band? Leather, rubber or metal?
Any preferred makers? (used to work for a division of Seiko, got great deals on their watches, but no more, sigh...)

Thanks much!

P.S. I had the opportunity to meet Doug Ritter and his lovely wife Sue at a symposium this week. A great guy and well respected by his peers in the survival business. If you ever get the chance to talk to Doug about his work take it!

Seiko makes a couple different basic analog self winding types. They are not too big, don't have compass features or multiple time zones, but are in your price range. Stainless steel is my perference for a band; the type that clasps shut, not the stretchy kind. I just looked at a few up at Sam's club last night, and almost bought one.

Ben,

Thanks, I'll take a look at those. Got a couple of battery powered Seiko's that eventually failed, but I did like them.

The Citizen Eco-Drive Titanium Chronograph seems to tick all the boxes.

http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Eco-Drive-...MYDTW49R0ZZW8QW

I have the cheaper version.

http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Eco-Drive-Titanium-Watch-BM8290-05E/dp/B000EQU0BO/ref=pd_sim_watch_1

It is very lightweight and keeps the time resonably well. It has gained about 90 sec in the last 18 months or so.

I'm a big fan of Fortis watches (http://www.fortis-watch.com/en/collection/index.html) but i know of no model thats in the price range your after.

I was looking for a beater watch and came across two that interested me:
http://www.rei.com/product/769134
http://www.rei.com/product/745614

But I doubt their automatics.

My favorite watch bands are the diver's nylon webbing ones that wrap around your wrist (forget the name of them right now). Just don't look professional enough for work (I personally don't care... but thats a story for another time)

Leather ones, the nicer ones, don't react to well to water... and since i'm in the ocean when I can I just can't have one.

I have a love/hate relationship with the rubber bands... love them, love the look, but hate it when i sweat with one on.

Metal is ok, but it seems the nicer watches are, the more my arm hair gets caught in the band!

Hope that helps...
Kris

This is what I wear. I wrote a mini-review of it when I got it initially. I love it even more now as the years have gone by.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post81601

It doesn't meet your battery criteria, but FWIW I'm still on the original battery which is right at two years old now. Looks like the price on it has gone up since I got mine, but it's still under your low end cost.

Heartig, How is the accuracy on your watch now that you've had it a while?

I read your original review and was considering one of those but with the price at $79 instead of $59 by the time I went looking, I felt I should look around some more. It still seems like a very good deal for an solid looking analog dive watch rated to that depth. (It's available for $69 elsewhere on the web.)

Casio also makes the "Casio Men's Sea Analog Illuminator Dual LED Dive Watch #MDV102-1AV" for under $50 at Amazon. It has a bit too much chrome on it for my tastes but seems very workable if you can live with the battery issue.

I prefer battery powered watches. I don't wear a watch everyday so an automatic or a wind-up like I'm wearing now has to be set before use which is a pain.

I reset it every couple of months against my atomic clock. It might have gained 5 seconds over several months, which is good enough for me. I don't have a single scratch on the crystal yet either. It looks as perfect as the day I received it. I don't baby the watch, but then I'm not a careless klutz or someone who works in a rough environment either. I have the rubberized band, and unlike other watches I've had, this one shows zero wear - no creasing, tears or any marks or discoloration. The watch could be sold as brand new based on it's looks, even after two years of daily wear. Not that I'd do this. But it has been quite durable.

Note: If you order from LA Police gear like my wife did on this watch, plan on seeing almost daily advertisements from them in your email. I don't know if my wife tried to opt out of this when she ordered. She likes their notifications. But there are a lot of them. It doesn't appear that they share your email with anyone else though.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've downloaded their catalog and will browse away.

BTW, anyone have any experience with the watches that County Comm sells? I like the look of some of them but don't have a clue as to their value.

I wear a Casio Atomic watch w/dual time zones, stopwatch and solar, just needs a compass instead of glueing a button compass to the band.

Mike