*
I’ve gone through more watches than I can count. The cheap digital ones had bands that quickly break, and I hammering for a few hours has knocked the hands, crystals, etc. off of better ones (I prefer the old-style analog watches). All of them use these small pins to hold the band on, which I also break with regularity. Is there a such this as a “contractor-grade wristwatch?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story

Ensure optimal heat pump performance under wet and potentially damaging conditions with these helpful tips and product recommendations.
Featured Video
Video: Build a Fireplace, Brick by BrickHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
I hear ya!
I have found most quartz watches hold up to vibration these days. I have a tendency to smash or gouge the faces off. I have to take my watch off whenever I work in close quarters to make sure I don't get 'hung up' on it.
Many years ago my wife bought me a watch from a company called Storm. It is a UK trendy design company. I think they can be found on the web. This watch was like a solid band of stainless steel. The face was tiny, so reading it took a little work, but it was 'indestructible'.
Of course I found a way to destroy it. I was visiting Oregon and I took a walk on mount hood. The watch died a week later. My repair shop said some sort of pumice had made it's way into the watch. Volcanic ash was finally blamed.
*My pager is my watch with date too. I also have a casio analog/dijital altimeter watch that with a few send back repairs has been around for a decade or more.near the stream rarely checking time and firing workers who ask about it twice,aj
*James, I've found that actually wearing a clock on my wrist when working is dangerous, both for me and the watch...my cell phone has a clock on it, but then I hate carrying that, too...
*I have a fine Seiko battery-powered analog watch on a fob that I keep in my pocket. I would never wear anything on a wrist-band around machinery. By-the-bye, do you remember when watch fobs were a big give-away item ? They used to have a metal medalion attached to a leather loop. I have a small (very, very small) collection of them from companies like Manatowoc, Link-Belt, Gardner-Denver, Jager, Coles, Blaw-Knox, Avalin-Barford, Euclid, Caterpiller, etc. And, I don't know if they're still available; but, one used to be able to buy reinforced pins for watches (similar to the pins on diving watches) to make them sturdy.
*My wife gave me a Seiko wrist watch for my aniversary 14 years ago. I wear it everyday. Never had a problem except having to change out the battery every few years. Sweat, dust, vibrations, not a problem.Before that, I went through about a dozen Timex watches.Ed.
*Worse than possibly getting caught in stuff, wristwatches worn on the jobsite give you that dippy tan line around your wrist.
*I wear an old Gruen make of watch that I saw my dad lose in a snow storm in '66, he purch'd it in the late '50s overseas. After his passing three years ago I found it in his things and apparently he found it again in the summer of '67, the band or hinge pin came apart and he never fixed it. A watch maker cleaned it up a bit and with a new band it goes everywhere with me. I have to wind it daily, to hell with batteries and that watch is the best I've ever worn. I don't think that there is a contractor grade wristwatch out there, you'll just have good or bad luck with whatever you buy. I do see a lot of guys who like to have their watches on a fob either hanging from their belt or in their pockets. It is a small white faced watch with what looks like a heavy duty silver/chrome case. Don't know a make or manufacturer.
*i really like the G-shock by casio its standard issue for the us airforce i wear it in the shower and spray paint do everything i need to do with it. Im on my 2nd watch band and 3rd battery. love it
*I've got a Pulasr that looks like I found it in the street but keeps on going. Needs batt number 4 soon I think. Nothing bothers it yet except there's some of that epoxy tile grout on the band. That stuff really is permanent. Joe H
*Remember those self winding things? I would wear one of them out in two weeks from overwinding it. Too active for them. I've almost never been able to keep a watch for more than six months for all the above stated reasons. I'm sure there's more than one Timex encased in concrete and still ticking (ha) that the advertisers are looking for! I have to use a flex band if wearing a wrist watch. The solid plastic or leather ones are too restrictive - I can flex the wrist and break the pins right off.I've taken to wearing a vest so I can keep the cell phone close enough to my ear ( in the chest pocket) to hear it ring and get to it quick. I keep a watch on a dangle fob clipped to the vest too.
*Gee, I've got a Seiko self-winding diving watch that's 25 years old and still working perfectly. I stopped using it as my daily watch when I got the battery Seiko (25th work anniversary in '94), but I still wind it now and then and still use it for diving.
*I know it sounds a little silly, but I look at the clock on my wall when I leave the house, and look at it again when I get home. Knowing what time it is during the day is irrelevent (to me anyway). I stop and eat when I get hungry, and go home for the day when I have had enough, or I get to a stopping point. MAN I love this business!I do keep a watch on my blinker arm in my truck. Every now and then, when I'm out running errands, I might take a look at it. Or not.James DuHamel
*James,Try putting just the watch without band on a cord around your neck, and inside your shirt.
*I'm with James on this one, haven't wore a watch for years. There is usually a clock close by where ever I'm working. The times there isn't and want to know the time, I have a battery clock on the dash of my van. Sometimes if there are no clocks around, I'll think it is probably such and such time, go to the van and it will be within 5-10 minutes of the time I thought it was. I guess you just get a feel for the time of day.
*This is what I don't wear to a jobsite...That's when the G-Shock goes on
*A Pulsar diving watch. It's almost 20 years old, has been in concrete, salt marsh mud & goes everywhere with me.Over $250.00 in the early 80's. I have no idea what it would cost now.
*Cheap Walmart $15 digital watch w/velcro strap. Got lucky, it's really taken a beating and still works well. But seriously, the velcro strap is much more durable.
*Casio G-shock.Got it back in the early 80's when I needed a digital for flying. It's still keeping time.
*I'm another who doesn't mess with it, haven't had a clock attached to me since '87. If I really want to know, walk out to the truck. Steve might have to sell that Rolex to pay his taxes.
*When my dad moved off the farm 35 years ago, the first city paycheck he got went to a Rolex Oyster, cost him about $200 back then. Still wears it every day after a brutal blue collar life, with weekends spent working just as hard at every task you could possibly imagine. The watch works like new (he, however, is a bit worn around the edges). He does complain that it costs him as much to have it cleaned now as he paid for it then. The watch repair guy actually got mad at him once when he brought it in after whacking it with a hammer by accident (only the crystal was damaged). Didn't feel that a watch like that should be subjected to such treatment.Moral: Buy the best and avoid dissapointment. That Rolex will be my watch when he passes on.
*My brother bought me a watch from a Korean guy at a flea market that looks just like Steve's for about ten bucks a few years ago. It still runs, probably only because I never wear a watch. If I really care (which I seldom do) I can always check the display in my truck.
*i Steve might have to sell that Rolex to pay his taxes. sadly you don't know how true that is Lonecat. the watch was my thirtieth (however you spell it) birthday present to myself right before I went to the rural parts of Argentina to commission the hydrodam. I wanted a watch that could take a beating (which it has) and didn't need batteries because down there cheap knock off batteries are common and they tend to explode in whatever they're in. ah yes the days before wife and kids, when I really had money.
*Without question the finest watch is made by swiss army. the cheapest model works just fine.
*Chris, I agree with you, I bought a Seiko chronograph self winding model and it survived Vietnam, I came home and took it off and haven't worn a watch since.
*That reminds me, Mark. When I was in the Navy, I had a Gruen with a black face and luminescent hands. Never kept real good time until I dropped it in about 6' of water in the well deck for a few hours. I retrieved it and by the next day the hands had rusted around the edges. It kept great time from then on and I had it for years after.
*Wal-Mart has a variety of watches that you attach to your belt. That should take care of the abuse part, and you won't have too look at it unless you really, really want to. You guys who don't wear watches, ya'll married? How many times?
*Crusty, I've been with my wife since 7/1/77 she understands that I'll get there when I get there. There are always clocks around and you should be in tune with your body to know when it needs to eat, needs to rest and needs to ..... When you build a house, do you sweat the nickles? Or do you get it close and leave a little for emergencys? I never drain my checkbook down to the last nickle and try very hard not to run out of gas before I fill it up. If you worry about the minutes then you're wasting time that could be better used productively. If I'm done at 4:35 one day and 5:15 the next what differance does it make? Damned if anything will control my life to that degree!! Now I understand if you need that level of control, but what's your blood pressure at? The minutes you save will be lost because of high blood pressure..........
*I just use my watch to give me some idea of what I'm supposed to be doing at any given time..... has nothing to do with what I actually do! :)
*Yeah, I'm married. My wife is wth me everywhere I go. She's my helper, and I don't even go to town without her.Neither one of us care much what time it is. We get done when we get done, and get there when we get there. My blood pressure is LOW, LOW, LOW. I enjoy all day, every day.James DuHamel
*Thanks, everyone. I have actually been using an old Seiko for years, and it has been very reliable. However, after one particularly vigorous session working on a deck, one of the pins holding the band broke, at which point I noticed a decorative insignia on the dial was coming loose. While repairable, I doubt Seiko ever figured one of their watches would be subjected to the abuse I give, and maybe someone makes one that could take this abuse. I guess I'll treat this Seiko to a good cleaning and repair at the local jewelers, and hope it keeps on ticking (ticking? Do battery watches tick? Hum?).Thanks again, everyone.
*
I've gone through more watches than I can count. The cheap digital ones had bands that quickly break, and I hammering for a few hours has knocked the hands, crystals, etc. off of better ones (I prefer the old-style analog watches). All of them use these small pins to hold the band on, which I also break with regularity. Is there a such this as a "contractor-grade wristwatch?