Wind up watch

[Lowdown3]

Was buying a few of these to stick in our packs.

Something not needing a battery, that can be run by winding up regularly.

Their used to be a military watch that did this. I got one once, it was a total POS and stopped working darn near right off the bat.

I searched ebay and found a few under a search for "wind up watch." Pretty much all new ones are made in China that I found.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271498541343?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

$17. is worth a risk.

Would love to find a higher quality sub $100. wind up watch (new preferably).

Eventually your watch battery will die out. Keeping time could be pretty important. What's your plans for that?

[justanothergunnut]

I have had a Citizen solar powered watch for about 10 years now. I love it!! I just set it in the window every so often to give it a charge. It doesnt take much light to power the darn thing.. Im still amazed by it.

I know its not wind up but they achieve the same results and are very high quality. If you hunt around you may be able to find a model that will work for you and is right at 100$

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Citizen-Mens...item541589b9cd

[Rmplstlskn]

I too rely on solar... My Casio G-Shocks have been GTG for over a decade, just got a new one early this year. But I do see a belt-n-suspenders need for a wind up watch... Will keep an eye out for one, maybe at a vintage shop with old Timex's and such...

Rmpl

[DIM TIM]

I'm looking at some of the automatics, but no cheapos for me, because I want something that is going to last for a while. If I had the money to get a GREAT watch, then I'd spring for a Rolex for sure. BUT...since we're talking a poor man's prepper budget, then I'm going to have to go with a Bouliva or Citizens to get something that will hold up for my needs.

Either way, I'm looking at around $150 just for one, so considering that I can get two for the price of a decent water filter or a spam can of ammo for my MBR, then the price seems worth it to me for one and a back-up.
Even the Rolex falls within the price of a pretty good AR-15, so even that would be fair game to some folks that could drop a few grand for a couple of black riflles.

I was reading on another board recently on this subject, and a number of folk didn't really see the need to have a timepiece that woukd work after a major shtf event. Funny, I figured right off the bat that reliable time pieces for a group would be as important as a group standard [insert group standard object].
If your group were out on a patrol or some sort of needed mission, then there would surely be some time during it where you would need a reliable time piece to coordinate movements between groups (lots of war movies have a scene where groups syncronize their watches before an attack, rescue mission, etc,).
So all this seems pretty strait forward to me, and wind up mantle clocks, grandfather clocks, etc, etc, would seem to be the best bet for a retreat, farm, ranch, command center, etc, etc,. There are many reliable time pieces out there, it's just a matter of finding them and finding a good clock and watch repair shop that can service your pieces when they need repaired or a good cleaning.

[Dennis W]

I got this one from amazon. It's a Seiko for $55, been wearing it for a while and keeps good time.
Dennis

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SSUQFG/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I too rely on solar... My Casio G-Shocks have been GTG for over a decade, just got a new one early this year. But I do see a belt-n-suspenders need for a wind up watch... Will keep an eye out for one, maybe at a vintage shop with old Timex's and such...

Rmpl

I agree. My Casio G-Shock solar atomic has held up for about seven years now.


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[protus]

Cheap Guy here LOL ...I avg 4-7 years on Timex expeditions...daily wear...lil construction /repair work...the bands wear out faster than the watches...

I do want a good one and was looking at the citizens eco drive...found some basic "military "looking ones for sub 90$

[Lowdown3]

What's the key words I should be looking for/searching for to clue me in that the watch doesn't require a BATTERY? I searched "wind up watch" on Ebay but is there a better term?

Looking at that Amazon listing for example, it seems to be what I'm looking for and they use the term "automatic" a lot. Is that what I should be searching for?

[justanothergunnut]

My citizen Eco drive is pretty amazing how little light it needs to charge. Not just sunlight either it gets enough from I door lights. Non led of course

[Tackleberry]

I had a Seiko kinetic watch but it was a POS. I have owned an Orient Black Mako kinetic watch for the last 3 years. I have never had to wind it up or adjust the time on it. I only have to adjust the date when there are less than 31 days in the month and I use the knuckle method to determine which months those are. It's water resistant to 200M.

[prc-104]

Thats what I use for many years now

I got this one from amazon. It's a Seiko for $55, been wearing it for a while and keeps good time.
Dennis

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

It's been a good watch SIEKO 7s26a

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEIKO-5-Automatic-21JEWEL-Mens-Watch-7S26-02F0-A4-WP-/171574193784?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item27f29e6e78

Durable accurate cheap and reliable
/john

[bountyhunter69]

i carry a Hamilton 992B pocket watch,known to a lot of people as a "railroad watch" they were indeed used by the railroad many yrs ago. The correct time was so important to railroad back then (prob now too) that every watch had to be checked twice a tear for accuracy..i been told they had to stay within 30 seconds of correct time,if they were running slow or fast,they had to be regulated by a railroad watchmaker..mine is a 21 jewel and has to be wound daily

[justanothergunnut]

LD3 I used "solar watch" as the search term on ebay and got a pretty good return. I did notice some Seiko watches marked solar that were a model name but reading the description quickly made it clear it was not solar powered. The casio G Shock line is pretty large and are less than the Citizen Eco drive. I have no experience with the Gshock. The majority of the Gshock appear to be digital while Citizen has more analog in their line up. Both companies have models with charge meters and even multi sensor models. Temp, Barometric pressure, compass, etc. I would imagine the Gshock could take a little more abuse as they are "hardened" however that is just a assumption on my part.

[rol3155]

One thing you need to take into consideration when buying a mechanical (manual wind or automatic) is maintenance. Any machine with moving parts is subject to wear, a watch is no exception. Under ideal circumstances a mechanical watch should be serviced (on average) every 4-8 years depending on use -or abuse-. A quartz (or battery) watch will need to have the battery changed when it quits working, average 2-4 years. You would want to have a few batteries on hand (they can usually be stored for around 4 years or so before they self discharge. Also, make sure you know how to change your battery in your watch without damaging it, (coil, circuit, gasket) or getting dirt or lint into the gears which will stop it. Your best bet might be the Citizen Eco-drive or Casio G-shock solar watches, the fewer times you need to open your watch up, the longer it should last in an SHTF situation. And bountyhunter69, you've made a good choice, just don't drop it! Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a variety...

Peace.

[Lowdown3]

Well not overly surprisingly for $15. but on Day 2 it was not keeping time. Now I will say this, it wasn't worn but for a little while and the literature says you should wear it 8 hours a day. Guess the movement of your arm does something also?

Wound it up again and wore it for a couple days and it's been keeping time o.k. since then.