Best Field Watch For Hiking 2024
Last Updated: April 19, 2024
Classic, Reliable, High Performance, Value Optimized Field Watches
For keeping time while hiking, we highly recommend a classic field watch. Compared to smartwatches, their elegant simplicity calms the mind and reduces distraction, allowing wearers to focus on the landscape instead of another digital screen. Field watches are functional, beautiful, relatively inexpensive, and have reliably served adventurers for over 100 years.
First Five Field Watches To Consider
- Editor’s Choice: Seiko SRPG37 5 Sports
- Most Legible: Momentum Atlas Solar Eclipse
- Most Rugged: Bertucci A-4T Super Yankee
- Under $100: Boderry Voyager
- Under $50: Timex Expedition Scout
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What sets this field watch guide apart? In contrast to nearly all other hiking gear websites, we’re ditching the smartwatch and going old school analog. Digital tasks are best managed on iPhone anyway. The following field watch assortment reflects years of backcountry testing and preferences we’ve developed along the way: simple, rugged, self-powered, highly legible, and luminescent. Jump ahead for more on choosing a field watch, history, and pro tips. While you’re here, don’t miss our guides for knives, EDC backpacks, wallets, and water bottles.
The best field watches
Below gallery approximates relative size
Best Field Watch By Caliber
Solar Quartz Powered Field Watches
- Editor’s Choice: Momentum Atlas Eclipse Solar
- Most Rugged: Bertucci A-2T Solar Classic
- Best Buy: Citizen Garrison Eco-Drive
- Best Value: Casio Solar Analog MTPS120L-3AV
Automatic Field Watches
- Editor’s Choice: Seiko SRPG37 5 Sports
- Best Value: Boddery Voyager Automatic
- Best Automatic: Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic
Quartz Battery Powered Field Watches
- Best Performance: Bertucci A-5S Ballista Illuminated
- Editor’s Choice: Bertucci A-4T Super Yankee
- Most Legible: Momentum Atlas
- Best Value: Bertucci A-2S Field
- Amazing Budget: Timex Expedition Scout
Best Field Watch Comparison Table
Mobile users rotate device for full-width table
Make & Model | MSRP ($) | Case Diameter (mm) | Type | Battery Life or Reserve | Case Material | Lens Crystal | Water Resist (meter) | Lume |
Timex Expedition Scout | 65 | 40.0 | Quartz | 10 yr | Brass | Mineral | 50 | Indiglo |
Bertucci A-2S Field | 110 | 40.0 | Quartz | 4 yr | Stainless | Mineral | 100 | Swiss Super |
Boderry Voyager | 129 | 40.0 | Auto | 42 hr | Titanium | Sapphire | 100 | C3 S-LN |
Casio Solar Analog | 145 | 46.9 | Solar | 8 mo | Stainless | Mineral | 100 | Luminous |
Momentum Atlas | 195 | 44.0 | Quartz | 3 yr | Titanium | Sapphire | 100 | Luminous |
Momentum Atlas Eclipse Sol | 245 | 42.0 | Solar | 6 mo | Titanium | Sapphire | 100 | C3 S-LN |
Citizen Garrison Eco-Drive | 250 | 37.0 | Solar | 6 mo | Titanium | Mineral | 100 | Luminous |
Seiko SRPG37 5 Sports | 295 | 39.4 | Auto | 41 hr | Stainless | Hardlex | 100 | LumiBrite |
Bertucci A-2T Solar Classic | 295 | 40.0 | Solar | 6 mo | Titanium | Sapphire | 200 | Swiss Super |
Bertucci A-4T Super Yankee | 295 | 44.0 | Quartz | 10 yr | Titanium | Sapphire | 200 | Swiss Super |
Bertucci A-5S Ballista Ilum | 395 | 45.0 | Quartz | 10 yr | Titanium | Sapphire | 200 | Tritium |
Hamilton Khaki Field Auto | 695 | 42.0 | Auto | 80 hr | Stainless | Sapphire | 100 | Luminous |
Solar Powered Field Watches
Momentum Atlas Eclipse Solar
For less than $250, the Momentum Eclipse Solar Watch are killer values in a high-end solar field watch (they are $85 less than the similarly spec’d Vaer C5 Tactical Field Solar, have a lighter titanium case vs. steel case, and a 6 vs. 2 year warranty). The Momentum watches boast every feature one would want. Classic field watch design with a high-contrast ultra-legible dial. Titanium case, for low weight and durability. Domed sapphire crystal. A solar movement with 6 month battery reserve. And a 6-year warranty. This is also the best version of the white dial background we’ve ever worn.
- MSRP & Common Price: $245 | $235
- Movement: Solar Quartz, VS43
- Diameter: 42.0 mm
- Battery Reserve: 6 months
- Case & Lens: Titanium, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Lume: C3 Super-LumiNova
- Pros: Fantastic value. Full high-end feature set & performance. Titanium Case. 6-year warranty. Superb legibility.
- Cons: Ideally we would have liked a 200m water resist.
Bertucci A-2T Solar Classic
For under $300 you get a near perfect field watch in the Bertucci A-2T Solar Classic. This traditional design features a 40mm, light titanium case, class leading 200m water resistance (watch can be worn while swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving), six month battery reserve, sapphire crystal, and a solid three year warranty. Like the Momentum Solar this watch also beats out the Vaer C5 Tactical Field Solar watch in almost all features – lower cost, a light titanium case vs. steel case, 200m water resist vs. 100m, and a 3 vs. 2 year warranty.
- MSRP & Common Price: $295 | $295
- Movement: Swiss Solar Quartz
- Diameter: 44.0 mm
- Battery Reserve: 6 months
- Case & Lens: Stainless Steel, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 200 m
- Lume: Swiss Super Luminous
- Pros: 200m water resistance. Most complete high-end feature set & performance. Titanium Case with nice 4-o-clock crown.
- Cons: Similar Momentum Smokejumper is $50 less and has a 6 year warranty.
Citizen Garrison Eco-Drive
At around $150 street price the Citizen Garrison Eco-Drive is a great value for rugged solar watch — around 1/2 the competition. It’s a solid watch with a mineral crystal and titanium case (most watches in this price range have a heavier steel case). It ticks most other boxes as well; solar power for essentially unlimited battery life, 100m water resist, and a nice lume. In keeping with classic field watches (that were smaller) it’s diamter is just 37mm. An asset for both weight and comfort. But those who prefer a larger watch might look elsewhere. In addition, it comes with a very rugged and durable band that takes a bit of breaking in.
- MSRP & Common Price: $250 | $155
- Movement: Solar Quartz, E100
- Diameter: 37.0 mm
- Battery Reserve: 6 months
- Case & Lens: Titanium, Mineral
- Water Resistance: 100 m
- Lume: Yes
- Pros: Great value. Rugged watch with titanium case, solar for unlimited battery.
- Cons: 37mm diameter is a bit on the small side. Band need breaking in. Only 100m water resist. No sapphire crystal.
Casio Solar Analog MTPS120L-3AV
At well under $100 on Amazon, the Casio Solar Analog MTPS120L-3AV is one of the lowest cost field watches that is both solar powered and rugged. It has solar drive for essentially unlimited operational life , a solid stainless steel case, mineral crystal, and 100m water resist. It’s downsides are that its 47mm diameter case it might be a bit large for some people. Its styling is between a dive watch and a field watch. And the large stainless (non titanium) case makes the watch bulky and heavy compared to the competition. Its cloth band is middle of the road and its generic lume did not impress.
- MSRP & Common Price: $145 | $87
- Movement: Solar Quartz
- Diameter: 46.9 mm
- Battery Reserve: 8 months
- Case & Lens: Stainless Steel, Mineral Crystal
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Lume: Yes
- Pros: Rock bottom price for a rugged solar watch.
- Cons: At 47mm it might be a bit large for some people. Large stainless (non titanium) case makes it heavy. Cloth band is just OK. Not the greatest lume.
Automatic Field Watches
Seiko SRPG37 Field Watch
The “entry level” SEIKO 5 SRPG37 field watch gives you legendary Seiko quality at an amazing price. As such, the SEIKO 5 SRPG37 is one of the best value buys in a fully-featured automatic field watch. Part of Seiko Sports 5 series, it is based on Seiko’s updated 24 jewel, automatic 4R36 caliber (movement), which now supports manual winding and a seconds hack. It has a solid stainless steel case with a 100m water resist. And it has a nice curved hardlex crystal which while not quite as scratch resistant as sapphire, but has far better shatter resistance — one of the reasons it’s often used in sports watches. Its only real concession to higher priced watches is its average accuracy. The watches spec is average at +45 /-45 seconds per day (although our watch is usually in the range of +7/-7 seconds per day).
- MSRP & Common Price: $295 | $212
- Movement: Automatic
- Diameter: 39.4mm
- Reserve Power: 41 hours
- Case & Crystal: Stainless, Hardflex
- Water Resistance: 100 meters
- Lume: LumiBrite
- Pros: Great price for a tried-and-true automatic watch from a top brand. Good size and look. Newer 4R36 caliber movement performs well. Impact resistant hardlex crystal. Great lume.
- Cons: Average accuracy spec. Only 100 meter water resist. Mineral crystal not as scratch resistant as sapphire.
Boderry Voyager
For less than $100 this is an incredible value — comparable to watches running $200-$300 or more. To our mind the Boderry Voyager Titanium Automatic is a great combination of the best of an automatic Seiko 5 and a Bertucci Field Watch. It has Seiko’s rock-solid and proven NH35A automatic movement, with hand wind and seconds hack. But like Bertucci it has a rugged and light titanium case with 4:00 crown and sapphire crystal! And it comes with our preferred NATO band. In summary, this is a watch that seems to have almost every desirable feature at an incredibly low price. Our only gripes are that it only has a 100m water resist and the watch ships directly from China so it may take a bit to get to you. Finally, since Boderry is a new Chinese company (founded 2019) we are in the process of putting this watch through a rigorous field testing. This entry will be updated as we get more data.
- MSRP/Common Price: $129 | $97
- Movement: Automatic, Seiko NH35A
- Diameter: 40.0 mm
- Reserve Power: 42 hours
- Case & Crystal: Titanium, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Lume: C3 Super-LumiNova
- Pros: Amazing value. Proven Seiko automatic movement. Rugged titanium case. Sapphire Crystal. Nice NATO band.
- Cons: Only 100m water resist. Longer delivery time. Recent company, so long term reliability & quality is unproven.
Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic
If you want a high-end automatic field watch but don’t want to pay $1,000 or more, the Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic is the watch for you! It has all of the most desirable features and performance for significantly less cost than the competition. Our Hamilton’s H-10 caliber keeps excellent time (usually +2/-2 seconds per day — so in the range of Elaborated Grade). It boasts an 80 hour power reserve (about 2x other automatic watches), and is hand-windable with a seconds hack. It has a scratch resistant sapphire crystal, a solid stainless steel case, and a nice 24 hour watch face. Lumed hands, and 100m water resist. And of course it looks every bit a quality field watch with its classic design and attention to detail. And that’s no accident. Pennsylvania based Hamilton has produced field watches since 1914.
- MSRP/Common Price: $695 | $695
- Movement: Automatic, H-10 (ETA 2824-2)
- Diameter: 42.0 mm
- Reserve Power: 80 hours
- Case & Crystal: Stainless Steel, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 100 meters
- Lume: Yes
- Pros: Lowest cost for high-end performance automatic watch. Accurate H-10 movement. 80 hour power reserve. Sapphire crystal. Looks every bit a quality watch.
- Cons: Expensive. Only 100m water resist. Unimpressive lume. No nylon band option. Stainless is a bit heavy.
Battery Powered Field Watches
Bertucci A-4T Super Yankee
The incredibly rugged Bertucci A-4T Super Yankee is a demonstration of what is possible when you combine nearly all of the most desirable features into one field watch. It’s built with name brand Swiss Ronda 715Li quartz caliber, accurate to within 20 seconds per month and powered by a 10 year lithium battery. The movement is encased in sapphire crystal and titanium, water resistant to 200m. Bertucci’s large 44mm face with white numerals on black background is highly legible, and the hands and markers receive brighter-than-average Swiss Super Luminous treatment. The 4:00 crown eliminates pressure points and can be pulled out for hacking seconds. As the cherry on top, it comes with a 3 year warranty (not that you’ll need it), and our preferred NATO B-Type heavy duty nylon band. Super Yankee is so highly regarded that you basically won’t find it on discount anywhere.
- MSRP/Common Price: $295 | $285
- Movement: Ronda 715Li Quartz
- Diameter: 44.0 mm
- Battery Life/Reserve: 10 years
- Case & Crystal: Titanium, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 200m
- Lume: Swiss Super Luminous
- Pros: Best-in-class battery life, crystal, case, band, and water resistance. Name-brand Swiss caliber. 4:00 crown.
- Cons: Would have preferred lumed numerals. All batteries eventually die. Face is a bit busy.
Bertucci A5-S Ballista Illuminated
The Bertucci A5-S Ballista Illuminated takes everything we love about the Super Yankee field watch (best-in-class battery, water-resistance, case, crystal, & band), and adds one major visibility upgrade – tritium hands and dial markers for best-in-class illumination. Unlike traditional lume compounds, which are painted on and require light to charge before eventually fading, tritium maintains the same incredibly bright and perfectly even glow for 25 consecutive years, no charging required. Tritium completely outclasses all lume compounds, including C3 Super-LumiNova, but typically adds ~$100 to the cost, as you can see here compared to Super Yankee, which is otherwise the same watch. Its exceptional brightness is achieved by combining phosphor and tritium gas (a mild radioactive source) into a small pressurized glass tube affixed to the dial markers and hands. The reaction of the gas and phosphor emits light and will be fully visible, even in pitch black. Note that tritium is totally safe.
See our lume test below to fully comprehend the performance of tritium watch illumination.
- MSRP/Common Price: $395 | $395
- Movement: Ronda 715Li
- Diameter: 45.0 mm
- Battery Life: 10 years
- Case & Crystal: Titanium, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 200 m
- Lume: Tritium Hands & Markers supplemented by Swiss Super Luminous Markers
- Pros: Best-in-class illumination, battery life, crystal, case, band, and water resistance. Name-brand Swiss caliber. 4:00 crown.
- Cons: Completely safe but technically radioactive. Would have preferred lumed numbers. All batteries eventually die. Face is a bit busy.
Momentum Atlas Field Watch
If you prioritize value and legibility, choose the Momentum Atlas field watch. The 44 mm dial with markers at 12/3/6/9 create room for larger numerals. The result is unprecedented legibility. Unlike most field watches, we’re particularly partial to how Momentum designs the white-faced version, which is fully lumed for immaculate legibility in the dark. And that’s to say nothing of the overall high quality feature-set, including a sapphire crystal, titanium case, and SEIKO Epson VX43E quartz movement, accurate to within 20 seconds per month. That being said, the 2-year warranty and 5-year battery life are a step down from top of the line. And we wish it had the option for a nylon band.
- MSRP/Common Price: $195 | $180
- Movement: SEIKO Epson VX43E Quartz
- Diameter: 44.0 mm
- Battery Life: 5 years
- Case & Crystal: Titanium, Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 100 m
- Lume: Full Dial on white background version
- Pros: Large 44mm face with best-in-class legibility. Durable titanium case and sapphire crystal. Name brand caliber.
- Cons: Average battery life and water resist. Would prefer 10 year warranty, 200m. No option for nylon band (altho an aftermarket band is not difficult).
Bertucci A-2S Field Watch
For accessing Bertucci’s signature ruggedness at a fraction of the price, choose their A-2S field watch. You don’t get all of the features from their flagship Super Yankee, but you do get Swiss Super Luminous hands and markers, 4:00 crown, a three year warranty, and our preferred NATO B-Type nylon webbing band. There’s nothing low quality about the rest of this field watch, but the mineral crystal, stainless steel case, four year battery life, and 100m of water resistance are a smidge below the very best. The Bertucci A-2S is a great value, and a great entry point into one of the most respected brands in the field watch genre.
- MSRP/Common Price: $110 | $110
- Movement: Japanese Quartz
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Battery Life: 4 years
- Case & Crystal: Stainless, Mineral
- Water Resistance: 100 m
- Lume: Swiss Super Luminous
- Pros: Rugged. 4:00 crown. Bertucci quality at a low price. Best-in-class band.
- Cons: Battery, crystal, case, water resistance a step below the very best. Unspecified caliber (altho we believe it’s reasonable quality)
Timex Expedition Scout
Without question, the Timex Expedition Scout 40mm is hands down the best value in a field watch. With a few models coming in near $30, it still has all the essential features, among them a 10 year lithium battery! In comparison, many field watches with similar features are around $200 or more and their battery replacement alone might cost you $30. Timex Expedition Scout looks every bit a field watch, and has a low profile case. Of course it keeps decent time — “it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” There are a few concessions to keep the price that low. The brass case is a tad heavy, its 50m water resist makes it only splash resistant, and its mineral crystal is not particularly scratch resistant. We also note this to have one of the loudest ticks we’ve ever heard, perhaps too load to sleep with in a tent. The Timex Expedition Scout, may not look luxury, but it is clearly a watch for the people and that is not a bad thing!
- MSRP/Common Price: $65 | $40
- Movement: Quartz
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Battery Life: 10 years
- Case & Crystal: Mineral
- Water Resistance: 50 meters
- Lume: Indiglo + Luminous Hands
- Pros: Incredible value, 10 year battery, low profile case. Legible field watch design. Keeps decent time. Hacking seconds.
- Cons: Very loud tick. Only 50m water resist, non-sapphire crystal, brass case is a bit heavy, basic appearance. Indiglo light consumes batteries. Only hands are lumed, not markers. Unspecified caliber.
Field Watch Buyer Info & Pro Tips
Definition of a Field Watch
- An analog wrist-mounted watch that keeps time and date
- Clearly legible dial featuring large Arabic numerals and hands
- Rugged enough to last for months or years in the field without fail
- Common features include: lumed hands/markers/numerals, scratch resistant crystal, waterproofness, nylon band, self powered movement
Why choose a field watch?
All those digital electronics can be overwhelming in the outdoors; sadly vying for our attention, when it should be on the natural beauty all around us. To counteract this, our team often goes old-school with an analog field watch, leaving the smartwatch (Garmin, Apple, Samsung Galaxy, etc.) at home. This calms our minds and nerves, and more importantly, keeps our focus on the wonderful and ever-changing landscape surrounding us.
Finally, in and of itself, a field watch is a timeless, beautiful, and elegant device. It just keeps time and does it superbly. What more do you need?
History & Development of the Field Watch
So, let’s introduce you to the field watch. For over 100 years it has been the mainstay time keeper for outdoor adventurers. A testament to its simple, elegant and functional design, the field watch remains virtually unchanged to present day. Yes, the current construction is a bit better, e.g. more waterproof, and the movement (watch guts) have gotten more reliable and keep more accurate time. But it’s essentially the same watch!
The first field watches emerged in the WW1 era to meet the demands for a small portable wrist watch (not pocket watch) that would keep accurate time for synchronized military maneuvers — or for mountaineers, explorers, etc. that needed to keep accurate time for weeks and months in the field.
Since then, the outdoor world has fallen in love with the field watch, and it has been refined over the past 100 years. The first field watches were simple mechanical hand winders, but over time manufacturers added waterproof cases, automatic winding, more rugged and accurate movements, and scratch resistant crystals to name a few updates. In the late 20th century came battery powered quartz movements, and most recently solar powered quartz movements. But make no mistake, automatic/mechanical field watches like the Hamilton Khaki, and Seikos to name a few are still revered and sought after.
One Hundred Years | (L) 1918 Elgin WW1 field watch and (R) 2020 Bertucci E-1S Ballista Field Watch
Our Field Watch Criteria
- Rugged field watch design, classic look
- Only tells time and date
- Maximize value, no over-priced watches
- Avoid or minimize battery changes
- 40-44mm diameter dial is the sweet spot
- Weighs 2-3 ounces
- 100 meters of water resistance, less or more pending budget
- Highly legible, large numerals, bright lume
Movement Types
Automatic Mechanical: The epitome of green and sustainable, mechanical and automatic watches can last a lifetime with proper care. No electronic waste during production, no batteries to replace and put in landfills, and no buying a new watch every few years. Mechanical watches have been perfected for over a century. Both beautiful and practical, they are a joy to wear. And with improved engineering, even mid-tier automatic watches are accurate and durable. As such, the following automatic and mechanical watches are some of our absolute favorites for field use, and for everyday wear.
Pricewise, automatic watches are more expensive than battery powered quartz watches and are not as accurate — with the best automatic watches keeping time to within a few seconds per day vs. a few seconds per month for a run of the mill quartz watches. But how accurate does a watch need to be? It’s not a big deal to adjust every so often.
Solar Quartz: Solar powered, Quartz watches are the hottest category of field watches. There are a few budget watches for $100 or less. But there is exceptional competition in the high-end range of $250 to $350 where you can get a watch with nearly every desirable feature in a classic field watch that “never” needs battery replacement.
Solar watches need no battery changes since they get all the electrical power they need from a minimal amount of exposure to sunlight — good deal! And since they use quartz movements, they are more accurate than their automatic cousins. BUT in contrast to automatic watches, they aren’t as eco-friendly or have as long a useful life. This is because Solar Watches still have an electronic/quartz movement and a lithium battery driving it, albeit a battery that is solar charged. But the battery even with solar charging doesn’t last forever — most can last anywhere from 7-20 years (but one manufacturer claims 50 years).
Quartz Battery: A quartz watch uses a lithium battery to power its movement, most commonly with a lifespan ranging from 3-10 years. Quartz watches are the simplest and most economical, but also the least desirable from a performance perspective since they have no way to self-power like solar and automatic watches. However, the cost savings of quartz can be reinvested into superior movement, casing, crystal, or other features, that may make a quartz model better than a solar or automatic watch of the same price, despite having an inferior power source. Lastly, quartz battery watches are the least sustainable, since they require battery replacements more frequently.
Field Watch Strap Considerations
Many watch bands are decorative in nature, but for pure functionality, we prefer nylon webbing with dual metal loop keepers, as can be found on Bertucci watch bands. Metal is heavy, rubber breaks down, leather is bad in wet conditions, but nylon webbing lasts forever, performs in all weather, and is least likely to fail. It is also quick drying and reasonably soft against the skin once broken in.
Color Considerations For Dial, Face and Numeral
Function is beauty, which is why we prefer either white-on-black or black-on-white to maximize legibility. No other dial/numeral combo offers as much contrast. The contrast increases legibility, which in turn increases functionality. The best field watch is that which is overall most functional.
White numerals on black is the field watch tradition, but black numerals on white works quite well for some watches. Which version is better is subjective, but also relative to how and where the lume treatment is applied, and what kinds of lighting you’ll be exposing it to most frequently.
All About Lume
In the outdoors, field watch lume matters. There are no lights, and you don’t want to waste headlamp, flashlight, or watch batteries to see the time. In addition, it’s nice to let your eyes adapt to the dark without being blinded by an artificial light. So the discreet, non-battery illuminated dials that are easily visible in the dark are another big functionality win for field watches. This helps us to be in harmony with the night, rather than in opposition to it.
But not all lumes are equal. There is paint lume, like best-in-class C3 Super-LumiNova (a greatly improved, “glow-in-dark” paint), that charges up during the day and glows for 2-10 hours at night before finally dimming. And then there’s tritium, which maintains the same incredibly bright and perfectly even glow for 25 consecutive years, no charging required.
Tritium completely outclasses all lume compounds, including best-in-class C3 Super-LumiNova. Its exceptional brightness is achieved by combining phosphor and tritium gas (an extremely mild radioactive source) into a small pressurized glass tube affixed to the dial markers and hands. The reaction of the tritium and phosphor emits light, and will be fully visible, even in pitch black. There are two types of tritium T-25 (by far the most common) and T100, which is 4 times as bright, and can nearly be used as a close-proximity illumination source. Note: while tritium is radioactive-based, it is completely safe.
Finally, where and how much lume is on a watch face matters as much as the type of lume. Especially in the case of paint-on lume. Larger watch hands that take a lot of high lume paint are strongly preferred. In addition, larger/greater surface area numerals and markers help too.
In summary, you want a good lume, and it’s worth paying a extra to get it. Pretty much, the more lume the better; and less is almost always worse. We’ve never met a watch with too much lume. Take a look at the gallery of watch lumes over 10 hours and you’ll get a good idea why this is so.
Lume photo gallery description
This photo gallery underscores why you want bright, high quality lume, and lots of it on the watch face.
- Top Left Photo) watches in full illumination.
- Top Right Photo) watches fully charged and put in total darkness. You can see how bright all the lumes are just after charging. Notice especially how easy to read the “numbered” watch is (an older Momentum Atlas with generic lume). If it stayed this bright, it would clearly be the top watch.
- Middle Left Photo) after one hour, the two right-most watches are clearly winning. Bottom right is a Bertucci with tritium gas chambers + Swiss Super Luminous paint, top right is the Seiko Sports 5 with their high end lume called LumiBrite, and lots of it. It’s so easy to tell time on both. While still legible the other watches are beginning to be less legible.
- Middle Right Photo) After two hours the generic lume watches are really starting to fade and the hour markings are barely visible. Although in the upper left, a Citizen Garrison is still doing well, albeit it only has the hands and tick marks at 12, 3, 6 and 9.
- Bottom Left Photo) at four hours, we’ve really weeded out the inferior lumes. The tritium Bertucci is clearly already the winner, but the Seiko is still doing great, especially for a paint-on lume watch. Again a superior lume and lots of it makes huge difference. The Citizen Garrison is still legible. The other watches are not legible. The poor generic lume Momentum Atlas, which was the best to start, is no longer even visible.
- Bottom Right Photo) the tritium Bertucci, bright as ever, is clearly our winner, The Seiko’s Sports 5 with LumiBrite, while dim, survived the night and is still readable. The other watches are done and gone.
Field Watch Conclusion
Thank you for reading this guide, where we hope you found your next field watch. These reliably rugged and effective time pieces have served explorers for over a century, and we’re confident they’ll meet your needs in the backcountry. The beauty of a field watch is its simple functionality, which compared to a smartwatch, calms the mind and reduces distraction in nature. Join us in celebrating this time-honored, time keeping tradition and wear an analog field watch on your next hike!
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