Wrist watches

I stopped wearing a watch when I graduated from college (1983). After that there didn't seem much point, since there are clocks everywhere (car and office and home) and a watch is a pain in a lab or doing any kind of work. They snag on clothes and equipment, and solvents destroy the seals. Certainly obsolete the day cell phones came out.
 
thinwater said:
I stopped wearing a watch when I graduated from college (1983). After that there didn't seem much point, since there are clocks everywhere (car and office and home) and a watch is a pain in a lab or doing any kind of work. They snag on clothes and equipment, and solvents destroy the seals. Certainly obsolete the day cell phones came out.
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Some would agree with you and some points are very true.

But some people do not wish to pull a phone out of their pocket to view the time when a flick of the wrist will suffice.

At night in a bunk, upon a turbulent sea, looking at one’s wrist to tell the time (one of my watches turns the light on with a lift of the wrist) seems easier than finding a phone.

Not all phones are waterproof or even splash proof.

Some people (not me) view watches as jewellery or status symbols.

I am trying to stop myself spent a measly £26 UK sterling upon a Casio that has superb light, alarm and robustness.

£69 will buy me a shock resistant G watch, with super light, super loud alarm, and blue tooth connectivity.

Coin cells are cheaper than mobile phone batteries too.

I am resisting any purchase.

So, like all things, there are pros and cons and preferences.
 
Only got back into sailing 18 mths ago so have been slowly figuring whats what re-equipment and it didn't take long to figure that deploying said phone for just about anything whilst bouncing around or getting soaked is a total no go on my boat.
Picked up a chunky, waterproof, white faced Timex thingy for 20 quid. Glows in the dark too. I do rather think having a useable easily readable watch on ones wrist just seems more proper when at sea.
 
Horses for courses. I still find there are many places without clocks in view, and there are many activities where handling a phone is inconvenient: running, climbing, skiing, etc. There's a reason smart watches are now a thing. (Well, apart from acting as "separators".)

I also wouldn't discount the value of the "wrist flick" over digging out a phone. Often the most insidious thieves of time are transitions: the time needed to re-arrange a workspace for a new task, the extra effort to log into a different system, etc. It seems like but a few moments, but in aggregate the cost becomes quite significant.
 
I know someone with a special forces watch.

It has an engraving upon the back designating their regiment etc and special tough ‘glass’.

It looked in good condition despite being through tough times.

I googled the make and sure enough the website stated they were main dealers for those special forces. There are other makes of watch for other special forces.

It has permanent illumination via a chemical (but degrades after 10 years) - it is radioactive but not as bad as the old stuff and the poor brush licking ladies that applied the radioactive substance (as per a documentary I saw long ago).

It was serviced free of charge by a local jewellers as a thank you for the owner’s service.

It didn’t have an alarm which I can understand could be compromising for a special forces operator!
 
A lot of people in the forces these days use a Garmin Tactix as it’s compatible with night vision and has a bunch of military specific apps. It also has a domed sapphire crystal to avoid reflections being an issue.
 
Cerebus said:
Some would agree with you and some points are very true.

But some people do not wish to pull a phone out of their pocket to view the time when a flick of the wrist will suffice.

At night in a bunk, upon a turbulent sea, looking at one’s wrist to tell the time (one of my watches turns the light on with a lift of the wrist) seems easier than finding a phone.

Not all phones are waterproof or even splash proof.

Some people (not me) view watches as jewellery or status symbols.

I am trying to stop myself spent a measly £26 UK sterling upon a Casio that has superb light, alarm and robustness.

£69 will buy me a shock resistant G watch, with super light, super loud alarm, and blue tooth connectivity.

Coin cells are cheaper than mobile phone batteries too.

I am resisting any purchase.

So, like all things, there are pros and cons and preferences.
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All fair points.
  • Every cell phone I have owned, for over 30 years, has been company. Free. In a year when I retire I will have to get a phone.
  • If I am at the helm, driving my car, in front of my computer, or practically anywhere in the house, I can see the time with the turn of my head. Other times ... I either don't care, can guess from the passage of time, or yeah, I can look on the phone. But mostly, there are clock displays everywhere, from the microwave, to the cable box, even the clothes drier. If there is not a display handy it probably does not matter to me, not at that level of constant vigilance.
  • My phone is waterproof. I've left it out in the rain and worse when I lost it somewhere. But I never have it on my person on the boat; it is safe below, in my boat drybag.
  • Jewelry. I don't even wear a wedding band, because my first boss had a finger ripped off climbing down a ladder (it caught). My maternal grandfather had a bad injury related to a ring. I had a fefw near misses and put the thing away forever. Watches are not as dangerous, but not risk free IME. And I dislike the feel.
 
lustyd said:
A lot of people in the forces these days use a Garmin Tactix as it’s compatible with night vision and has a bunch of military specific apps. It also has a domed sapphire crystal to avoid reflections being an issue.
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Sounds good except:

I googled the watches you mentioned; not sure many of the people I know could afford them. (Some cost over £1000- perhaps the apps are worth it- I did not delve).

I like watches that do not need USB charging every night.

Watches are not generally issued. In fact all the best gear is purchased privately. Perhaps different in the USA where operators often have better equipment.
 
lustyd said:
A lot of people in the forces these days use a Garmin Tactix as it’s compatible with night vision and has a bunch of military specific apps. It also has a domed sapphire crystal to avoid reflections being an issue.
Click to expand...
My sailing partner has one of those.

I like big screens and big buttons. Mini-tablets and mini-laptops put me off. I don't even like phone apps for that reason; it can wait until I get home and have a full-size keyboard (I plug in an ergo to my lap top because I hate little keyboards).
 
thinwater said:
My sailing partner has one of those.

I like big screens and big buttons. Mini-tablets and mini-laptops put me off. I don't even like phone apps for that reason; it can wait until I get home and have a full-size keyboard (I plug in an ergo to my lap top because I hate little keyboards).
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Have you noticed what your sailing partner’s watch does out of curiosity?

What apps does it have that are useful.

It is a new watch to me and as I say I do not like USB chargeable watches for some reason.

Thanks.
 
Cerebus said:
I like watches that do not need USB charging every night
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Me too, my Garmin lasts a week and my previous one lasted almost two months on a charge. Perhaps you’re thinking of Apple, but their watches have very few of the useful features like red and white torches built in.
 
Cerebus said:
What apps does it have that are useful
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Backup Chart plotter? Red and white torch? Dive computer? Compass, GPS, global tide predictions.

And those are just a couple of examples useful for sailors. It also does fitness stuff and if you like that sort of thing it’s a smart watch.
 
At 15 y.o. my father gifted us sons with two Universal selfwinding waterproof wrist watches. At 27 my fiancèe gave me a golden Omega that became my standard watch. At 35 the same lady, then wife, presented me with the enrollment in the Caprera (Sardinia) sailing school, giving away two weeks of her attending to my precious holyday time, so I resurrected the old Universal and wore it through the rather wetted period. Back home the Universal was thrown in a drawer without any valeting.

Some twenty years ago the Omega was stolen from our bedroom while we slept, as well as our wedding rings and something else. The Universal, after a few scores of salt moisture was not working and I bought a cheap black Swatch. In the meanwhile my wife and my sons searched for and found an old Omega identical to the lost one and I was again gifted with it.
Now I swap the two watches according to the environment. The swatch has been renewed two times with same.

SWMBO conceded me not to renew the wedding ring, which I always considered a danger to my finger.

I like better a flip of the wrist than searching the pocket for the phone. For leather watchstrap - as well as for any leather thing – softening, boot grease is very effective.
 
Cerebus said:
Sounds good except:

I googled the watches you mentioned; not sure many of the people I know could afford them. (Some cost over £1000- perhaps the apps are worth it- I did not delve).

I like watches that do not need USB charging every night.

Watches are not generally issued. In fact all the best gear is purchased privately. Perhaps different in the USA where operators often have better equipment.
Click to expand...
I was issued a G10 in the RAF, had to give it back when I left.
 
I have clocks in my house; I had a clock in my boat where I could see it at a glance; I can see the time on a display in my car; if I am at a train station I can see the time on the arrivals/departures board; London's buses show the time on a display panel; I carry a mobile phone with me when I leave the house.

I don't need a watch anymore,

I have a few at the back of a drawer: unused, and unwanted.

Similarly with domestic radios. If I want to listen to a radio broadcast, I do it on my phone.

Similarly with shopping lists, paper calendars, writing paper, memo pads, &c.

No longer needed. Relics of a bygone age.
 
I can't be bothered with watches. I always seem to bust them. My partner bought me a lovely, expensive watch for my 50th birthday, I had to look delighted but it was broken within the month, chucked into a draw with all the other broken watches. I just use my phone, ironically the screen is smashed so I have a job reading it (and writing this) £150 for a new screen!!
 
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