Military Watches for Men
You're a man's man. For you, fantasy football draft day is a sacred holiday. Edge trimming a lawn would be an Olympic event if you were in charge, and you'd take home a medal. You bust out the power tools to open a pickle jar or trim your toenails. Your favorite hobbies always involve sweat and often draw blood.
Whether your day job has you wearing camouflage and rank insignia or slacks and a button-down, you need a watch that's as tough and tactical as you are. Military watches for men are here to heed the call. These are rugged timepieces from which you can practically smell the waft of testosterone. Sure, they might be able to survive a nuclear apocalypse, but they also do a darn fine job at reminding you when it's time to bail from work and hit the gym.
Perhaps your plans include defusing bombs, wrestling bears, or pulling Gs in the finest fighter jets on the planet. Or maybe you defuse arguments between warring offspring, wrestle with reaching a new PR on your run, and pull your truck into a gas station. Either way, a tactical military watch may be the right choice for your wrist.
What the Heck is a Military Watch?
Military-style watches can withstand the kinds of abuse that would make a regular watch cry and ask for its mommy. They're characterized by their durability, functionality, and, often, a design that's about as subtle as a tank in a flower garden. These aren't fussy timepieces meant to be coddled like the delicate china your grandmother only used on holidays.
These watches frequently appear on the wrists of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Guardians, and Coast Guardsmen. If you've enlisted or been commissioned in military service, or you appreciate those who have and want a timepiece as rugged and capable as the fine Americans who sacrifice for our nation, these watches are for you.
Military watch features vary, but here are a few features to look for that make these watches practical and functional:
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Shock Resistance
Sometimes life drop-kicks you like a kung fu master on a caffeine high. Your watch needs to be able to handle it. For even more durability, look for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) lenses, which are strong enough to brush off a full frontal attack. Actual jungle or urban jungle? Either way, this watch can withstand whatever your life entails. -
Water Resistance
Tough Mudder? No problem. Swim call off the ship’s flight deck? Dive right in. Your tactical timepiece was made with soggy adventures in mind. -
Features
High-quality tactical watches like Rockwell Time's Coliseum model have the precision time-keeping required to execute precise military operations when milliseconds matter. But the Coliseum and other best-in-class military watches do much more than give you readouts of hours, minutes, and seconds. Consider features like these:-
Dual Time Zones
Keep track of the time at your deployment location and for family back home–or maybe at the home office and your overseas business meeting. -
Chronograph Functionality
Want to know whether your latest run down that black-diamond trail was faster than the previous version? Watches with 50-lap memory let you track your progress. -
Multiple Alarms
When you don't have a Gunnery Sergeant screaming in your ear to get you out of your rack, you still need something to get you up and running. Multiple alarms can get you out of bed and remind you when to make a critical phone call, meet your buddies for a semi-friendly Murph competition at the gym, or leave for your dinner date. -
Live Step-Counter
Track your progress during your 5-mile ruck thanks to your watch's step-counting feature. -
Calorie Counter
If you want to stay in fighting shape, you must know how many calories you burn. Some military watches have got your six, helping you ensure that your output reaches your targets. -
Durable Materials
Military watches aren't made with soft, fussy materials you need to baby. Think stainless steel, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)/polyurethane (PU), titanium, and sometimes even carbon fiber.
And don't sleep on ceramic. For watch faces and some band components, ceramic can be a miracle worker. It's one of the hardest classes of materials in existence–hard enough to make your dream abs look like a teddy bear's belly. That makes it astonishingly resistant to scratches and dings. It's also hypoallergenic and impervious to rust. Because they are rugged timepieces that don't need to be pampered, tactical watches are made from materials nearly as tough as you are.
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Dual Time Zones
Okay, but Is a Military Watch Right for Me?
Are you dull, weak, and uninteresting? If so, then keep looking: this probably isn't your watch.
On the other hand–or wrist–if you enjoy making a statement or causing a little trouble, you may have found your timepiece. Are you an adventurer, a trendsetter, a leader, or a renegade? Look no further.
If you are a service member or a veteran, thank you for your service. For you, the answer is clear. It's right there in the name: military watch. But tactical watches designed in the USA aren't exclusively for those who've worn the stars and stripes on a uniform.
You don't need to have served in the armed forces to appreciate the durability, reliability, style, and features of military watches. Just like the internet, GPS, and duct tape are military inventions that changed the world and went mainstream, military timepieces aren't just for military members. Everyone benefits from a great watch or a well-taped duct. Thank you, United States military!
So How Do I Choose One?
You can't beat a military watch when it comes to hard-wearing watches you can strap on and wear through whatever adventures come your way. But with the popularity of this type of timepiece, you have many choices. How do you narrow it down? Here are some elements to consider:
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Features
If your favorite pastime is night surfing, look for a watch with high water resistance and strong luminescence. If you are a road warrior, dual-time zones are probably a must. Think about how you live. Look for a watch with the features that enhance your life. -
Size
Military watches for men tend to be on the larger size of the watch spectrum. That doesn't mean you don't have options, however. The face of Rockwell's Coliseum Fit measures a substantial 49mm. This is a watch that takes up space and demands to be noticed.
For someone who prefers a more modest face, the Coliseum Fit Forum edition is smaller but just as mighty. Its 37mm face can still take Gladiator-level abuse. If your mindset is, "the more watch, the better," Rockwell's 50mm behemoth demands to be admired and dares anyone to challenge it at their own peril.
When choosing your military-style watch, consider the face size that works best for your tastes and wrist. -
Digital or Analog
Most military watches are digital. It's easy to load these mini-computers with features. Digital also offers a quick, highly accurate reading of the time. But if you are an analog guy who wants to look down and see traditional watch hands, you can still choose a military watch and benefit from all the advantages of this style.
Rockwell Time's Plymouth style is an example of an analog timepiece that still packs a military punch. It has water resistance, a hardened mineral crystal, and a precise, American-built movement. You might even say that the Plymouth rocks. -
Budget
You can get a high-quality tactical watch without prices that make it seem like they should include a personal butler. You often won't get a better watch from some foreign watchmakers, but you'll still have to add an extra zero to the price tag. Look for brands that focus on quality, style, and creativity. If their products are designed in the good ol' US of A, even better. -
Personalization
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, when digital watches were the new kids on the wrist, your choice was black or black. Today, military watches come in more colors and themes than you can imagine. You can find a watch in your favorite team's colors. If you are a hunter, perhaps a camouflage color scheme makes your heart sing like a duck answering your hunting call.
If you are a service member, look for options specific to your service. Show up at the next battalion picnic with the Army's star logo proudly displayed on your watch. Even better if that watch is Army-green. As a first responder, you might appreciate wearing a thin blue or red line edition watch.
If you are buying this watch as a gift for someone else, take the time to find a watch that shows you put some effort into the present rather than taking the safe, boring route.
Of course, if basic black appeals to you, there are plenty of options. But whatever you can dream is out there if you want something more personalized.
If you are looking for a way to commemorate a milestone in your military service–a promotion, special assignment, retirement, or midway point of a rough deployment–it's hard to do better than treating yourself to a military watch (or treating someone else who has hit these milestones.)
If you are a civilian who wants a formidable, epic timepiece, you've found what your wrist needs. Military watches for men are as practical as they are persistent and as fierce as they are functional. They are, in fact, the only watches that heed the call.
