The Ultimate Military Watch

[Specialist]

Absolutely agree and neither have I hinted, implied or suggested reliance on technology as a primary tool. Also if you don't know your job and/or basic fieldcraft then you would not fully understand how to use the technology anyway.

ABC watches can be an aid- features like sunrise/ sunset and Moon/Tide graphs and a barometer for judging weather can be a help from time to time. I havce never met a soldier who has viewed the technology to make up for lack of job knowledge or fieldcraft- it's almost an illogical position since a professional soldier would not be a professional soldier if they did not know their job and/or did not know fieldcraft.

The features listed at the beginning of the thread can be a great aid. A blackened watch with red backlight is very useful 100% of the time regardless of how good your field craft is. I owned a Traser P6500 for years and an many occasions I was reminded of how my wrist glowed at night

The Barometric feature is usefull 100% of the time regardless of soldering skills- keeping an eye on the cloud conditions, temperature and barometric trend can help predict adverse weather if the weather is or can be an impediment to the mission It's use is not a reflection on whether you know your job or not neither does it substitute any fieldcraft.

I have never seen or known anyone using a compass watch as a primary means of navigation. they are not designed for primary navigation so the suggestion that that function would replace map reading is bizarre to say the least.

Anyway, it would be great to discover if there are any watches that match of beat the Suunto Core.

[Janne]

I did not intend hijacking your thread.
You asked " The ultimate military watch" and I gave you my view.
It is a good quality 3 hander, preferably Quartz, but a good mechanic one will do too, but the mechanic one will be far more expensive.
The German SF use Sinn
Some Canadian and US units use ( Maratac? Forgot the name, and can not quickly find it)

Sorry if you feel I hijacked your thread, but your choices of watches have no connection to your initial query. Way too complex.

The features of those watches are not consistent and precise enough for a practical use.

As a last ditch use - yes, they are OK.
I myself together with my son potentially survived once because of the Compass feature on my T- touch.


As I wrote, I have extensive knowledge in field ork under adverse conditions. Before and after my military stint, I have been a keen outdoors man.

[Doug507]

Interesting thread. It's going to come down to this - do you or do you not want all that stuff on your watch? If you do, then Specialist has made a pretty good list (except the negative display - even the "good" ones are a pain in the arse in medium-to-low light). If you do not want all that stuff, Janne's points stand. No soldier NEEDS all that, it's a want. If I were to lose 20 pounds and 20 years and re-visit my government travel agent, I would bring something that I can rely on... like these:

[hidden by leaves]

Absolutely agree and neither have I hinted, implied or suggested reliance on technology as a primary tool. Also if you don't know your job and/or basic fieldcraft then you would not fully understand how to use the technology anyway.

ABC watches can be an aid- features like sunrise/ sunset and Moon/Tide graphs and a barometer for judging weather can be a help from time to time. I havce never met a soldier who has viewed the technology to make up for lack of job knowledge or fieldcraft- it's almost an illogical position since a professional soldier would not be a professional soldier if they did not know their job and/or did not know fieldcraft.

The features listed at the beginning of the thread can be a great aid. A blackened watch with red backlight is very useful 100% of the time regardless of how good your field craft is. I owned a Traser P6500 for years and an many occasions I was reminded of how my wrist glowed at night

The Barometric feature is usefull 100% of the time regardless of soldering skills- keeping an eye on the cloud conditions, temperature and barometric trend can help predict adverse weather if the weather is or can be an impediment to the mission It's use is not a reflection on whether you know your job or not neither does it substitute any fieldcraft.

I have never seen or known anyone using a compass watch as a primary means of navigation. they are not designed for primary navigation so the suggestion that that function would replace map reading is bizarre to say the least.

Anyway, it would be great to discover if there are any watches that match of beat the Suunto Core.

Here's some real-world reading for you: Military personal- What watch are you wearing?

[Janne]

I'm a serving infantry soldier and have been extensively researching the best military watch. I have not found a watch that I believe meets 100% the criteria that would, in my opinion at least, be the ultimate true military watch. I think only very vew manufacturers come anywhere near a proper military watch and only two (Casio and Suunto) that come close to the ultimate military watch. My criteria for the accolade of the ultimate military watch is:

Physical Charcteristics (Stealth and Durability)

• Black Inverse/ reverse LCD screen for stealth (e.g. Suunto Military/ Suunto Core Black). Useless
• Red backlight LED to maintain natural night vision (like some casio 'military' versions). Useless
• Black Titanium or Carbon Fibre case for light weight and durability (like Suunto X-lander Military and Suunto Core). Fine, but stainless steels is gine too. Any alloy will do in fact
• Rubber ribbed strap with screw on hinges (e.g. like Sunnto military strap found on Suunto Core military version). Synthetic and natural rubber goes hard and brittle in cold temperatures. Metal bracelet is the best
• Low Temperature operation for arctic operations (e.g. Casio Protrek series) All eatches work strapped to your wrist
• At least 100M Water resistance (just so there are no doubts if it's dunked or exposed to seriously heavy waterfalls). Absolutely
• Large Recessed buttons with textured surface to avoid getting caught in webbing straps (e.g. Casio Protek series). Unlikely scenario
• Solar Powered (e.g. Casio Protrek) or at least field/ self change battery (e.g. Suunto Xlander military and Suunto Core). Good feature solar, if you attempt to replace the battery yourself, you might lose the WR. And need to lug on a set of watch making tools
• Depth Meter (e.g. Suunto Core Military). Forget this feature.
• Rotating Bezel marked with cardinal compass points. Excellent feature, makes the emergency ompass taking easier
• Large form factor for using with cloves- small watches will not do. In fact, smaller ( under or around 40 mm) is better, as you eant to put it under the battle dress/ uniform

Timing Functions (in addition to standard time, stopwatch and alarm functions)

• 24 Hour time format (like most sport watches). Excellent feature, specially if you will be deployed in the Arctic in winter
• Countdown timers (found on Protrek, Suunto and many other sport models)
• Selectable Flashing Alarm mode (since audible alarms can cost lives in a tactical environment- Casio 'Military' versions have this). Useless, and can cost your life if you forget
• Selectable vibrating alert/ alarm (overcomes audible and visible issue in a tactical situation- not found on any watch)
• World times (Convenient in planning and changing zone when travelling- e.g. Casio protrk & Suunto XLander/ Core ). cool, but not really useful?
• Sunrise/ Sunset times (really important/ essential stuff to know in a military context- e.g. Suunto slander and Suunto Core). sunset and sunrise is the same time as yesterday.
• Quick Global silent setting- a single option to kill all audible functions on the watch (not found on any watch AFIK)

Environmental Functions (ABC, navigation, decision and planning support). Cool, but not really useful

• Electronic Compass (Casio Protrek Protrek PRG-130Y-DR and Suunto X-Lander and Suunto Core)
• Compass readings in MILS (not found on any watch)
• Barometric Monitoring (Casio Protrek PRG-130Y-DR and Suunto x-lander/Core)
• Altimeter (Casio Protrek and Suunto x-lander/Core)
• Manual or automatic switching between Barometric and Altimeter readings
• Storm Alert (e.g. Suunto Core)
• Temperature sensor
• Wind chill factor indication (Not seen on any watch I have found so far)
• Moon Phase (really important from time to time to know in a military context). Same moon as yesterday
• Tide phase/ prediction (really important form time to time to know in a military context) i hope you are joking?

Just some thought from a guy that did war carrying a bow and arrow!

[Specialist]

Don't slag off my bow and arrow! I occasionally feel the need to revert to it

The list above bar a few items is covered by the Suunto. I have occasionally used each of the features but mostly use the barometric function.

I'm not a fan of shiny/ silver coloured watches. I think any watch where a techno stack or basic timepiece needs to be black with weak nighttime illumination. For electronic timepieces, red backlight is ideal. Only seen red backlight on G-Shock Casio Military models.

The G-Shock shown above was the exact watch I had for many years. Amazing battery life

[charger02]

"Tide phase/ prediction (really important form time to time to know in a military context) i hope you are joking?"

Perhaps you are planning an amphibious operation and you have no true hydrography assets at your disposal!!!!!

I would have to disagree about metal bracelets. I think a NATO/Zulu would be more durable and loss of a watch minimized if a spring bar broke (happened to me in Helmand and had to keep my watch in my pocket......travesty!).

[Piloto]

Nevermind. I'm sitting this one out.

[The Elf]

I would also go with a G shock, I have a Riseman, the altimeter was next to useless grot anything other than giving a rough estimate when hiking. your navigational needs will almost certainly demand better gear than that, the barometer could be considered useful if you wanted to know what the weather was doing.
G shocks are available with the three hand plus digital which can be useful to glance at and tell the time quickly. I am not sure you will find any better than one from the suunto or Casio range, but please let us know what you decide on :D. Despite not being an armed forces member, a childhood in the Air Cadets led me to enjoying tactical gear :thumbup:

[Doug507]

Nevermind. I'm sitting this one out.

I was right there with you!