I put on my Casio PathFinder the other day, first time in 7 years. I need to time my training walk with my 79 year old neighbor lady. 2.5 miles in less than a hour.

My dad work on watches for over 70 years. He had 100's of pocket watches. Mine was a 1902 Elgin 12 Size 17 jewel in a gold Hunter's case. Had the purtiest dial of all of them. I bought it for $15 in a North Idaho 2nd hand store. The case was wrong but a nice nickel one, had 2 cracked plate jewels, a broken balance staff and missing the crystal and the 3rd wheel had a broken axle shaft for the seconds hand. I gave it to my brother when I was dying. Dad made it like new over the weekend.

I never enjoyed working on them. I have some of dad's tooling.

 

I always wear a watch. I'm in my mid-30's and always carry a phone or sit at a computer. But I just like watches.

I got a nice pocketwatch when I was a pup, and found an old one of my dads. But they're both gone, or probably still at my parents' place somewhere.

Post up some pics if you feel like it sometime

 

I stopped wearing a wrist watch decades ago, but I carried my Dads gold railroad pocket watch. I stopped carrying that because of its value and wear. Believe it or not, I replaced it with a $15 Walmart pocket watch and it's been a damn good watch. Keeps good time and the battery lasts over 3 years. All it says is Quartz and probably made in china. So, yes, I still carry a watch..

 

I have my grandfather's railroad pocket watch. I rarely wear it or carry it for the same reasons. A part of the value is sentimental. It's all I have of him besides memories.

 

when I married my dear wife....one of her gifts to me....was a really old...spring driven pocket watch...that I took to a watch shop for a gentle cleaning....and was shocked to learn it was a pocket watch made in late 1800s....with a 24 caret solid gold case which explained why it felt so heavy.....the watch shop owner offered me $3000 on the spot for it.....it came home and locked up in the safe now...

 

Would like to get a few inexpensive wind up wrist watches.

Does anyone know of a current manufacturer?

Note: inexpensive meaning $50-100, not $300.

 

I haven't worn a watch in years. Just use my cell phone now. I do have a wrist watch and a pocket watch though.

 

I'm a watch guy like I'm a gun guy, love and appreciate a good watch and all that goes into one. Like guns, I stop at the cosmetic enhancements like engraving on a gun but I do buy nice automatic watches.

 

Military Seiko Automatic is what I outfitted everyone in our BOL family group with.
Self winding = no battery to go dead.

 

i have a Seiko kinetic I bought in 92. about 10 years ago the capacitor or whatever that is powered by the movement had to be replaced. so while they don't last forever, I got over 20 years without any worries whatsoever and everyday wear.

 

Nice bunker,

 

Not to mention they are relatively inexpensive.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Seiko-5-MI...4?epid=174123908&hash=item3f2733cfe0:m:mYgkP-xyvjpnIsTaBcPXy0w&var=570171750888

 

I just started wearing a watch.

A Casio G-Shock, cant remember the exact model; but its green and cost $250.

I never liked wearing watches and all of a sudden, as of a few months ago; it hardly ever leaves my wrist.

I even have a watch tan, which is another first in my life. :

 

40+ years of daily wear. It's a part of me now.

 

THROUGH my years on the street I finally settled on Casio G-shock since they lasted years instead of months or sometimes weeks.

Now that I am retired I have my Casio Pathfinder that is solar rechargeable. I live where cell reception is very spotty but the Casio is always working.

So far it has been to Alaska several times and taken its share of abuse with just daily projects .

Very tough watches.

 

I have 3 watches, my primary watch that I wear 99% of the time is just a simple g-shock with a 10 year battery life and a vibrating alarm. Then I have 2 dressy watches, one leather strap for times that I don't need to be super formal but a g-shock would be inappropriate and then a traditional metal strap watch for when I need to wear a suit or class up my outfit...

 

I've always worn a watch; my job requires me to be able to easily know what time it is, and that's the easiest way for me.

**************

I think watches--those that don't rely on batteries or electronics--are an underappreciated prep item. I wish I had a source for about a dozen inexpensive such watches.

Windup, or self-winding watches, in other words.

Being able to coordinate time between parties is an efficiency measure. Go out on patrol and be back in 2 hours; I'll meet you at 3pm at such and so place; I need to do pressure canning and need a reliable way to time it; I want to do a 3-minute egg; etc.

There are myriad ways that just being able to coordinate timing would be helped by timepieces.

I don't want electronic ones (EMP effects? I don't know, and don't want to rely on that). And I don't want ones that require batteries for obvious reasons.

Anyone know of a source of inexpensive windup watches?

 

Is Timex even around anymore? Some time back I found my old Timex wrist watch in my office desk, that I wore in highschool. It was all green and crusty. I wound it up and the damn thing still works. They really do keep on ticking..:thumb:

 

For the money... I like the Seiko SKX007.

Its a dive watch (water resistant) with a rotating timing bezel, which allows for quick and easy to see timing when necessary. And an analog watch can also be used as a compass. It has an automatic movement (no batteries). Made from solid stainless steel. The hands and indices have strong lume which glows well in the dark. It's rugged and it wears comfortable on a bracelet, rubber strap, or my favorite, a NATO from County Comm. And you can find them on the internet for a couple of hundred dollars. You have an option of a black bezel or a red & blue bezel.

It's a watch, in my opinion, that surpasses anything you can find not only for less money, but it's better in quality than a lot of watches that cost 2 and 3 times what it does. If you look on the EDC forum, it's a popular watch among those guys. It looks good and wears well. Seiko watches have proven themselves in all conditions. Wars, expeditions, police, fire, deep dives, etc... I own several different Seiko models.

 

I have some nice watches I wear for special events or a night out with someone special. But 90% of the time, I wear one of my g-shocks. It's the only watch I haven't been about to break from abuse and the fact that it charges itself (solar) and sets its by the atomic clock (wireless)... you can't beat it. You can't ask for more from a watch... unbreakable and never have to wind, change batteries or set it.

 

I wouldn't consider anything that wasn't solar, kinetic, or mechanical of some type. Seiko and Citizen are probably the best value for the lifespan/performance. I travel almost exclusively with my Marathon GSAR or larger JDD and a solar G-Shock that also has the radio updates (not really needed). I use the G-Shock almost daily for running and working out...plus it allows me to keep my Marathon on time: I've since added a third watch more as a travel/dress watch: Citizen Men's Eco-Drive Promaster Navihawk Satelitte GPS Watch with a leather band that is really quite nice. Time is money...I like to watch it:

ROCK6

 

Haven't wore or carried a watch since I lost my solar atomic Gshock. I took loosing that watch as a sign.
Edit: Don't carry a phone either.

 

Given that cheap battery powered wrist watches last about a decade on a $5 battery I'm not concerned about them.


I have a timex clipped on my ditch bag, haven't worn it in years. (I had a job where I wore it everyday for years and the day I quite I took the watch off and never wore it again)

I do have an old windup Elgen pocketwatch.

Its not something I worry about much. I have dozens of devices laying around that keep time in some fashion.

 

Wear a watch, it’s a man rule.:thumb:

But seriously, I do wear a watch, I’d rather not dig out a pocket watch or my phone to look at the time. I also coach, I NEED a stopwatch, so the battery powered digital units do it for me. I have a few wind up watches, I think they were free from the NRA or maybe cost $5 at the dollar store, I don’t give a flip if they lose minutes a day, I just set them every day that I use them, and move on.

I generally buy the best rated “under $35” waterproof Casio or Timex with the features I want, they last for years, and as they are cheap, I can afford to have different colors or styles, for whatever use. I kayak and snorkel a bit in the summer, and I wear them swimming too, I have only had one fill with water, and oddly, it is still running after I opened it and let it dry. It was about 6 years old, and it lost a button cover that I didn’t notice...so it no longer goes to the water with me.

I have a hard time spending more on a watch than on a gun...but then, I like cheap guns, too.:thumb:

 

I always get plain Timex's. They are tough and easy to read. If I want to know the date I look at a calendar. Always battery powered windup watches don't like welders and that is my chosen profession.

 

Own G Shock to a Rolex , love Seiko skx 007 great watch, would serve, many well.

 

Watches have been part of my edc since my cub scout days. I have a couple of nice Citizen and Seiko watches, and a pile of others (mostly Timex) in various forms of non-usability due to my hard use of them. A few years ago I bought my first G-Shock at a flea market for $10 from a recently discharged veteran who had taken it through multiple deployments. It was just a basic version, but quickly became my favorite and was my edc until I lost a tiny part recently while changing the battery.
I replaced it with a GW-6900, which is a solar/atomic version of the original military design. Takes care of both complaints from my previous watch, batteries and time adjustments.

 

Got a Rolex when I got married- maintainance is too expensive- and accurcarcy sucks. Had a Seiko quartz before that- got years out of the battery, and it held up( as did the Rolex, except the Seiko needed a $5 battery every 5 years, the Rolex needed a vacation to NYC every 5 years. ( I know this, because i’d Pull the Seiko out when the Rolex went on vacation. ) I’d get a kinetic quartz except the wife bought me a Victorinox- 2.5 years on the first battery. I was refusing to send the Rolex on another vacation ( actually it can be repaired in Alabama, but it’s not cheap either way.)

I wear the watch 24-7, whether shooting, holding a hammer drill or changing oil. It only comes off if my hand is in an energized power panel or around high current DC, or on an oil rig( safety issue, I don’t remember why) So far the victorinix is holding up.