Timex Expedition E-compass Titanium Watch

The Timex Expedition line of watches is a favorite with adventurers and casual travelers alike. They're rugged and comfortable, yet are priced at a level that's affordable to most anyone. You won't get in a fight with a mugger to hold onto your watch and you don't have to worry about being a theft target.

This E-compass Titanium version has been on my wrist the past few weeks--without getting in the way. It has a wide, easy-to-read face, but is slim and attractive, with a black watch face on the inside and metal hands with glow-in-the-dark accents. It has the Indiglo function too, which means you can check the time in complete darkness, whether that's while hiking through the forest or checking how long the damn commercials have been running while you sit in the movie theater.

The defining feature of this particular model is the electronic compass, which is nifty but not something to bet your life on. If you just need to know which general direction is north or south it works fine. The watch instructions come with some rather complicated steps for calibrating it to "true north" but it takes a lot of tweaking. Plus there's a warning not to calibrate it or use it around electronics, so I had to walk out into the middle of my yard to set it up. Still, even without tweaking it should get you out of the woods or tell you if you're walking in the wrong direction in a city, which is enough for most needs. The compass only comes on when you press a button too, so it's not whirling around all day as you walk down the sidewalk.

The "titanium" in the name comes from the bevel part of the case, which is crafted from this very tough metal and seems quite resistant to scratches and bangs. It is also water resistant to 100 meters/300 feet, so you can wear it into the pool or on a rainy hike with no fear of it fogging up. Battery life is estimated at three years. There's also a second hand and a date function, but refreshingly it stops there. You only need to get to know two buttons.

The Timex Expedition E-compass Titanium watch lists for $175, but you can generally find it for sale in the $130 to $150 range. Try here, for example:

Timex T49211dh Expedition E-compass Mens Watch at Buy.com