I am considering getting a new watch, and have found one that I like. However, it does not say that it is water resistant. I understand that this means I can’t wash dishes with it, or drop it in the lake and expect it to still work, but how big of an issue is rain?
Would a good comparison be my cell phone? (a few drops of water are ok, provided they are wiped off promptly and not allowed to get in it)
Dude. Forty bucks got me a watch at Target that’s water resistant to 50 meters.
You can get one for $14.99 at Target or Wal-Mart that is water resistant as well. I find it hard to believe that any watch >$10 would be made so that it isn’t water resistant. I can’t speak to the OP directly but the watch should be marked more clearly. If it is more than $25 or so, you shouldn’t buy it or you should do more research before doing so.
It’s a Timex, priced at $30, with out any of the markings to suggest water resistance according to either the description of the watch or physical markings. I’ve got a cheap watch now that is water resistant, but not exactly… nice looking. I wear a watch all the time, so I was hoping to get one that wouldn’t look like crap.
Try looking it up at Timex.
Actually, that is where I found it. This is the watch I was thinking of. Note that in the product description it doesn’t mention water resistance (which it does on all sport/other watches that you’d expect to be water resistant), and the face has neither the symbol or a depth marking.
Now that we’ve established that the watch is, in fact, not water resistant, can anyone tell me how it might stand up to rain?
Okay, from your link, that watch is definitely not water resistant. The leather strap alone told me that. However, it should be able to handle the occasional sprinkling without undue damage. I would guess that the watch is meant to be dust tight, so there is some sort of seal around the stem, just not a water tight one. So okay in a little rain, not okay for casual wear in a rain forest.
Two totally anecdotal stories:
In the late '70s, I purchased a fancy new-fangled LCD digital watch. About a week later, while I was laying out on Sandy Beach in Hawaii drying off after a little body surfing, someone asked me if I knew the time. I immediately looked at my watch and said “Nope.” I’d completely forgotten about the damned thing and it was quite completely dead.
Fast forward 20+ years. I got a Casio Databank watch with all kinds of cool features. I read the instructions very carefully, and from their description of it’s features and capabilities, you shouldn’t even think moist thoughts near the thing. But I did get that watch wet many, many times, and it lasted for several years without a problem. Of course, I never took it body surfing, either.
So the moral is, get the watch, but keep it away from killer waves in Hawaii.