If there is anything this group loves more than Glocks, it's watches...

If you want tough and cheap, go quartz instead of mechanical. Quartz movements are far tougher, cheaper, and honestly more accurate than mechanical automatic movements. They just lack soul. Seiko and Citizen are brands that stand out for me in this market.

That said, I have a Seiko automatic diver that is at least 25 years old and has never been serviced that I wore daily on patrol for a decade. It has been beat to hell and back and still keeps decent time (decent by abused automatic standards is less than 30 seconds + or - a day, new it was probably 15. Contrast that to my GSAR which is about 10 seconds a day or my Tudor GMT which is the most accurate mechanical watch I own at under 3 seconds a day fast.

If digital but not smart watch is OK, the Casio G Shock is all but indestructible. The Timex Ironman used to be very popular in certain circles as well, but I haven't seen one first hand in years.

If anyone wonders what "certified chronometer" means on a watch face, it is a COSC rating that only applies to Swiss made mechanical automatic movements. The most important part of that rating for most end users is accuracy. To be COSC certified, the time piece is examined over a period of 13 days with the watch resting in a single position and must be found to be within -4 and +6 seconds a day during that period. Very few automatic movements meet this standard and the importance of it is up to the individual. My second most accurate automatic is a Christopher Ward that is not COSC certified, but averages within COSC standards.

I'm a huge fan of mechanical watches (I'm wearing a Speedmaster in my office right now in fact) but I keep a cheaper quartz watch in my office drawer should I know I'm going somewhere...boisterous.

There's a lot of "military" style watches.
Dive & Tool watches- resembling the Marathon CSAR/GSAR style
then there's Field watches. Looking like the picture above.

Field watches, look at Timex, Hamilton.

Dive & Tool, there's many listed above that will be what you're looking for. Countycomm has some nice stuff:

https://countycomm.com/collect...w-all-watch-products

Here's another one not yet mentioned: HELM

https://helmwatches.com/index.html

I have a Marathon GSAR and CSAR, I absolutely LOVE them. Take a beating, accurate, and fashionable. Pretty much my EDC for about 15+ years. I highly recommend them. (Take a look at Windy City Watches. The gentleman that runs the site is phenomenal to deal with. https://windycitywatchcollecto...TxxnA8gudjvojhqQylBy
He also has the Marathon Navagator style watches.)
Then I got my Helm Khuraburi Titanium...
This has quickly replaced my GSAR as my EDC watch!
The ONLY downside of the Helm's are the waiting list.

Casio G-shock is legit tough. I wore two different ones over the course of ~18 years to include a lot of field time and 2 deployments.

Sustain: works... Beat the crap out of it, any weather conditions, Field, machine guns, mortars; still works

Improve:
- Alarm is not loud enough. After a LONG day, and a SHORT night it was not loud enough to wake me up
- illumination was just ok

The Alarm is the main reason I switched to an entry level Garmin. BUT, when I got on the bird, the G-shock was on my wrist and the Garmin was in my kit.

A faithful reproduction of the original Hamilton military is the Khaki Field hand wind.

https://www.jomashop.com/hamil...atch-h69439933.html#

I’ll echo some of what’s already been said, based on personal experience of over 20 years of emergency field work and being a watch nut.

If you just want a watch that will work and the time will always be right, the mentioned solar GShocks are the best answer.

I prefer automatic. I don’t even own a digital watch. When I know I’m going to be in the crap, it’s my Marathon, without question. These days it’s a JDD because my eyes see it better. For a decade it was a GSAR. 3am in the rain the middle of the woods checking a pulse as a solo medic in BFE? I want a watch that I have 100% faith in and glows in the dark all the time. And I don’t remember what day or date it is on a good day!

But it’s big lol

quote:

Originally posted by TigerDore:

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Is there an affordable mechanical watch meeting US military standards out there? Sapphire, metal case, tough, etc.

Where are excellent sellers of these?

Check out Luminox, and look no further than our own member, Dave Truong, owner of Mimi's Jewelry in Southern California.

I have owned Luminox watches for 20 years, and purchased my most recent one right here in a group buy through Dave. Dave is the man, a great, honest businessman and a great member of this forum!

PS- you may need to go used to get the price you want in a mechanical watch, but I think Dave will be able to help you there as well.

.

If you remember back in September David offered a group buy on a Luminox Bear Grills watch. I bought one because I needed a relatively inexpensive watch to wear for a 6 week trip circumnavigating the Sahara Desert in Algeria and Tunisia.

To make a long story short that watch was fantastic. The luminosity is amazing and extremely easy to read at night and has held up very well even with us digging out our Land Cruisers from the deep sand and temps over 52 degrees C.

The other thing I really like about it is that it is very light and you hardly notice that you have it on. I wore if 24/7 for the entire 6 weeks of the trip and it is now my daily watch when I’m banging around.

Here’s the watch..
https://luminox.com/pages/bear...f4VzXmMPTmOyj3TBiSFB

Great insights, everyone. Looking forward to finding the right combination of features with all your guidance.

Vostok Amphibia. Russian military dive watch. My son got it for me when he was working at the Moscow embassy. I’ve worn it almost exclusively for three years as a work watch. Inexpensive, durable, unique.

Bulova Hack models are 60% off at the Citizen Outlet this weekend. Stock may vary. I know the one in San Marcos, TX has 4-styles.

Casio G-Shok watches are quite popular, while simplistic they are robust..and affordable enough the post-exchange could carry a wide variety of them.

Later on as tech improved, Sunnto watches became quite popular in the field, mainly within Special Operations-circles as the cost and features became more sophisticated. The last decade, Garmin watches have been the watch du jour for troops in the field and those in certain specialties. Both brands only do digital so that unfortunately doesn't check your mechanical-design requirement.

I have one of these from Canister Watches. Unfortunately, it looks like sales have been temporarily paused while the owner is deployed.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Great insights, everyone. Looking forward to finding the right combination of features with all your guidance.

Just a small hint, a warning…
Watches- like guns, can get addictive! And expensive!

Something else to think about:
You liked the Marathon. Are you willing to get a used one? There’s more than a few reputable websites that deal with used watches

Casio G-Shock

I wore the same Casio DW-6600 for 19 years straight. I paid under $100 for it.

I "freshened" it up a couple years ago by changing the resin/plastic pieces out for new ones (about $30 and 20 minutes of time).

It's still going although I'm wearing an Apple watch mostly these days.

Here it is after lots and lots of life:



The next day after "freshening" it up:



If you can't wear a smart watch I think it's the best option.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

If you remember back in September David offered a group buy on a Luminox Bear Grills watch.
...
Here’s the watch...
https://luminox.com/pages/bear...f4VzXmMPTmOyj3TBiSFB

That is the one I bought too. Great watch- but I have not put it through the paces you did!


.

My daily driver, flog on it like a rented mule watch is a G-shock Rangeman. It checks all the boxes for my daily life servicing appliances.

I have a stable of tool and field style watches. I love my TSAR. My most favorite tool watch is my Sinn U1. Like Chongo says about his Jumbo, it's easy to see in the dark and BIG.


Lots of great suggestions offered up already.

Vaer. They're not advertised as "military spec.," but they have a nice selection of "field watches."

I own 3 but my favorite is the 'Dirty Dozen,' which I think looks better than all of the originals. They have an expensive mechanical one or an identical looking quartz.

https://www.vaerwatches.com/pr...riant=41255014039686

Mechanical I love the Marathons and if you want tough Sinn, not cheap though.

I wore a G Shock the whole time I was in the Army.

Unfortunately they did not have the 4 Sensor Gulf,Range,Mudmasters... back then. Solar, Radio, Compass, Altimeter, Barometer. Love my Gulfmaster.

Mechanical and cheap, I have been wearing the heck out of a Steeldive Capt Willard Clone, built better than a Seiko and uses a Seiko movement, only bad thing is it is Chinese but they can be bought under $100.

I have a Seiko 5 automatic watch, basic field watch and it was less than a hundred bucks. It's my beat around watch, when I'm not wearing my Apple smart watch.
I have a Luminox 3051Blackout that will not keep time. I've sent it to be repaired, they put a new movement in it and it still won't keep time. I gave up and threw it in a drawer.

The Casio MRW200H is also interesting with a screw down crown.

https://a.co/d/hqoeFaZ

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
The Casio MRW200H is also interesting with a screw down crown.

https://a.co/d/hqoeFaZ

I’m wearing one right now. Cheap and reliable. I like it, but mine doesn’t have a screw down crown. And the lume is worthless, if lume matters.