• Comments (19)

    • 5
      Gregory - December 18, 2020

      I am surprised the aforementioned Rolexes didn’t make the list: they are bombproof and will work for decades without a service. They are, of course, very expensive.  Putting durability first and going on a budget, two more obvious choices are the Seiko 5 SNK series (stainless steel, automatic, starting under $80) and the Citizen Promaster Tough (titanium, solar, $360). At the other end of the scale in the “tool watch” category, I’d go for a Breitling Emergency (titanium, quartz, only second hand for under $4,000 with the 121.5 MHz built-in emergency transmitter) if emergency services are still running, or the Porsche Design P’3511 (titanium, mechanical, built-in removable compass, one of the most cleverly designed watches in history, second hand for around $5,000) if you can only count on yourself to get out of trouble. 

      • 6
        Robert LarsonContributor - December 18, 2020

        Those are some very nice watches that you are recommending.  I especially like that Breitling Emergency. Having a emergency transmitter in your watch is something straight out of James Bond. If I was a pilot, I would wear that if my plane ever went down and I needed rescue. Sure I could carry a satellite phone, but this would be strapped to you and be a good secondary option.

      • 8
        Gregory - December 23, 2020

        There is a new version of the Breitling Emergency with a 406MHZ transmitter that can reach satellites directly but it is huge, needs to be recharged regularly and costs $15,000. The good thing about the old 121.5MHz version is that you can wear and forget it and it will be there if you need it. Airliners still monitor 121.5MHz so your signal is likely to be picked up in most of the World. A satphone or pocket ELT work fine (I use both) but you are not likely to wear them 24/7. As the classic Emergency watches are no longer made, I am tempted to get another one, second hand, as a backup. That said, the one that is my everyday wear is now 20 years old, has been banged up all around the World, and is still doing well although it does get sent to Switzerland every two years for a month long service. Its only weakness, as far as I am concerned, is that you cannot scuba dive with it. There was a stainless steel version (the “Mission”) with the proper depth rating but much too heavy to be comfortable. Having said all that, If I was looking for a TEOTWAWKI watch, I’d get something completely infallible that would just tell the time for ever, like a Rolex submariner. 

      • 8
        Robert LarsonContributor - December 23, 2020

        Your watch makes my G-shock look like a something out of a vending machine for 25 cents. That is really cool. 

        My G-Shock lasted me about 5 years and finally gave up the ghost this month. I took it all apart, cleaned it out, but think there is something wrong with the electronics of it. 

      • 7
        Gregory - December 24, 2020

        I was in Hong Kong when the first G-Shock came out. It was then quite a revolution in affordable durability and I believe it still holds a few records. After almost 40 years and 200+ different models, it comes with all sorts of useful built-in features. I was collecting gadget watches at the time but I skipped the G-Shock, opting instead for the Citizen ProMaster Tough with its solar cell, titanium body and kevlar wristband. I somehow misplaced my first copy in the 90s but was able to buy a new one last year; it comes and goes from the catalog.

    • 6
      Gideon ParkerStaff - December 30, 2020

      I bought the Casio SGW100 that was recommended in this article and have absolutely loved it! I love the large display, compass and thermometer feature, and just the interface has little things that make it really great.

      Thanks for the great article!

    • 5
      Alex - March 11, 2021

      Hi. What do you think about Garmin Fenix 6x Pro Solar as a survival watch? It has GPS with TOPO maps as well as solar charging(not sure if you can actually charge the watch with the sunlight or it just a marketing move)  I would like to know your opinion in comparison Fenix 6x PRO Solar with Casio Rangeman GPR-B1000 for a long term survival

      • 8
        Thomas GomezStaff - March 15, 2021

        Hi Alex, 

        Both look like awesome watches but I would lean towards the Fenix.  Because they are both “smart” watches I would still carry a $50 dollar Casio with extra batteries and tools just in case.  I personally wouldn’t trust a smart watch yet for long term survival, and I would still carry paper maps of my area of operations. Consolidating technology is convenient but when it goes down you have lost capabilities. I run around the West all of time hunting and living off the land. I set a timer to let me know when I have 30 minutes of light. Other then that, I don’t really need smart watch features and usually carry a pair of small Garmin gps units along with a map. Those watches are both pricey. If you have money to burn, awesome, but I think the money could better be used on other survival gear. 

      • 6
        Alex - March 15, 2021

        Thomas, after your comment I am now thinking towards to buying Garmin eTrex® 32x (instead of a smart watch) which potentially could last for years in long terms survival in wildness if turning it on only when need to see the current location on the map and having some AA batteries as a backup. By the way, there is so many info about how good compass with a paper map are but there is no info where to get good TOPO waterproof maps… Can you direct me to the right place for that? Thank you.

      • 5
        Thomas GomezStaff - March 15, 2021

        Garmin eTrex 32x is a fantastic unit. For my survival gear I try to use lithium batteries. I can keep them in my electronics without worrying about corrosion. They are a little on the pricey side, but if I want to keep my gear in a ready state, I always use lithium batteries. 

        For maps I purchase them from Mytopo.com or Ruggedmaps.com. We will be doing an article about maps in the next few weeks! 

    • 3
      Nick - June 27, 2021

      Personal Opinion – I like Citizen watches.  For me, they cover both the every day use, and would work as a survival watch.  The main reason I’d also use them as a survival watch is the battery, as Citizen watches are powered by light (not just sunlight, but ANY light).  To me this is huge.  I have never had to replace a battery in a Citizen watch.  If the world goes to hell, I bet I’ll have a hard time finding a watch battery a few years from now, but if you don’t ever need one, problem solved.  Basic Citizen watches don’t do much other than tell time, date, day of the week.  But honestly, for me, that’s all I need it to do.  All the rest of the things that these watches do is neat, but not necessary.  I can live without the features.  Plus I don’t have to remember to get my special survival watch out in an emergency, when I’m probably thinking about anything but doing that, as I’m already wearing it.  Lastly, the price isn’t obscene.   A basic low tier Citizen watch can be had for $150-200.  More expensive than the basic recommended watch in this article, but to me the forever battery is worth it.

      • 1
        Robert LarsonContributor - June 29, 2021

        I had a G-Shock watch that was powered by ambient light like your Citizen watch and I loved it. I knew that I never had to replace the battery and it felt like a great prepper watch. 

        Then randomly it just died. Took it apart and cleaned out the lint and dead skin that had built up, and couldn’t figure out what went wrong. It was a $60 watch so I wasn’t too heart broken and understood that it was it’s time. 

        I got a new watch that is now powered by a battery. It works great, but I just don’t have that same level of comfort knowing that at any time I may look down at it and it might be dead. I need to buy a spare battery and learn how to replace it myself in order to be prepared now.

    • 3
      Tommyd - August 14, 2021

      All of these are nice, but if the emergency/survival situation is caused by an EMP, they will probably be useless.  A wind up, or auto wind watch is best.  I currently wear an old Breitling Chronomat Automatic that is about 25 years old and due for service.  Of course a non-digital compass and barometer should be in your bag.  

      • 1
        rebecca - August 14, 2021

        A non-digital compass is good thinking because it doesn’t have small components that would be overloaded and damaged, but do you think that an EMP Electric Magnetic Pulse would throw compass accuracy off? Is an EMP’s pulse too short of a time to affect a compass or is it powerful enough to do so?

        Not expecting you have the answers but just things I thought about from your comment. Hopefully analog compasses won’t be affected at all. 

      • 1
        Super Mario - July 11, 2022

        Mechanical windup watches that do not use batteries are incredible feats of engineering, but are known to be less accurate than quartz watches. A mechanical watch may get off as much as 5 seconds a day where as a quartz watch usually strays by only 1 second a day. You can also buy 5 cheap quartz watches for the price of a mechanical watch.

        My quartz watches creep ahead by like 10-15 seconds a month and I calibrate it to the time on my phone which is more accurate because it is constantly updated. Knowing how much your watch creeps ahead or lags behind in a month can be valuable to give you a rough sense of how much to adjust your watch by if the grid went down and you still wanted accurate time keeping.

        If you do want the most accurate at all times wrist watch, you should look for one that can listen for and receive atomic clock calibrations such as:

    • 3
      Alicia - June 1, 2022

      I was just gifted a G-Shock Rangeman GW-9400 for my birthday.  My husband chose it based on this site’s recommendation.  On the down side, it comes in only one size and is pretty huge on my ~7in wrist, but at least the band has continuous holes so I can wear it without alteration.  The loose tail of the band stays controlled when it’s on as well. So this is indeed a limited wear for me – biking, backpacking, emergency.  It had a medium level of charge and got fully charged in direct sunlight in minutes.  I’ve not tried charging it indoors yet as it hasn’t lost charge yet.  The manual was helpful as there are a lot of features.  I like that it has direct sensors for compass,  temperature, and barometric pressure.  And the manual was clear that it uses temp/pressure for calculating altitude so could be off depending on the situation.  One down side to not wearing it regularly is that I’ll forget how to set/use the features – like storing up to 40 measurements (any sort of them – date/temp/barometer/heading) or setting an alarm.  I’m hoping to avoid that by using it for my more frequent biking excursions.  It doesn’t have the option to set the alarm relative to sunrise/sunset automatically which would be a nice feature, but I could do that manually since sunrise/sunset times are one of the times in the feature set. 

      • 1
        Gideon ParkerStaff - June 1, 2022

        Great review! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with this watch. 

        I have one that has a compass and thermometer. The thermometer is most accurate if you take the watch off your wrist for 15 minutes so it’s not reading the added heat from your body temperature. Do you know if your watch would be the same?

      • 3
        Alicia - June 2, 2022

        It did show 107F after spending 10 minutes in the full afternoon sun.  And sure enough, it read 76.5F deg while sitting on the counter, and it’s now reading 86.6F after minutes on my wrist.  So yes, it’s the same.  Understandable, since it’s a mass of metal on a heat source.  🙂  

    • 1
      deez - 1 week ago

      I have to agree with the comment from Tommy from 8/14/21.  EMP is a real threat and any electronic based or battery based watch will be toast!  Old School mechanical watches will survive.

    • 1
      deez - 1 week ago

      I have to agree with the comment from Tommy from 8/14/21.  EMP is a real threat and any electronic based or battery based watch will be that!  Old School mechanical watches will survive.