Calling tactical military watches ‘useful’ is an understatement. A good military watch can not only tell you the time but in some scenarios, it can also save your life. Military watches have features to guide you through all altitudes, terrains, and weather.
The term military watch doesn’t mean that only professionals can use it. These tough, high-spec watches can be used by anyone, anywhere. From runners to mountain climbers or even people who are just looking for a good-looking watch.
But with so many options in the market, choosing a watch for you might be a little confusing. That’s why we’ve made a list that can help you get the right military watch for you.
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Best Military Watch Reviews
Here is our list of the best military watch available on the market:
1. Suunto Core MilitaryWatch – Best Overall Military Watch
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The Suunto Core Military Watch is designed for the outdoors. With this watch on your wrist, you can be high up in the cold mountains or the hot sandy desert without any worries.
It rocks a sweet altimeter to track your altitude as you ascend or descent on mountains. Its barometer can detect any change in air pressure. The storm alarm warns you of a sudden pressure drop and approaching bad weather. It also has a digital compass to help you check your directions.
You can also set the watch to follow just about every time zone on earth so location will never be an issue. It also contains a compass that will help you navigate and pinpoint locations to safely find your way. This watch has sunrise and sunset times available for over 400 different locations so you won’t be caught out in the dark.
The Suunto Core Military Watch is a smartwatch that has all the features you need to have when you’re going out on an adventure or work. And with its fairly decent price point, you might even say that you’re paying for a product that should be way more expensive than it is. And for all those reasons, this is our top pick.
Pros
- Water-Resistant
- Great list of features
- Stylish
Cons
- Slightly fragile material
- Not the best battery life
2. Golden HourMilitary Watch–The Runner Up
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The Golden hour Military Watch is a tactical watch that comes with style. Known as a Multi-functional sports watch, it is filled with features anyone who loves the outdoor would need.
It has a fixed stainless-steel case and bezel, which makes the watch durable and gives it good protection. On top of that, the watchband is made of silicone that ensures comfort while you’re wearing it. The internal surface is skin-friendly so, you don’t have to be much concerned about skin damage or rashes.
The hands are painted with luminescent material, which makes the dial glow for a short duration after taking in strong light. There is a backlight function, so you’ll have no trouble reading time in the dark.
The golden hour also boasts high-quality lenses that are clear, hard, and easy to read making reading time easier and damaging the lens harder. It rocks a big face sports watch design that has multiple digital displays and a round watch that features corrugated unidirectional bezels. This not only makes it look great but also makes reading the watch at any time of the day easier.
Its water resistance though is a little lacking. It has a 30M water resistance which isn’t that impressive. It means that it’s splash-proof but that’s about it. Diving, swimming, and showering with this watch on is not recommended, and pressing buttons when underwater with this watch is especially not recommended.
The Golden Hour is a functional watch made with style. Its water resistance might be lacking but you’re not exactly going to be using a watch underwater most of the time and other than that it does almost every other job flawlessly, making it an amazing choice.
Pros
- High quality and affordable
- Fashionable design
- Sturdy build
Cons
- Weak water resistance
- Relatively large face
3. OLSUS Military Sport Watch – Best Budget
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If you’re on a budget but still want a military watch for your wrist, the watches by OLSUS might just be for you.
It’s a watch that has all the necessary features you would want. It has a large face that makes the time easier to read, its hands are also coated with luminous material that glows in the dark so reading at night will not be an issue. It has quartz along with movement which provides precise time and its battery life is known for being very long.
As for the build, you get what you pay for. It’s not exactly a bad build but it does feel cheap, especially compared to the other premium build watches on this list. Its strap is made of canvas and its band is made of nylon. But a plus point of the cheaper build is that it’s light and comfortable to wear which makes it an excellent watch for when you want to climb a mountain or run.
Even with its cheaper feeling build it’s a watch that can do all the necessary functions a military watch is supposed to do and it’s known for lasting as long as any other premium watch.
Pros
- Easy on the wallet
- Light
- Easy to read
Cons
- Cheap build
- Weak water resistance
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The General-Purpose Quartz is a Military Watch made for professionals. It is a highly durable watch that is made from an impact-resistant fiber shell case which is also water-resistant to 3 atmospheres, making it also sweat resistant. Truly a watch that will not yield to any element.
It has a matte finish on its build which will prevent reflections that occur in other metal build watches. This helps in not giving away your position when hunting, playing airsoft or even on a battlefield! It’s also extremely lightweight and comfortable.
If you couldn’t tell by now, this Military watch is truly made for the military. It tells accurate time, it’s built to last and not hinder movement, and has an End Of Life (EOL) indicator which tells you when you need to change the battery on this watch. This isn’t to say that an average person cannot wear this watch, as it looks great on any wrist.
Its main issue will come with its lack of features, especially compared to other watches in this list like the Suunto or the GOLDEN HOUR. It’s a simple watch that lasts long, tells time well, and feels good to wear and if you’re someone who’s looking for just that, then this watch may just be the one for you.
Pros
- Matte Finish
- Strong Build
- Light and comfortable
Cons
- Expensive
- Lacking in features
5. Dayllon AnalogDigital Outdoor Watch
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If you’re looking for size and power you cannot go wrong with Dayllon’s analog digital outdoor watch. It has a large dial and a large watch face that makes it easy to read but also comes in two sizes so you can choose whichever one you want.
This watch supports digital as well as an analog display and can provide two different time zones for simultaneous setup and reading. It has powerful batteries from Japan, has decent water resistance, shock resistance, and real character. It has all the functions you would want in a watch like a stopwatch, calendar, alarm, and is excellent for multi-tasking making it perfect for the outdoors.
It’s made of soft and comfortable rubber, durable plastic, and mineral glass mirror which has strong pressure resistance. It’s a watch made for power and functionality and it delivers.
Pros
- Premium material for cheap
- Loaded with features
- Customizable
Cons
- Weak nightglow
- Average durability
Best Military Watch Buying Guide
We understand that picking a military watch that’s just right for you can be a daunting task, especially if it’s your first time buying one. This is exactly why we made this quick buyers guide showing you what you should keep an eye on when buying a Military Watch.
Comfort
Military Watches are made for the outdoors and heavy activity, and what’s the point of having an outdoors watch if you don’t feel comfortable wearing it? This is why comfort is on top of our priority list. An itch on your wrist or hand feeling too heavy when you’re on a run can greatly impact your performance, so you need to be sure to get a watch that does not give you any problems.
Now how comfortable a watch feels to wear depends on many different factors, from the size to the weight and especially the material, which smoothly takes us to our next factor.
Material
The material of a watch not only affects its comfort but also its build quality, durability, water-resistance, and much more. Depending on the price range you’ll get a variety of material to work with, and while the quality of the material does get better as you go high in price, that isn’t to say that the lower end ones are bad.
Nylon, rubber, steel, fiber shells are all great materials and offer different things, for example, nylon is lighter while steel is more durable (in most cases) so it’s up to you to decide what you want and choose the material that’s right for you.
Accuracy
Now the primary function of a watch is to tell you the time so of course, the watch that gives the more accurate time without always fixing it is going to be the better watch. The main factors that will affect this are the material, build as these will determine how often, if at all, it needs to be fixed, and battery life, as each time you replace it, you’ll need to set the time.
You don’t want a watch that you have to keep correcting every other month, because after all what good is a watch if it can’t even tell you the time.
Military Watch FAQs
We’re sure that many of our readers will have further questions about Military watches and how to buy one so we’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions people have about Military Watches.
How do you open a Military Watch?
Depending on the build of the watch you will need to do different things to open up a Military Watch. Some have screws on them and if they do just take them out and pry off the back, for which you’ll need a tool like scissors or a knife.
One thing that you should note is that you should always open a watch in a clean area with low humidity because you don’t want exterior particles or humidity to be stuck inside the watch.
Do you need a compass in a Military Watch?
The answer is no. It’s a feature that’s always nice to have and depending on what kinds of activities you do, it might be life-saving, but it isn’t necessary for every Military Watch out there. It’s a feature you get if you want it and it’s never a bad option but a watch can be just as good or even better without a compass on it.
What batteries do Military Watches use?
This is another question with many answers. Depending on the watch it can either be using a button cell like regular watches (which also vary in size, material, etc.) or it could also be running on solar power. Usually, when you buy a watch the type of battery should be written on the website and the box, so be sure to check that.
Find the best Military Watch that’s right for you
Now we’ve given you the list of what we think are the best choices on the market right now and we’ve also given you the list of things we think you should look out for when you’re buying a Military Watch. We hope that this list helped you find the best military watch for you or at least narrow the list of options so that you can choose the right watch for you.
