Cheap outdoor watch recommendations wanted

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
It's all personal but you can get the time from the sun during the day and from your bladder at night. Why bother with an expensive watch? ;)

If I want to be hitting the trail at first light, I need to know the time in the dark. It is an expensive watch, but I bought mine 2nd hand on my favourite shopping channel (Ebay) for £60 10 years ago and it's on its second battery...
 

dovidola

Thru Hiker
It's all personal but I wouldn't let my choice of watch be dictated by whether or not it had an altimeter or barometer built in. I can get that info from my map location and local weather forecast. For me, the only fancy feature I demand is to be able to tell the time at night at a glance, without having to faff with buttons, backlights, my glasses or anything else. I want to know the time without having to fully wake up to work it out.

View attachment 21387
MWC Classic Watch - MKIII Brushed Stainless Steel with Tritium

I'm largely with @Rog Tallbloke on watches. For backpacking use, I want a watch that is reliable, lightweight, securely-fitting, modestly-sized, comfortable, shock-resistant, waterproof, anti-magnetic, and easy to read in all light levels (yes, good lume is a must). However, I insist on it being mechanical (preferably automatic so I don't have to remember to wind it). I also find it advantageous to have a means of measuring basic elapsed time to an accuracy of +/- 1 minute - this helps with old-fashioned navigation in poor visibility.

Current outdoor watch (39mm diameter and 78g on fabric strap):

BB58.JPG
 

Jamess

Section Hiker
I picked up a Lidl crivit z31222 on fleabay for a tenner to play with but the owner has lost the manual. Does anyone else own one and have a PDF copy you could ping me or pm me a mobile number so I can chat to you about how bits of it work.

Thanks.

Ps. Altimeter seems pretty good so far when walking round the local park.
 

Jamess

Section Hiker
Just a quick update for anyone interested re the cheapie crivit abc watch I picked up.

After a couple of weeks playing with it I'd suggest you look elsewhere. I can sit at my desk and see a height variation of 100m over a period of an hour and no, l'm not the lift attendant at the shard.
 
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