A man needs at least one rugged watch for daily and weekend wear that can take a bit of a beating and sustain a little damage without too much worry. While many diver-style and precision military watches can take abuse, they may also attract attention from muggers and thieves. As a collector of inexpensive–o.k. cheap–watches, I have at least a half-dozen watches that are just perfect for banging around. Much to my chagrin, I’ve already banged some of these watches into walls and door frames. Here are some of my favorite bang around watches:
1. Timex Expedition Camper Watch. If you are looking for a simple, masculine, wristwatch that has design cues that evoke past generations of military watch, look no further than the Timex Expedition Camper Watch. This watch is all black with a black velcro band. It provides the date, luminous hands, twenty-four hour time, and indiglo dial illumination. I bashed mine into a door frame and scuffed the crystal from the three to five o’clock position.
2. Casio Forester. The Forester has a very cool name and pleasing color palette of browns and tans. Now it can also be had in black. Most importantly, the Casio Forester also has a more substantial case to help protect the crystal. However, I still managed to bash my Casio Forester into a door frame, wall or stair railing. The end result – another bad scuff in the crystal.
3. Walmart Tactical-Style Watch. One of the cheaper choices on this list, the watch I call my Walmart Tactical-Style Watch offers the classic style of a rugged man’s analog watch for only $10. This watch has a very rugged looking case and a nylon strap with a conventional (non-velcro) buckle.
4. Pro Spirit Digital Watch. Target can’t let Walmart go un-answered on the cheap watch front. The Pro Spirit Digital Watch has a similar color palette to the Casio Forester. However, it’s a digital watch. I thought that the case for this watch was a little cheap, but for $10 it would be a perfectly acceptable bang around watch.
5. Timex Ironman Triathlon Digital Watch. If you don’t want to go cheap and walk around with a sacrificial watch, you can buy a very reasonably price Timex Ironman Triathlon and get a great digital watch with all kinds of timing features and a ruggedly-built case. Alternatively, you could look for an inexpensive Casio G-Shock model.
6. Timex Expedition Core Analog Watch. Finally, one of my more recent acquisitions is a Timex Expedition Core Analog Watch. While the feature set is similar to the simple Timex Camper, this watch has a black resin case and thick bezel to help protect the crystal. It also has a black resin band instead of a velcro band. For less than $50, it looks rugged and seems well protected.
If you are a low budget adventurer, you’ll have no problem finding great watches at Walmart and other discount stores. For less than $50, you can definitely take these watches into harm’s way without too much worry!
