I am wondering if we are all looking for the same thing in an EDC watch, or if many are counting on their cell phones instead of wearing a watch on their wrist? I still hold high value on wearing a reliable, waterproof, automatic with day and date. I like tritium tubes, tough crystal, and a rugged band. What do you like and why?
I have a Marathon tritium TSAR, but I usually wear my Citizen "CB0020-50E World Perpetual A-T Stainless Steel Watch". It glows enough that I can read it at any point of the night, and I can optionally supercharge it with a flashlight. The tritium...I take it off in movie theaters because it's too distractingly bright. I also have a Citizen Stiletto model, and while it does not glow or have tritium tubes, I can still read it in almost any lighting condition because the hands are mirror polished. I found that I could read it in anything but pitch darkness. I'm a fan of sapphire and stainless steel. My watches would not survive long otherwise.
I love T100 tritium, but a really good lume (think Seiko divers) will suffice. I've got to have a rotating bezel - SO useful. Sapphire crystal is nice and a ceramic bezel insert is also nice to have. Love my Deep Blue Sea Ram which has both, but unfortunately mediocre lume.
Rugged, easy to read (day or night), rugged, waterproof, rugged, uncomplicated and ... rugged. Did I mention rugged?
I wouldn't wear a watch if all it did was tell the time and perhaps the date personally. I've been wearing a Casio Protrek for a little over 2 years now and it served me really well so far. I use the sunrise-sunset mode a lot, as well as the baro and temperature feature. The different timer and alarm functions also come in handy on a regular basis, and the compass function has been very handy when camping/hiking too. Other then that it is rugged, waterproof, and solar-powered, I couldn't ask for more in a watch.
I generally wear cheap watches (under $20). For general use, I prefer an analog with glow hands and a date function. For work, I prefer a cheap, waterproof/water resistant digital. And for me a digital has to have stopwatch, countdown timer, and alarm functions on it. I also like to have a dual time function. They're great for setting your watch to the real time and the time at work. I just wish someone would make a digital that didn't beep when you hit the buttons.
Waterproof (within reason), tough, subdued and Automatic (no battery to die). So that would be a Seiko Diver or something of that type. I also have a Luminox, but the battery is dead... So I am wearing the Seiko.
I cannot live without stopwatch capability in a digital watch, or an easily readable expired seconds recording sub-dial in a mechanical watches. I (unfortunately?) tend to time things in life---for example--stoplights, check out times in various stores--I don't make a big deal out of doing it but--- I consider it a massively important function to have always available when i want it--- I'm either too much like the character Aaron Cross in the Bourne Legacy---or just plain OCD weird---?
I'm really struggling to find a watch to fit my wants at the moment, I don't think I'm asking for a lot and all these features are common, but seemingly seldom all found together. Case under 45mm x 15mm Day and Date Analog dial with arabic numerals Quartz movement Good illumination (legible, reliable and long lasting, need not be bright. I prefer lume or tritium to backlight but are all fine) 200m water resistance or better Sapphire Crystal I'd like a chronograph, radio atomic time and solar/automatic power, but those aren't remotely essential. It vexes me that its so easy to find a digital dial with everything else, but analog screws it. That said, the most important things for me are an uncluttered dial, good build quality and legibility, without those, it's not a watch I'd buy.
My Timex IRONMAN (T5E2319J) and Casio G-SHOCK (GD350) both have the ability to turn off the button beep. My G-SHOCK also has the ability to set the alarms, timers, hourly signal, etc. to vibrate rather than beep. I love that feature.
I'm not into watches too much. But I like automatic movements, sapphire face, and simple dials and numbers. I don't need the many tiny dials, i never use them. Just time, maybe date if simple designing.
Except for the quartz part, a Breitling Superocean II would meet your requirements. You didn't mention a budget but sapphire crystals are usually on more expensive watches, which also tend to have automatic movements (but not always). 200 meter WR tends towards diver style watches. If you don't dive, 100 meter WR would open a lot more possibilities. Hamilton's Khaki line comes to mind (and a few are quartz).
I wouldn't wear anything other than some sort of Casio (G-Shock or ProTrek): Solar Powered, Atomic Time Keeping and just plane rugged. I have had either type since before 9/11 and they have all served me well. I went solar after my 2nd G-Shock battery died while on deployment.
In general, what I would consider an absolute minimum: Time and date Practical water resistance (anything 100m and above) Beyond that it comes down to aesthetics really - things like having non-arabic numeral markers, a size that fits my wrist (generally <42mm, though it will vary based on the design) and a design that appeals to me, a movement that suits (preferably an automatic for general wear, quartz solar for a tough/beater watch), and that is about it. I own a Casio pathfinder that does all the fancy electronic stuff that to be honest I never wear as I just prefer my other watches (and never found the functions overly useful in reality, however great it seemed on paper), and I have looked into the G Shocks and came to the conclusion after wearing one of the analogue ones for a while that I just didn't like the style.
automatic/solar (don't want to mess with batteries) excellent time keeping(regulated movement or atomic time) sapphire at least 20atm lume must last 4-5 hours with charge shock/magnetic proof 45mm + case size I currently have a gshock gravitymaster and marathon JDD that fit this criteria.
47mm (a must) seconds dial sterile black face sapphire glass front sapphire glass back bright glow nice leather strap manual wind (a must) Must be manual wind, I enjoy looking at and setting my watches daily. IMO, a watch should be enjoyed and loved like a piece of jewelry, not just worn. Your cellphone will give you the time.
Assuming you're replying to my post, while both of those are nice, neither has days. I don't need a divers bezel, but 200m WR is key. I swim a lot, and have owned 100m watches that failed in the pool. I wouldn't have thought my crawl generated 10ATM of force, but it kinda seems to! I can appreciate a nice automatic, but I'd prefer the accuracy and ruggedness of quartz. If I revised my list to the below, would that open up more options: Case under 45mm x 15mm Day and Date Analog dial with arabic numerals Good lume or tritium 200m water resistance or better Sapphire Crystal Solar or Automatic power (Chronograph - non-essential)
I haven't been really into watches for very long, so my taste is rapidly evolving. Right now I really like military style watches, I want clear hour numbers with military numbers under them. I want the day and date, and I'd prefer the two didn't eat #3 if possible but that's something of a rarity. I want it to be as thin as possible, or at least ~12mm or less. The face needs to be as clean as possible, no clutter, I don't need a dive ring, I don't need a billion hash marks for a bunch of activities that I don't even know about. I want VERY clear hour and minute markers, and I really prefer that the second hand extends all the way TO the second marks and not 1/8 inch away from them. Lately I've been lusting over tritium, because it seems like every time I need to look at my watch in the dark, the lume has died. Although, I do worry about the longevity of tritium, despite the advertised "25 years" that most of them have. Lastly it needs to have a sapphire crystal and be somewhat tough. I also like a 40-42mm case. That said, I am very picky in how all of those criteria mesh together, and the look of the watch just has to have something...I can't quite describe it...I think "purpose" is a good word to use. The Seiko 5 (specifically the SNZG15J1) has it, although I could still live with less clutter on the face even though the symmetry is pretty good on that watch. There are two watches that visually describe what I look for, but unfortunately one of them is out of my price range and doesn't have tritium, so the latter is probably going to be my next purchase. And they are... The Hamilton Titanium Khaki Field in black, even though I don't really like how they did the 3 on this one and it's missing the day. No tritium either and the price is a bit rich for how rough I am on watches, so for now it's purely an object of lust for me. Which brings us to this beauty, the GWS H3 G10 Pro Diver, which has nearly everthing I want aside from the day. It's tritium (though I wouldn't mind if it were T100), the face is pretty clean and symmetrical, I love the bright/bold second hand. It's about as good as an analog watch can get for clear instant legibility.
