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

My EDC watch only matches a few of your criteria but I like it. It's a titanium Swiss Army model. Metal band w/clasp. Battery operated but I've only gone thru 3 in the 7 or 8 years I've owned it. Keeps very good time. Has a date feature but no day. My only complaint is that whatever they use for the glow in the dark feature has finally stopped working.

I mainly got it cause I liked the idea of a titanium watch and I needed a sweep second hand for my work, easier to take a pulse with that then with a digital in my opinion.

Can't recall what I paid, maybe $200.00?

Still in very good condition but the band could use some time in the ultrasound cleaner.

John E

looks like you will need a self winder to meet "want #2"..
the web is filled with watch sites so i would look for that as my main search..i like a band that straps on tight..at the bottom
of Lac La Croix near Gull Rock is my Seko--all i did was reach forward and the clasp on the metal band popped open and off it went..now i don't wear in on my wrist but put it thru a shirt pocket button hole..some people think a watch is just "fluff" in a survival kit list but we are so used to knowing what time it is that it becomes a psychlogical lift to have it handy..wake up in the dark and cold--how long untill dawn???..it's nice to know..sorry i went away from your questions on this---outside of a cheap military repo that go's on canoe trips my only other watch is one with a true 24 hour face..one sweep of the big hand in 24 hours..at my last job we kept track of everything in the 24 hour system and a watch that showed me that was easy to use.

If you like, I can take a look at some watch stores here on island (live in the Caymans, and have tonnes of jewerly and watchs to choose from). Everything from the cheap to the very expensive.

I can go tomorrow and report back what I can find. That way, you can have some direction on what to get. I have some buddies that are sales people, so after 10 mins I can probably have 10 models that fit what your after.

PM me if this interests you.

i know it's nothing like what you are enquiring about but i bought the cheapest casio digital i could find (8 pounds in the uk) last week as i'm planning on a us shopping trip next year to get a super one.
it's only supposed to be 'water resistant' but i wear it in the shower daily with no ill effects and it's made me realise the gadget strewn watches i usually get, all just have additional features that i never use. i might just stick with it.
The Sock

I have a $30 Timex. It tells the time and it lights up. A compass thing would have been a nice touch, but that would have required another $10 outlay.

I bought the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical last year. It's a nice simple flieger military type of watch (a remake of the WWII American military watch for the movie Pearl Harbor) it has a manually-wind 2804 ETA Swiss movement and is water resistant to 50 meters.

It's very comfortable on my wrist and the dial couldn't be more readable.

I scratched the case (not the sapphire crystal) with the back of my Spyderco Delica while removing my pants and can't polish it since it's sandblasted (I could give it a new polish finish but won't bother).

During the night I lay it upside down (crown left) so it is slower and that way it's almost as accurate as a quartz watch.

I wanted to buy a Jürgen made in Germany leather strap with Bund pads. They have Chicago screws to attach the straps on old fixed bar military watches. But haven't got around to order it yet.

Frankie

I own a citizen eco drive. Not sure the model but its a stainless steel band, gold version of their dive watch. It looks like Rolex face.

I am not a fan of the little chronograph dials inside a face. To small for me to read.

i won't wear it outdoors for hiking or rough housing. Its plenty sturdy but my outdoor watches must have a back light or constant glowing hands.

I am a big fan of Luminox watches for that very reason. Luminox has a treated face so you never need to push a backlight or bemoan dials that fade out after 20 minutes in the dark.

http://luminox.800rpm.com/index.php?/site/technology

I will give a +1 on the Luminox. Had mine for close to 10 years now. Same original battery. Trits are at half life, glow is still "bright" in the dark, but very subdued in twilight/dim light but more than enough to see it. I have the titanium divers, water proof to 200m with the titanium band. I will switch out the band with a martec nylon one if I'm going to "abuse" it, just more secure that way. Don't have to worry about the casp getting caught and popping open. No scratches on the saphire face, and I work in a warehouse wearing the watch daily. Pleanty of light scratches on the body, bezel and bracelet. The price you pay for the lighter weight titanium.

-Bill Liptak

It's a much simpler watch, but for no nonsense EDC I swear by the British issue CWC G10 watch. Very nearly bulletproof, no frills and extremely accurate. It doesn't have any of the more advanced functions but as far as I'm concerned I wouldn't have it any other way...

This is the Casio PAG80 series, I own the one on the right. From the website: Black Pathfinder Solar Triple Sensor featuring Tough Solar, Digital Compass, Altimeter, Barometer, Thermometer and many other great tools to keep you moving. Resin Band.The other two have different bands. One is Titanium & the other Leather. Not cheap at around $250, but it sure is a robust & functional watch. I think it fits most if not all of your needs. I'm sure it could be found online at a more reasonable price. I got mine as a christmas gift last year. I highly recommend it.

I own a Seiko 5 and I´m mostly satisfied with it. It´s fairly accurate (about 3 min off per week) and pretty robust. It has a self winding movement. It only winds in one direction and has no manual winding. I don´t like that too much but it´s not really bothering me too much.
I prefer stainless steel bands as they are robust, long-lived and easy to clean.
Maybe a pocket watch could be an alternative for you. There are robust ones and they can be kept were they are protected. If you decide to use one, don´t go for a self winding one.

I failed to mention this but some Luminox watches have a compass built. The watch face moves aside and underneath is a compass.

I have the BIG Casio, altimeter, solar, atomic, elec compass, barometer,tide and moon, so many buttons I have to carry the manual in a backpack. But I love it when hiking or even driving into the mountains and wondering how high I am (no jokes here).

Seriously, it's huge, but completely self contained and accurate, and if exposed to sun regularly, in theory will never need batteries.

I also have a Citizen eco-drive diver, same solar capacity, not so humongous.

I second the Casio Pathfinder. Mine has Titanium band and I love it. Works great.

Once upon a time I spent quite a bit on watches. I don't/can't/won't baby them and I got tired of breaking them. I now own two Casio watches. One is ugly and one is uglier but both have been extremely durable and reliable. They are both a little on the large size but I believe Casio offers some smaller faced alternatives.

Casio MDV102-1AV


The other is from the G-Shock line. I was going to post a picture of it but I got tired trying to sort through all the shock resistant, mud/dust proof, 200M WR blah, blah, blah. They all look somewhat alike anyway.

Watch Porn. Nice.