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Military Grade Watch?

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Hello Everyone,
I am looking to purchase a new watch which can be used during firearms training. Would anyone have a recommendation for a modern watch which is military grade tough, modern and has a lot of features? Thank you for any advice you could provide.

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G Shock is the standard field watch for all the soldiers I know. They aren't issued, they aren't "military grade". They are affordable, rugged, and reliable. Most of them are the G Shock MudMan.

 

A lot of the "special" guys I know wear some flavor of Suunto or Garmin that let's them navigate while operational.

 

The really, really "Special" guys I know all wear Rolex Submariners.

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Define military grade..... I don't think there is a mil-spec for watches that's any more specific than "it tells time, only loses 1 second a year, and the battery lasts this long".

 

Other than possibly a "Hack" requirement, anything you look for in a watch as a civilian would be the same in a "military grade" version.

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I would agree that there is not a true mil-spec for watches. I was just looking for a watch which would be extremely tough and contain several features which would be useful on the range. One watch I was looking at is the The Casio G-Shock Rangeman GW9400-1 Have you heard anything about the rangeman. This model is a bit older is there something more modern with the same quality of toughness?

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You're overthinking this as HE said. I used a Benrus Dive Watch in Vietnam. This was exposed to literally thousands of concussions from artillery. I'm talking 8" howitzer, 175 guns, and 105 howitzers. The concussion from firing a 175 was so great you got off the gun and fired it with a 50 foot lanyard. I have a photo taken of a 175 firing which shows the recoil would lift the 30 ton track off the ground. This watch also lasted through 1000s of rounds shooting small arms. I stopped wearing it when I bought a stainless steel Seiko (like $20 at the time). I also bought a stainless Rolex but just sent it home. Didn't want to screw up a watch that cost... $200.

 

I've worn a variety of watches including cheaper Casio and Amitron. Wore them for a lot of shooting. The only thing that killed these watches was taking the backs off for battery replacements killed the water resistant integrity.

 

I don't think you need a "special" watch for shooting.

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Griz beat me to it, a beaten up 90's calculator watch will stand up "shooting" so if that is your concern you could even use a child's watch, the ones with Mickey's arms pointing the time, and be just fine.

 

The reason's you might want a tough watch is that you spend a lot of your time smacking it into things because you operating operationally in a theater of operations or, like me, you are a klutz that bounces against all the walls and door knobs on the planet and you keep smacking your watch against random bits of the environment.  Gshock watches are really a very solid blend of rugged, functionality, and price.

 

You can pick up a Gshock solar atomic for under $100 and it will probably last longer then you want it to, because your will likely want to replace it out of boredom long before you break it.  You can pick up a GWM500A for $63 on Amazon, I have one as my daily wear watch for quite a few years.

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I was just looking for a watch which would be extremely tough and contain several features which would be useful on the range. 

 

 

What features are useful on the range, besides 'tells time' and a stopwatch function for things like bullseye slow fire, or the slow fire international events?  

 

A watch that tells time, plus a shot timer, will be more useful for most anything else, plus voice command strings for timed and rapid fire strings recorded on a smartphone--you can listen through earbuds under your hearing protectors if others are shooting on the range with you.

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I have a garmin fenix 3 and its great so far. Have barely touched some of the features on it. Just the waypoints and the running gps which is useful. I like it so far. I you don't plan on using any features i.e. skiing, hiking, running, custom watchfaces, etc. than your fine with a g-shock. My fenix 3 was 260 from hodges marine (remanufactured). 

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What features are useful on the range, besides 'tells time' and a stopwatch function for things like bullseye slow fire, or the slow fire international events?  

 

A watch that tells time, plus a shot timer, will be more useful for most anything else, plus voice command strings for timed and rapid fire strings recorded on a smartphone--you can listen through earbuds under your hearing protectors if others are shooting on the range with you.

 

Air temp, altimeter and barometer are all useful if using a ballistic calc.

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Air temp, altimeter and barometer are all useful if using a ballistic calc.

 

 

Except 

1) The temps on the casio pro-trek trype watches are always WRONG. They reflect, kind of, body surface temps. I have one. My office is kind of chilly. It is not 81.4F as my watch claims. So useless for air temp. 

2) Because the temp is wrong, the altimeter/barometer is wrong except with relation to itself. So like going hiking under tree cover you can likely use the barometer as the tmep it registers will mostly be consistent due to your body warming the watch. 

3) Altimiter is useless. Why? Because the barometer changes. 

 

They are mostly novelty. The compass works, and if if you aren't wandering in and out of doors a lot, you can use the barometer to tell if it is rising or falling compared to earlier in the day. 

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Before you go too far with this search, start looking up "pilot watch" discussions on forums to see how the search for a new watch turns into a crusade for some.

 

http://www.timex.com/collections/expedition/

 

This will save you between $500 and $2,000. Personally, I shoot,fly and run with a $100 Wenger. YMMV.

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G Shock is the standard field watch for all the soldiers I know. They aren't issued, they aren't "military grade". They are affordable, rugged, and reliable. Most of them are the G Shock MudMan.

 

A lot of the "special" guys I know wear some flavor of Suunto or Garmin that let's them navigate while operational.

 

The really, really "Special" guys I know all wear Rolex Submariners.

you must be talking about cops...lol, I don't know a single guy that has used a rolex in theater

 

absolutely agree on g-shock, which is more prevalent in the general grade rank and file but most of the ussocom guys were using standard dials after the suuntos and pathfinders (issued to all mscoc pre-2010) were proven to be too delicate for abuse.

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Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Diving Automatics for when you go downrange. 

 

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/jaeger-lecoultre-master-compressor-diving-automatic-navy-seals-watch/

 

I look like I'm a team guy when I'm shooting steel with my MK25 at Old Bridge.

 

NavySealsCharlie1.jpg

 

NavySealsMichael2.jpg

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Thank you everyone for the help. I was comparing the G-shock Mudman and Rangeman watches and they both seem to have nice features. I have two friends who are contractors/firearms instructors one uses a Casio Pathfinder and the other a Luminox. Is there a major difference between the two brands? I should rephrase what I am looking for I want a watch that is tough to stand up to the elements and tactical training but has features for outdoor use which can include navigation, sunrise/sunset, moon phases, tides, temperature exc. Also battery life is very important. Thank you for the help!

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Air temp, altimeter and barometer are all useful if using a ballistic calc.

All of which is useful...but. I have calculated firing data for artillery using sophisticated meteorological data. Keep in mind your ballistic coefficient changes with velocity. Using a ballistic calculator is less sophisticated. Nothing is as good as putting rounds on target. Otherwise we aol would just zero at 50 yards and not worry about checking the zero at the range we intend to shoot at.

 

$100 buys a good watch to tell time with or use at the range for such a purpose. Anything more is window dressing or for impressing someone.

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All of which is useful...but. I have calculated firing data for artillery using sophisticated meteorological data. Keep in mind your ballistic coefficient changes with velocity. Using a ballistic calculator is less sophisticated. Nothing is as good as putting rounds on target. Otherwise we aol would just zero at 50 yards and not worry about checking the zero at the range we intend to shoot at.

 

$100 buys a good watch to tell time with or use at the range for such a purpose. Anything more is window dressing or for impressing someone.

amen

 

marathon is the watch of choice but a little more than the $100 however, doesn't need a battery, will keep excellent time and built to withstand punishing abuse

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Go with a standard G-Shock that can be had for around $200. No need to spend any more than that. Try to get something with a backlight if you'd like to be able to tell time quickly in low-light.  Anyone that has ever tried to read a tritium or luminous analog dial in complete darkness knows what I mean. All other functions are better left to a smartphone, GPS, etc..

 

Contrary to popular belief, a G-Shock digital that syncs with a GPS will keep time much better than any automatic or quartz watch out there, at any price. Rolex's are nice, but you'd pretty much be wearing a reflector that keeps so-so time on your wrist.

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