Help me find a watch.
March 12, 2010 2:09 PM Subscribe
What is the best moderately priced watch (under $100) you know of? My husband is starting EMT training and needs a good, reliable and durable watch. One with a second hand of course. Any recommendations?
Any classic style Swatch. Has a second hand, readable in darkness, is basic and unobtrusive and is very much under your price range ($60 bucks now, I think?).
posted by flamk at 2:16 PM on March 12, 2010
posted by flamk at 2:16 PM on March 12, 2010
I'm really enjoying my Nixon Sentry. Nixon sells them for $100+, but you can find them for less than that with other online retailers. Anyway, it's got good contrast, clean lines--in other words, easy to read in a hurry. Also I've dropped it a lot and leapt into the ocean and it's fine.
posted by dervish at 2:17 PM on March 12, 2010
posted by dervish at 2:17 PM on March 12, 2010
If he likes digital, this Casio G-shock is great. I've had mine for 2+ years and it's the most accurate, and durable watch I've had.
posted by jaimev at 2:35 PM on March 12, 2010
posted by jaimev at 2:35 PM on March 12, 2010
As a former EMT and watch enthusiast, I'm personally a fan of digital watches for EMS work. Along these lines, any Casio G-Shock with Wave-Ceptor (atomic-synch technology that keeps times accurate, and as you might imagine accurate times are quite important for report writing, etc.) technology would be sufficient. Some of these even have the EXTREMELY useful ability to illuminate the backlight by simply tilting your wrist.
If you wanted to splurge, go for a Casio Pathfinder that has all of the above along with cool altimeter/compass/barometer gadgetry. A Luminox or Traser watch may also be nice as they have tritium vials that illuminate the watch without the need for punching an extra button.
Some EMTs prefer analog watches as they find it easier to take pulses by measuring a quarter- or half-rotation instead of watching 15 or 30 seconds elapse on a digital display. A Citizen Eco-Drive would probably be best here, or any of Seikos battery/kinetic driven models. I love automatic/sprung timepieces, but the possibility of a wound-down watch rules them out for work circumstances (at least for me, you can always just make sure they're wound properly).
posted by speedgraphic at 2:37 PM on March 12, 2010 [2 favorites]
If you wanted to splurge, go for a Casio Pathfinder that has all of the above along with cool altimeter/compass/barometer gadgetry. A Luminox or Traser watch may also be nice as they have tritium vials that illuminate the watch without the need for punching an extra button.
Some EMTs prefer analog watches as they find it easier to take pulses by measuring a quarter- or half-rotation instead of watching 15 or 30 seconds elapse on a digital display. A Citizen Eco-Drive would probably be best here, or any of Seikos battery/kinetic driven models. I love automatic/sprung timepieces, but the possibility of a wound-down watch rules them out for work circumstances (at least for me, you can always just make sure they're wound properly).
posted by speedgraphic at 2:37 PM on March 12, 2010 [2 favorites]
My former EMT buddy happened to be online when I read this question, and according to him his go-to watch while on the job was a Timex Ironman because it 1.) has a polyurethane strap which is very easy to clean and doesn't have the weight of a metal band strap, 2.) is meant to be submerged, which he says happened quite a bit, 3.) has a big digital display, 4.) has a digital timer, and 5.) has a ton of separate alarms you can set.
He got his at REI, evidently. It looks like they have one for $44 on their website.
posted by Willie0248 at 2:37 PM on March 12, 2010
He got his at REI, evidently. It looks like they have one for $44 on their website.
posted by Willie0248 at 2:37 PM on March 12, 2010
Former EMT here. Get him a stethoscope watch! This one is great because it has a marked quarter-quadrant that makes it so much easier to take an accurate pulse in a chaotic situation (without unconsciously timing it to the second hand, such an easy mistake especially for newbies).
I got mine after I got icky things on my wristwatch a few too many times. I also found that my gloves sometimes got in the way of reading the watch, but I have pretty small hands / wrists so that might have been a contributing factor.
posted by charmcityblues at 4:02 PM on March 12, 2010
I got mine after I got icky things on my wristwatch a few too many times. I also found that my gloves sometimes got in the way of reading the watch, but I have pretty small hands / wrists so that might have been a contributing factor.
posted by charmcityblues at 4:02 PM on March 12, 2010
I agree with Willie0248's former EMT buddy. My $25 Timex Ironman is durable, the band is easily adjustable, it has timers, a second hand (digitally) and a backlight. Mine went through the laundry and is still ticking.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:17 PM on March 12, 2010
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:17 PM on March 12, 2010
Agree with G-shock or similar; whatever it is definitely needs to be water resistant as much as possible, because it will get crud on it and need to be scrubbed clean.
posted by TedW at 2:53 AM on March 13, 2010
posted by TedW at 2:53 AM on March 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sanka at 2:12 PM on March 12, 2010 [1 favorite]