dangerman wrote:
Another thing with the solar G-Shock: if you have all the bells and whistles (specifically the "backlight comes on when you turn your wrist to look at the watch", they can suffer from SAD in the winter when covered by a cuff for much of the day.
Agree with that, I switch the auto backlight off most off the time ................
Interesting reading and I can't comment on any ones recommendations good or bad but I do have a question. I haven't worn a watch for probably thirty years or more now , working on building sites they would get scratched or snagged and the strap would break so i just stopped wearing one. Am I breaking some sort of prepper etiquette by not carrying a watch at all times , is it a failure on my part and a hole in my plans? I've managed over the years by using clocks in vehicles , church towers , or the radio and never really missed anything. Would we need watches after an event that throws us back to the Stone Age or would just knowing the seasons be enough?
That's a good point - I wonder if the solar battery is replaceable if it goes bad. I like the self-winding watches because as far as I'm aware they don't have any sort of electronics in them.
The way I see it, having a watch that tells the time is all well and good, but it's only one of many potential features. An EDC item such as a watch has the potential to be a really useful thing, you have it with you everywhere. It's even more of a pure EDC than a phone because there are occasions when you don't have your phone on you.
The concept of squeezing a barometer into a watch is only pointless if it doesn't work or if you would never use it - but I was reading up on the Suunto Core and it's all focussed on being outdoors. So for you, if you're mostly local and around the house, yeah it's pointless. But me, with all the camping I like to (try to) do, seems like a good choice to have a warning if there is weather trouble brewing. It could make the difference between pitching a tent now or later. If the barometer is crap though, then I don't want that, like.
I love motorcycles like a fat guy loves cake. I also love cake.
grenfell wrote:Interesting reading and I can't comment on any ones recommendations good or bad but I do have a question. I haven't worn a watch for probably thirty years or more now , working on building sites they would get scratched or snagged and the strap would break so i just stopped wearing one. Am I breaking some sort of prepper etiquette by not carrying a watch at all times , is it a failure on my part and a hole in my plans? I've managed over the years by using clocks in vehicles , church towers , or the radio and never really missed anything. Would we need watches after an event that throws us back to the Stone Age or would just knowing the seasons be enough?
To be honest, no. Not in my opinion. It's just a luxury. I spent the last couple of years trying to minimise and prioritise my stuff. I don't take prepping as seriously as most, but I have a few things in place. Recently I've been really enjoying EDC gadgets/toys, and watches come into that category I think. As I get older and wiser I'm building systems into my life to make sure there are fewer cock ups.
There is a methodology in all EDC and preps people do, and that's what I'm trying to figure out here.
I love motorcycles like a fat guy loves cake. I also love cake.
Being a girly, I have many watches but my favorite are the ones I have on chains to wear around my neck. The backs of watches make my wrists itch like crazy and also if worn too often they will start to go backwards, digital are a no go for me as they all end up saying 88:88 no matter how good the brand. I have a seriously weird thing going on with electrical goods. I had to have the flat re-wired twice with new fuse boxes as I kept blowing up the previous boxes, if I get stressed out then I can blow every bulb in the place in one day. Irons, clocks, phones, lamps, vacuum cleaners in fact anything electrical doesn't last very long with me around!
Strange things happen.... Mr D gets a kick out of waving a compass across me, the needle goes a bit weird when it passes over my left side. Anyone got any ideas why this would be? Or am I just an alien, which has been suggested on many occasions!
Behind every great man is an even greater woman. She carried you, raised you and made you who you are.
grenfell wrote:Interesting reading and I can't comment on any ones recommendations good or bad but I do have a question. I haven't worn a watch for probably thirty years or more now , working on building sites they would get scratched or snagged and the strap would break so i just stopped wearing one. Am I breaking some sort of prepper etiquette by not carrying a watch at all times , is it a failure on my part and a hole in my plans? I've managed over the years by using clocks in vehicles , church towers , or the radio and never really missed anything. Would we need watches after an event that throws us back to the Stone Age or would just knowing the seasons be enough?
A watch is a piece of kit and I think it may have been said once or twice before that preppers like a bit of kit...but it is not essential and in many respects watches are becoming redundant with the ubiquity of smartphones. The only prep-related reason to carry one is that I have an analogue dial which I could use to find North with if lost if a) the UK wasn't covered in cloud most of the time and b) I could remember how to do it. Otherwise, I'm of the generation for whom getting your first watch was a big deal so am attached to having them, but I don't expect my kids will be.
The Casio G-Shock GR-8900A-1ER is the only watch I tend to recommend to anyone who does not look after their watches as its under £70, solar, rugged and the black on black means it doesn't show marks.
If you look after your watches I'd look at a Swiss made Mondaine as they fit with anything you might be wearing, not super expensive and are increasable well made.
While not an essential, perhaps, a timepiece has utility. It's good if every one has one for organisation and coordination. It's useful for dead reckoning and navigation (though you really don't need hands to be able to guesstimate north from the time and the sun's position in the sky... ). Features like alarms and countdowns are good to have. The thing that a watch doesn't do that a phone does is: run out of battery in a day. Many people nowadays can justifiably dispense with a watch because their phone is just a dip of the hand in a pocket away (still not as immediate as glancing at your wrist, and you can't do it if you're holding anything in that hand...). My watch handles Summertime automatically, so (now that European and British Summertime are synched) I won't turn up an hour early for a ferry because I forgot it was change-over weekend. As has been said, you can take a watch into many places where phones are prohibited. I have habitually worn a watch, but over the Autumn I underwent Carpal Tunnel Release surgery, and the wounds were somewhat irritated by the strap, so I stopped wearing for a few months. I thought I was getting used to not having one, but realise now I'm wearing it again that I'm more punctual with it than without it.
Perhaps in a situation where the breakdown of society is irrevocable and we're forced to return to a Medieval agrarian existence a watch wouldn't be of much use, but most SHTF scenarios are rather more acute than that, and having a reliable timepiece could be very useful indeed.
Dangerman,
I can see that if you have a tent the size of Buck House you may need a barometer to let the staff know 12 hours in advance it's time to pitch camp
However, I'm a fan of camping with what you can get in a pack, or hung onto it.
In my case my tent is pitchable in 5 minutes and around 10 minutes if I chuck a basha over the thing.
For 'me' a barometer is just gonna complicate things as I'd tend to take more notice of a bloody great big black storm cloud or storm front heading my way to tell me it's time to pitch the tent. KISS !
Wulfshead
Area 4 Coordinator
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack
I'm a bit of a watch geek myself, but I like to keep things simple. My EDC watches are:
1) Seiko 5 military (already mentioned in this thread),
2) A NATO G10 watch, rugged and reliable, similar in looks to the Seiko,
3) Casio G-Shock solar.
To be honest, the first two are my usual choices. The G-Shock has many features I don't use on a daily basis.
Everything seems to have a clock on it now, on the microwave, in the car etc, so you are unlikely to be without a way of telling the time somehow!
, is it a failure on my part and a hole in my plans? I've managed over the years by using clocks in vehicles , church towers , or the radio and never really missed anything. Would we need watches after an event that throws us back to the Stone Age or would just knowing the seasons be enough?
). Features like alarms and countdowns are good to have. The thing that a watch doesn't do that a phone does is: run out of battery in a day. Many people nowadays can justifiably dispense with a watch because their phone is just a dip of the hand in a pocket away (still not as immediate as glancing at your wrist, and you can't do it if you're holding anything in that hand...). My watch handles Summertime automatically, so (now that European and British Summertime are synched) I won't turn up an hour early for a ferry because I forgot it was change-over weekend. As has been said, you can take a watch into many places where phones are prohibited. I have habitually worn a watch, but over the Autumn I underwent Carpal Tunnel Release surgery, and the wounds were somewhat irritated by the strap, so I stopped wearing for a few months. I thought I was getting used to not having one, but realise now I'm wearing it again that I'm more punctual with it than without it.
