Recommendation: Durable watch. Finally made a purchase!

I would except in my experience the nylon bands tend to smell bad rather soon. And countycomm ships only UPS to HAwaii which is crazy.
 
Although it may be a bit more than 150, I would second the suunto core. I've owned the suunto core all black for 11 months now, and it has proven itself to be quite durable. I work in construction, and am constantly outdoors, either hiking, climbing, or diving. For me the depth feature was a real plus for freediving, as well as having an accurate altimeter/baromter, compass, thermometer. The battery is user replaceable (doing it yourself doesn't void warranty) and can be changed out with either a screw driver or even just using a nickel. The stock bands are quite comfortable, and seemed plenty strong, I personally swapped them out to the suunto flat elastomer bands just for a different look, and those have held up great.
 
I like the luminox brand but the bertucci watches have a cool strap that is a rubber bonded over a nylon strap so it has the best of both worlds and the strap pins are milled as part of the body so they should never break. I did read a few complaints about them though.

Anyone know about the pin system on the luminox?
 
thatotherguy said:
erm, if you don't like rubber, have decided against metal, and are worrying about a pin breaking, how about a Countycomm Zulu band, it's breathable nylon, and one piece so if a pin does break you still have one pin holding the watch on.
Used one for years.
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+1 on that!!
 
im not intimatley familiar with bertucci watches, so i cant really comment there are always new makers that dont have an established reputation. that doesnt make them automatically bad, i just like to go for things i know are going to be good.

the pins on my current luminox are good and beefy as far as pins go. to be honest there wont be that much difference in pins on any watch in your price range, some companies use precious metals for theirs but beyond that there isnt that much of a difference, obviously the pins on a luminox will be superior to say a freestyle but thats just the way it is. some watches are designed for a nylon band and instead of being atatched with pins they have bars built into the housing that the nylon straps go through that isnt exclusive to bertucci.

another option if you really are scared of pens and you dont need absolute ruggedness, then i would reccomend skagen. hands down some of the best looking watches on the market, they are light thin and sharp looking. they grew famous for their wafer thin bodies on some models. now what may intrest you is that they have a metal mesh band on some models that i think would solve your pin dilema, if i remember correctly the mesh is screwed into the watch body and all adjustment is done at the clasp. they are also well within your price range. if i were you id go to a watch shop and check them out and then if you like it purchase online to save the money but at least then youd know what your getting into since they are non traditional.

another option that may have models you like at a reasonable price without sacrificing quality is bulova. the sticker price on them is much higher than they are generally sold for and if you look around online you could probably score one that is to your liking for under 150. you gotta watch sites like ebay but they are quite nice watches and they are done by the same company who does accutron which are quite nice and way out of your price range.

as a for instance: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P1IYUY...e=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B003P1IYUY

those kinds of deals are out there.

there is also esq which is owned by movado every one in awhile you can grab one for a steal at sales events. they are exceptional quality watches which are normally out of your price range but during sales fall into it.

my advice is to not go with the bertucci and stick with an established brand that has earned its reputation through repeatedly excellent performance. brands such as luminox bulova and esq. shop around until you find the right watch at the right price.

luminox also makes a nylon strap for their watches.

hope this helps.
 
I like the look of those skagen watches but i don't think they have a lot of the other features out there.
I have seen some Nixon watches in surf shops here. Nice watches, some within my price range with various styles in everything else. A few of them looked like they had solid screw on bands instead of the spring pins.

I will probably end up getting a luminox watch though, and maybe one of those rubber coated canvas bands from that bertucci company and see if they would work together. Either that or a Gshock. The sentry from Luminox keeps catching my eye as good features and good price.

Thanks Razor!
 
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not a problem in the least. this forum is for people to share knowledge and enthusiasm. makes me wonder why so many things devolve into name calling and other weird stuff.

nixon is a brand that essentially is built upon fashion. its kind of like oakley they are a fashion company that does many things, whereas most good watch companies intimately understand the nuances involved in watch making and that is all they produce. they arent near as tough as they look. they have great visual flair and they bank on that. im not saying they are crap that will fall apart, im just saying that compared to a luminox their movements will be less reliable, also even the slightest imperfection in a movement leaves it much more vulnerable to shock. in essence they are pushing a brand. much as nike is famous for their fashion apparel and espeacially their shoes its the swoosh that would make someone choose nike over salomon. another way to look at it is like a company that bmakes alot of different things and then puts out a knife, they dont understand heat treat or super steels or edge geometry, they just think theyll make a sharp peice of steel with a handle and then slap their logo on it.so i always go with a watch brand that is actually a watch brand ;)

The sentry would be an excellent choice. dont forget that luminox will have a great warranty and great customer service that comes with it. let us know what you end up with.
 
i've got a luminox and a g-shock and honestly,the g-shock has been beat to hell and back and keeps going and is most often the watch on my wrist.i have nicer watches i wear when i'm "dressed up" but for daily wear or anything rough,i slap on the g-shock and have never worried about it.i have been wary of watches with tritium face inserts for years after i was out on maneuvers one night and my luminox face was spotted in the dark through a scope 200 yards away,if you can see the watch face,it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where to shoot.hence the lumi stays in the drawer and i cup the g face if i need to light it up in the dark.
p.s. my g rides on a nylon/velcro The Band brand watch band,easy to strap over or under anything i'm wearing,from bare wrist to on top of a submersion suit.pull it off(it just slips under the pins) and toss it in the wash 3-4 times a year or whenever it gets filthy.
 
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@ rick. i fixed that problem with a peice of 90mph tape over the bezel. need to know the time? just lift and replace, once you get back inside the wire, throw the now horrifically dirty piece of tape out and get some rack.

i dont like digitals because you can be moving/crawling and bump something and next thing you know its beeping or lighting up or god knows what else.
ymmv
 
I could be wrong but it seems like a digital watch is going to be more durable than an analog on the pure fact that a digital watch does not have moving parts while an analog does. I have seen digital watches get reset from a hard knock but once I adjust the time the watch still worked just fine. Is this a misconception on my part?
 
I've had this citizen on my wrist for 19 years:
citizen.jpg
 
That Bertucci digital looks like a real winner. Materials, design and price all look great to me. The straps could be better, but I can make those easily enough myself.
Right now the only complaints I have with my Reactor are that I can't wear it while I sleep (it's so heavy that my hand goes numb), and that the watch face isn't 24 hour, this would fix both of those.

Eyeeatingfish, what kind of complaints did people seem to have?
 
Hmm yes and no. you would have to do something pretty horrendous to a quality mechanical/analog watch to break it. all it takes on a digital is just a slightly loose solder or just a fleck of moisture and its scrap. On the other hand a poorly made analog is going to be scrapped from a hard knock, i had a guy come into the store i worked at with a rolex that had stopped working ( i was a low level tech basically if it cost more than 500 or it was mechanical i pushed it forward) and i told the guy flat out it was a fake and that no rolex would have a failure of that nature. sure enough popped the bands and there was no serial number (all rolexs have serial numbers in the band area that are hidden till you remove the band). so i adjusted his new breitling to his wrist, and he just gave me the fake as a tip (guy must have been loaded). now point is quality watches just dont have that kinda failing without some major damage that would most likely break a digital as well. My uncle is big into watches (were talking patek phillipe here) and he had an analog watch (which cost thousands of dollars btw) and the battery flat out exploded. so if the battery isnt isolated in just the right way and you somehow impact it and the battery leaks then the acid will scrap your watch. a digital will function for longer (were talking spans of time like 30-40 years it would take for you to notice this) without breaking down than an analog or machanical, because as you said there arent really any moving parts aside from the buttons, however, if an analog or mechanical watch has a failure then it can be repaired (there are mechanical watches that are still working after hundreds of years), if a digital has a failure its dead like disco. There are tons of ways to look at it but ill try and sum it up.

Just get a quality watch. it doesnt really matter if its digital analog or mechanical (i prefer the later and i think they look much more professional and for lack of a better word "adult") as long as the quality is there its just like a high end gun. maintain it and it will work the way its intended. clean it and inspect it every once in awhile, replace the batteries and youll be just fine no matter what company you go with as long as its reputable. speaking of batteries another reason i like lunminoxs is that the second hand will jump to tell you that you need to replace the battery before it dies.

just ifnd a watch that appeals to you and pull the trigger :)
 
Yeah, Casio G shocks are hard to kill, and a good analog is like the Energizer bunny. They just keep goin' and goin' and goin'
 
Just when I thought I had decided to buy a luminox based on price and features I went to costco and saw some citizen watches with price tags in my range that were originally priced at 400-500 bucks! I don't know whether to buy luminox or go with the citizen watch at a great steal of a price!

I will probably still get a Luminox on account of the cool glowing hands to tell what time it is and such.
I have to admit I don't think I have ever used the stopwatch/chrono on my watch, only very rarely used the alarm, and almost never used the time zone. The main thing I really need is date, time, and a light to see the time at night, (I work at night) and waterproof.
 
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Hey man if they tug at your heartstrings then go for it. I noticed i never really used any feature on my watches (especially since cellphones have all of those things now).

If you want 2 watches or even 3 i dont see anything wring with that.
 
Sorry razor, can I ask one more question?

As I would be planning on keeping this watch for years to come I am sure that I will need a battery replacement. I know that most manufacturers say that once you open it they don't guarantee its water proofness. A friend told me that to replace a battery in a good watch and make it sealed again costs a lot of moeny. He liked the solar watches for this reason. I have replaced ones before and had some remain waterproof and some fail.
So if I do get that luminox or any other non solar analog will I have to shell out big bucks in order to ensure that a battery replacement procedure does not make the watch leak? What are your thoughts on that matter?

Thankyou so much ahead of time.
 
eyeeatingfish said:
Sorry razor, can I ask one more question?

As I would be planning on keeping this watch for years to come I am sure that I will need a battery replacement. I know that most manufacturers say that once you open it they don't guarantee its water proofness. A friend told me that to replace a battery in a good watch and make it sealed again costs a lot of moeny. He liked the solar watches for this reason. I have replaced ones before and had some remain waterproof and some fail.
So if I do get that luminox or any other non solar analog will I have to shell out big bucks in order to eInsure that a battery replacement procedure does not make the watch leak? What are your thoughts on that matter?

Thankyou so much ahead of time.
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I know you're not going in that direction right now, but it's probably worth noting that Reactor pressure tests after replacing the battery (they charge $20).
 
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