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I think you'll have to search pretty far and wide to find many warriors who have had a G-shock fail them. I'd say that the G-shock watches are the most popular watches in line units because of their blend of excellent value and amazing durability.
I'm currently on a G-shock after my Suunto Vector gave up the ghost after a couple years. I really couldn't justify buying another $300 watch. When I had the Suunto, even though it was capable of all kinds of cool functions, I never had the time or interest in reading the 300 page manual to learn how to use all of its features.
What I basically had was a heavy, durable, reasonably waterproof timepiece. All I ever used it for was telling time.
When I was in Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes in 1999, I bought a Luminox "Navy SEAL" watch. That watch stayed on my wrist for the next eight years (seven of those years were as a Hospital Corpsman with the Fleet Marine Force and two combat deployments). Every training evolution I went on, that watch was there. I never spent a second worrying about protecting that watch from damage or scratches. The Illumination of the hands and face were so bright that I could read the time through a poncho liner.
I wore the numbers off the bezel. I scratched the crystal so bad I could barely see through it. I did a few hundred SCUBA dives with it (some were decompression dives past 200 feet) It survived a 600 foot fall from a bridge one night (not on my wrist... another story). In all of this time, it stopped working exactly one time when the original battery died after three years.
The only reason I retired the watch was because it failed its water-tightness test when I took it in for its third battery. One absolute requirement for my watches is that they're waterproof to at least 200 feet, because sometimes I take them there.
It was sad, but I felt that watch had given me eight years of honorable service so I retired her. I bet that watch is sitting there in a box somewhere and the illumination on the dials are still blazing away. The hands don't move anymore, but I'm confident that if I dig her out and throw another battery in her, she'll plug along until the end of the world... just don't get her wet.
Now I have a G-shock. I'm pretty sure it does a bunch of cool stuff... but in the end, all I ask it to do is keep track of what time it is.
Best of luck to you in your search. I hope you find that special watch you're looking for.
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Imo a watch needs to be accurate and last. I've had my seiko kinetic since around 2000, when the model came out. Here's a write up about it and a few of her cousins: The SKJ Kinetic divers: gone but not forgotten, quartzimodo.com/articles/. I've got the 3rd generation SMY001, 5M63 caliber with 6 month maximum charge. It's got seiko's sapphlex (synthetic sapphire and mineral glass) crystal that is clear as a bell with no scratches after 10 years, about 4 years of shipboard use banging against steel bulkheads, ladder railings, whathaveyou - so it qualifies for the military part. It's gone swimming in the Arabian Gulf, over the Mariana Trench, and off Townsville Australia. Bracelet is sturdy and comfortable. Seiko kinetics are highly accurate timepieces while automatic watches are not accurate at all.
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Suunto Vector. Nice features and more accurate than a Casio, at least for my purposes. My current watch is the Suunto Core, but it is a battery hog. The altimeter is accurate and updates rapidy. I'm a MFF instructor and only use it as a back up in case my primary altimeter fails, which has happend. The Casio does not update in freefall for my purposes.
Also, the Core has a depth meter, but it's only good to 10m so it's more of a snorkeling feature; again a back up for me, but I dive with a Suunto Vytec DS dive computer. :) Having said that my primary scuba watch is the Luminox which only feature is that it is that I can read it at night without pusing a button and battery life is excellent.
If you want an great watch without breaking the bank I'd go for the G-Shock. Good comments and suggestions here.
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Suunto core, great watch.
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Reviving an old thread because I've been looking for a rugged watch and searched for it...
Anyway, the G-Shocks that have the atomic time sync, is there a way to turn that off? Only reason I ask is because I prefer to have all my watches and clocks 10 minutes fast. It helps me stay on time to things.* I'd really like to get one with the solar battery recharge, but all the ones I've seen with that feature also have the atomic time keeping.
*I know what you're thinking, if everything is 10 minutes fast and you know it, doesn't it defeat the purpose? Well... one would think, but it works for me.:sarcastic:
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Not inexpensive, but I'll throw this recommendation out there:
http://www.rescowatch.com/
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I would go with something like a U-Boat... it's like a cheaper version of a Panerai. Simple, but looks tough.
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I have CASIO MASTER GW-9400 and I love it . The previous 10 million reviewers who have stated this is the best watch of all-time are absolutely correct. This is a tough, rugged, highly functional, maintenance-free watch that blows everything else out of the water. And at this price point, I have both the black/positive and green/negative versions. Buttons depress with confidence, and despite its size, it is the most comfortable watch in my collection.
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I recently purchased a G-Shock GB100BB-1A. It's a great little tactical analog watch with digital day, date, and stopwatch/countdown. The hands are luminous, whereas the numbers are not -- that's the sole con in my opinion. I really recommend this G-Shock.
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I use to wear gshocks and still think very highly of them. I've gone to a Suunto AMBIT 3 run now for the GPS and extra features it has. The newer GPS smart type watches like the Fenix 5 series from Garmin are actually even nicer.