What time is it?? Are we there yet??

Submitted by Eric Daniel

The purpose of a watch is to tell time. After that, it’s all just bells and whistles. Throughout my career, I’ve had more than a few; some were big and gaudy (G-shock) some were big and spendy (Citizen Aqualand Promaster, which I still use for diving by the way) and some were cheap and unreliable (the army issue tritium faced watches.)

This is the watch I’m currently using, and really have no intention of deviating from. Technically, it’s referred to as the Timex Men's Easy Set Alarm Watch #T50832. The watch will run you about $45 and it does everything I ask it to with out a lot of fuss or manipulation.

First off, the face is analog (i.e. it has hands) and there are luminescent strips on the hands so that you can read the watch at night without having to use the back-light. If you want to back-light the watch, however, it uses Timex’s “indiglo” feature, which provides enough blue-green light for you to read the watch without lighting up your position.

The alarm is easy to set; you simply rotate the bezel till the alarm needle is set to the correct time and then pull out the alarm pin. Pull the alarm pin out to the first stop (one beep) and you’ve set the alarm for 1-hour mode (the alarm will go off when the minute hand hits the alarm needle.) Pull the pin to the second stop (two beeps) and the alarm is set for 12-hour mode (the alarm will go off when the hour hand hits the alarm needle. So that you can’t screw up the needle setting, once you pull the alarm pin out, it disengages the alarm setting gear on the bezel.

Setting the time and date on the watch is simply a matter of pulling out the time/date set screw and rotating the bezel. There is no twisting of tiny knobs or mashing of buttons, which makes it easy to change the time on the fly.

Finally, not that I’ve tested it, or ever anticipate validating it, the watch is water resistant to 50m, which is good enough for everything I’ll ever do with it.

P.S. Astute readers will notice that I’ve got the watch wrapped around one of the Silverfoot watchbands Buzzard commented on a while back. I have to agree with him, these watchbands are easy to use, reliable, and pretty much indestructible.

Buy this watch here

Comments

[david]

Is the face of this watch still domed, or have they finally made the glass flat?

I only ask because I owned one of these watches maybe 5 or 10 years ago and hit it against something accidentally. The glass cracked because it was the first thing to impact. The watch is a neat idea, I'm really hoping they fixed this oversight.

[Eric Daniel]

David,

I don’t know how much of a curve your original watch face had, but there is a slight curve to the one I have now. In addition, while the watch face does show signs of wear and tear (scratches, pitting, etc.) there are no cracks, so I don’t know if you just had a particularly bad day or if they corrected the problem.

-- ED

[Anon.]

No stopwatch feature?

[Doc Sonntag]

I would also suggest getting the lady model, smaller watch face to reduce chances of snagging and reflections.

[JD CAMPBELL]

I picked one of these up at Wal-Mart one day on clearence rack for $12.00 after leaving the house w/o the BIG G shock. One of the best purchases ever made.

[David S. McQueen]

I had a cheap Timex (no bells, no whistles) during my first Vietnam tour in '66 - '67. It worked well and it took a beating . . . (you know the rest). Timex makes the best, absolutely.

[E. Martinez]

I found a Timex watch in a mud pool in Viet Nam back in '66. The crystal was cracked and it was still ticking. I cleaned it up and used until a slicky boy stole it from me in Saigon. I agree for service and durability Timex is best.

[David Callender]

I have owned only two watches in the past twenty years and both of them were and I am still wearing the second, the Timex Indiglo it is thin takes one hellova lickin and keeps on ticken! I found my old timex in a drawer a few weeks ago and it was still keeping time but was so scratched up it was hard to read! Timex is the best and this model still sells for $24.00!

[Michael Neff]

While I agree that Timex still offers a fantastic value for a watch I would tend to shy away from the Indiglo models for combat situations . My Indiglo watch actually gives off enough light that I use it to find my way around the house in the dark . I am guessing that someone who's eyes were adjusted for the darkness of night could probably pick up the Blue-Green glow pretty easy .

[sean mentnech]

Two thoughts to share. One I have used a watch band called "The Band" similiar to the one in the picture. I have and swear by it, they have served me faithfully for 15 yrs. 1 overseas tour and 1 deployment. One band usually lasts me about 3 years. Secondly, I agree with the Timex. I have an Ironman 200m. I had it for 3yrs. prior to my deployment in 03. It is still ticking I only had to change the battery. Timex is the best I have come across so far. Good Call out on an inexpensive watch for the masses.

[Lennie Jordan]

Timex is a good watch granted, the only issue is if the crystal is broken, Timex does not allow a watchmaker to replace them. The watch has to be sent to the companies repair facility in Arkansas and will cost as much or more to replace the crystal than the watch is worth.

[patrick]

I bought this watch 10-12 years ago and used it for 5 so, it is undestroyable. It has been under pool, sea, and swamp water, sand, mud, and snow. I finally broke off the bezel when i was wresling with a few other people and the watch was smashed against a metal bar. It still runs fine and is sitting in a box. oh and I've never changed the batteries.

[SHiv]

Value for money. I have a Timex Expedition and is the best i have owned. I actually sold off my expensive Seiko watch. Only problem is that because i live in the UK i only get one year warranty as opposed to 5 years in the USA.

[Gene]

I used to have a G shock. Wnt thru batteries like a ho through condoms when the ships are in port...
I wnt with the basics, and got a Luminox. It's basic. Analog, date window, tritium sweep hands. I love it. The conveniecne of having an alarm can, at times, be an annoyance, but, nothing I can't work around ( I use my built in combat alarm clock...it usually works). KISS. But, this watch sounds pretty cool. I'm gonna look it up.

[Big Bill]

I have had three of these and the alarm ring keeps getting goobered up, won't rotate, strips the alarm drive.
Anyone have any experience disassembling/cleaning/lubricating the rotating bezel and alarm drive? I like 'em but they just don't last for me.