In praise of the lowly Timex Expedition...

[David Conwill]

I wear a Timex Indiglo Expedition wristwatch that my father passed on when the first band wore out and the battery died. I tracked down a correct replacement band at T-mart (it was still Target back then), had the battery replaced, and have worn it for at least five years since.

I don’t know exactly how much these retail for new, but I’ll bet it’s in the $25 to $40 range, and they’re more than worth it. I remove my watch and loop it through my wedding ring when I’m working on cars or the house, but otherwise this thing is on my wrist pretty much every waking hour. I’ve even left it on for the occasional shower or swim. It’s been banged into things, dropped, and submerged. Nothing has killed it yet.

Oh, and I didn’t even get into style. The tan face, dark sheen, combination leather/woven strap, size and simplicity of this watch all appeal to me. The styling is classic and, as one would expect from a line called “Expedition” brings to mind canoeing in the north woods, trekking through the Amazon, or flying P40s in Burma.

Size-wise, I think the 1.5-inch bezel is about perfect: The typical men’s watch of the 1940s is so small as to seem almost feminine these days, and the huge-and-complicated “dive” watches that were popular with fraternity guys five years ago almost have an air of insecurity about them.

I’m very impressed.

-Dave