Watching the watchmen
You know, it was but a few months ago when I went on about how pointless watches were and why I stopped wearing one. But suddenly, I found I needed one for work around my various job sites. I needed one that I didn’t care if it got beat up, dinged or damaged so I wanted one that was plastic. After looking at the Casio G Shock, I went with the Waveceptor instead. It’s resin, durable and at that price, I don’t care if I mess it up, which I’m likely to do while out working these days. And as a bonus, it sets itself to the atomic clock.
So far, I like it. Lightweight and durable. The only thing I don’t care for is it’s digital but I got over that fast. If it manages to bite the dust, I’ll try the G Shock.
August 8th, 2012 at 8:45 pm
I have one that is a g-shock and a Wave Ceptor:
http://www.amazon.com/Casio-MTG900DA-8V-G-Shock-Atomic-Tough/dp/B00134L8XU
I have been wearing it pretty much 24/7 since 2005. Hasn’t even needed a new battery. Everyone else who checks it out thinks it is incredibly heavy, but I don’t notice when I am wearing it.
August 8th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
I have had the G Shock “Mudman” for 4 years. It has kept on working. I replaced the strap about 2 years ago. I have had 0 problems with it. I highly recommend it.
August 8th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Throughout my 20+ years in the Army, I only had two watches, both G-Shocks. I gave the second one to my son after I retired. He still has it.
August 8th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
LBC beat me to it. There are G-Shocks with atomic time, though definitely not at that price.
How do you tell which G-Shocks have atomic time besides reading the description? From what I can tell it used to be a crapshoot. Then at some point Casio standardized on putting GW in the model number of G-Shocks with that feature, so all the newer ones with atomic time are easy to spot by the model number.
August 8th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
I’ve worn one since I was a teenager. Can’t give up the habit. When I’ve not worn one, I end up looking at my wrist, and then getting annoyed I have to pull out my smart phone and look to see the time.
August 9th, 2012 at 12:24 am
I wear a G-Shock as well – a GW7900B, which has the atomic time keeping and a solar charging face.
August 9th, 2012 at 4:09 am
G-Shock “Forrester” for me; has the atomic time receiver. As a bus driver, I literally used almost every feature, and I was at every stop within seconds every day. As an aspergian engineer, that pleases me.
August 9th, 2012 at 5:24 am
Yeah, I’ve worn a watch since ever since and will until they put me in the hole. I carry a pocket knife too – Swiss Army Tinker.
You know it gets old being the one everyone asks what time it is. The same with the knife, if they know you carry one, they will ask to use it.
The country is filled with idiots ill prepared for routine everyday things like opening a bubble pack certain beer bottles or even basic timekeeping necessary to synchronize their lives with the rest of humanity.
They’re bums in every sense of the word.
I’m going to start charging $0.50 and carry change. Nothing is free.
August 9th, 2012 at 6:49 am
Two years ago, I bought a $4.99 Timex, on clearance at Target, off the rack of cheap watches they have.
http://www.amazon.com/Timex-Unisex-T5K086-Sports-Resin/dp/B0013HUMF2
Wearing it in the pool for two years has discolored the plastic slightly. The functions are occasionally handy.
If you want a more expensive watch as a fashion accessory, that’s fine, but men’s watches are cheap.
August 9th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Worn a G Shock since attending the Infantry Officers’ Advanced Course in 1986. It has all the functions I could ever need, is rugged and has never failed me. Looks nice, too.
August 9th, 2012 at 9:55 am
I bought a G-Shock shortly before entering the service, for nearly ten years that watch took everything thrown at it. A few years after I left the service the person replacing the battery in it killed it.
August 9th, 2012 at 10:54 am
The life of a cell phone battery, which most people use as watches, can be measured in hours. I’ve replaced the battery in my digital timex expedition exactly once in the 18 years I’ve owned it. I keep it on a shelf now just to see how long it will run. I wear an analog timex now. I’ll take reliability and simplicity in my gear any day.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:03 am
After being threated with very bad juju for using my cell phone to check the time while on an airplane I went back to my 18 year old battery powered Wengler watch.
Apparently, a cell phone is a terroristic device but a watch is only a watch.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:29 am
Large analog face with Indeglo is much easier to read quickly in either bright light or the dark without having to use 2 hands. ( Like driving )
I beat the living daylights out of my Timex Expeditions and get about 2 years of good life before they go all TU.
Would probably last forever if I had a quiet life.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:57 am
@ SteveG – That’s what killed my first one! I had forgotten.
August 9th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
I cannot even wear a watch.. The things always go dead on me in about an hour… Me and the batteries do not get along too well.. Tried the pocket watch route but forgot to wind it too often..
August 9th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
You know, the Italians invented timekeeping.
So they could be late.
August 9th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
There are still some mechanical watches with analog faces (mostly “self-winding”) if that is what you really want, for a price. Mostly a hundred to several thousand dollars, but decent knock-offs from Japan, Korea, China for twenty to a hundred.
Alas, a search on Amazon includes a lot of “Looks like a mechanical watch.” Dogpile or Google or whatever may be different.
Timex and Casio still make watches with calculators, which is wgat I wanted, for twenty buvks or so. Alas, they are LCD displays, which are hard-to-ompossible to read in sunlight or after dark…
August 9th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Typos, oh my. Finally bought a “large-print keys” keyboard, maybe that will help my two-finger style. Or new glasses.
August 9th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
I’ll admit I have a very expensive watch. But it has survived everything I’ve ever thrown at it.
Or threw it at.
August 9th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
I have a cheap, $10 watch I got off of Sportsmansguide that I use when I’m out fishing or hunting and don’t carry my phone.
August 10th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
I wear a G-Force with atomic clock synchronization and solar power. I think I got it in 2004 or 2005. I love it even if it is a bit heavy. It has a few splatters from the arc welder on the face but it has served me well.
August 10th, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Timex Camper or Explorer for a cheapie. Since I retired from Marine Patrol, and quit losing a watch per year in the River, my latest Explorer has lasted 5 years now, is only on it’s second battery (but third wristband), keeps time to within 5 seconds per month. Analog-type, so I have to manually advance at the end of the month for anything other than a 31-day month, but I can live with that. $30 on sale.