After breaking my last two Timex Expedition watches I bought a new outdoors watch just a couple of weeks ago. The adjustment knobs on the last one used to catch on things and the watch would adjust itself to the wrong time. Finally the hands fell off it just before Christmas and the strap broke so I reckoned it was time for something new.
Over the years I've noticed different problems with different types of watches when it comes to expecting rugged use out of them, so many that I've been considering writing up a little review type thing of what to look for in a watch and what to look out for. Not because I'm a watch expert (I'm not) but because I've got through so many of them.
I know that the original poster Kimbo has already bought a watch, but I thought I'd add my two cents worth to the discussion. I know there are different tastes in style but there are certain features that make a watch more rugged than others. There's also the question of price, if it costs a lot you don't want to risk breaking it out in the woods, if it's too cheap then it might not be resistant to shocks, water and scratches.
I looked at "tactical" watches, military watches and such like and many of them seemed to be more of a collectible or image concious watch than a practical reasonably priced outdoor piece of kit. Many "outdoor" watches seemed to be aimed at divers and yachtsmen and cost more than I'd be willing to spend on something that might find itself getting scraped against the side of a tree or a wall (actually they cost more than I can afford too so that's the end of the story for me
).
Anyway after trawling the Internet looking at watches (which I'm not normally very interested in except as a tool that I wear on my wrist), I decided to get a G-Shock. They might not be to everybody's taste but they are specifically marketed to be resistant to mud, water and shocks - just the type of thing you might find when you are out bushcrafting.
http://www.g-shock.de/euro/lineup/
This is the model I bought because I liked the design and the cloth strap especially but they all seem to be similar in terms of suitability for outdoor use.
I have to admit that I have a hard time seeing the little digital readout bits (my eyes aren't what they used to be) but I don't use them much anyway. The strap is really comfortable and the analogue time is easy to read. It glows in the dark and has a back light too, as do all of the G-Shock analogue models. The digital ones all have a back light.
It has a recessed face, which is important for protecting it against scuffs and scrapes. A raised face can be cracked in just a few weeks and scratched up in no time. The buttons are tucked away so they can't be accidentally activated and they are the push type so they won't get caught on things and pulled out (like the other type tend to do).
