Comments on: Information wanted about the types of watches favored by frontline military guys

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:36:04 +0000

I asked number-one son, gung-ho Army soldier his opinion. He opines, “not hot pink or easily detected color, but cheap and durable”.

By: NavyOne

NavyOne — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:27:50 +0000

I’ve seen different watches, depending on mission. The Citizen Eco-drive seems to popular with the aviators. There is even a Navy version (blue and gold.) I think it was Blue Angels themed. The G-Shock is also widespread as is the Ironman. Black tactical watches are popular. And I saw a SEAL once with a big, honking dive watch. . .If more intel is needed, let me know!

By: Bookworm

Bookworm — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:13:21 +0000

Thanks, WH. That's exactly where my thinking went. Now all I need to do is to convince a certain young man that military guys would never subject a very expensive watch to the risk of loss or breakage, when they could get a perfectly functional cheaper watch.

By: Wolf Howling

Wolf Howling — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:57:02 +0000

One clarification – military time will never be the sole display, but it must be one of the options.

By: Wolf Howling

Wolf Howling — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:53:15 +0000

It can be a simple, cheap Casio or Timex. Both brands produce good, cheap watches that can take a real beating.
The watch needs to be water proof (50 meters or more), have a digital display, tell military time (i.e., 1300, not 1 p.m.)and have a manual backlight for reading at night. All other bells and whistles are optional, but you will do a lot of running in the military, so its nice to have a stopwatch function.
As an infantry officer, I bought my first Casio right before airborne school. It lasted over 25 years. I considered giving it a burial with full honors when it finally died. I replaced it with a Timex with the same functions.