People, I have been in a crazy journey over the past few days to get a watch and seeing as this thread is what started it all, I figured it would be appropriate to write about it here.
As you can see above, I decided on getting the citizen military watch to replace me last watch that needed to be replaced. I figured that given all the electronic gadgets I have around me, I don't need to have a digital "kids watch" anymore and I could move up to an elegant analog watch.
Well, after really missing the timer, chronometer, alarm, indiglow light, etc of the old digital over a few days, I decided tosee get a "nice" digital watch.
After reading the recommendation on this thread, I went ahead and returned the Citizen and bought a Casio Pathfinder PAW2000 for $250, a newer version of the Casio pathfinder PAW1300 referenced on this thread.
It's incredible. It has all the functions of a standard digital watch plus solar charging, atomic clock synching, a thermometer, altimeter, barometer, and sunrise and sunset times, plus the perpetual calander..... It was a great few moments where I oogled over the technology in the watch. I go hiking about once every month. I was looking forward to using all the functions of this watch on my next trip..... But, the more I thought of it, the more it became apparent that I had now gone too far in the other direction. I mean, reallt, do we need all that tech hanging off our wrists??
I then found a $50 Timex:
http://www.amazon.com/Timex-Ironman...1_14?ie=UTF8&s=watches&qid=1263787646&sr=1-14
Here is a watch with 5 alarms, an incredibly powerful interval timer/workout tracker. It looks decent, and it's $50.
Well, some people may say that this watch is a cheap, mass produced watch and other watches have better craftsmanship and are more personal with their nice stories... Because with more expensive watches, people can - theoretically - take them up to the top of the Himalayas and have the watch give you the temperature, altitude, and barometric pressure. Others are said to have some "story" or "mystique" to them (especially for aviators, for some reason) that this watch allegedly does not.
Well being that there was an earthquake in Haiti a few days ago, and they need help more than I need an altimeter on my watch, I went ahead and took out a nail from my toolbox and engraved the word "Haiti" on the back of this here Timex I just bought. I then took the $200 I saved and used it to make a donation to the Haitian earthquake relief efforts. I'd say that's a pretty powerful "mistique" or "story" to my watch. Now, when I look at the time, I'll think about the people that have quite literally been housed, fed, and treated at a hospital with the money saved by getting this watch.
By the way, the watch wears beautifully. It looks clean, sporty, and isn't tacky. The blue parts of the case material are a rubbery material that really absorbs shocks enough to avoid scratches. They use a combination of plastic and metal for the rest of the case, but it's done in a way that doesn't make you think this watch is a cheap watch. Then when you go into the features of this watch, you realize that this is a pretty nifty piece of engineering. You get dual time zones, a 24 hour 1/100 second chronometer, count down timer, 100 lap workout tracker, interval timer, flix system where you can shake your wrist a certain way to get the light to come on instead of pushing the button, and a really comfortable strap. Oh yeah, the indiglow is a really nice "advanced" indigo light that actually lights up the black parts of the LCD instead of the background.
For an extra $5 bucks, Timex also warranties your watch for four years from the date of purchase.
So people, I'd strongly urge you to take a good hard look at your cash before you spend it on another time piece that may be percieved to be "higher quality" but is actually an overpriced hunk of metal that hangs off your wrist. This watch has value, functionality, and decent looks to boot. Happy watch hunting!
