This is the Timex Expedition Titanium Automatic Field Watch, it’s designed specifically to be a simple, no-frills watch for use in the great outdoors, and it’s powered by an automatic mechanical movement – meaning it doesn’t need batteries.
The watch has a titanium case, a 21-jewel Japanese automatic movement, a domed sapphire crystal, luminous dial details for low-light visibility, it’s water-resistant to 200 meters (656 ft), and it’s affordable – selling for an MSRP of $399 USD.
The company that would become Timex was founded in 1845 in Connecticut, as the Waterbury Clock Company. This is an image of the company’s former headquarters in Connecticut. Image courtesy of Timex.
History Speedrun: Timex Watches
The company that would become Timex was founded in 1845 in Connecticut, as the Waterbury Clock Company. The firm made a significant impact on the industry by making clocks affordable through mass production, this low-cost approach would define the company throughout all of its history.
In the 1880s, they revolutionized the watch industry by introducing the “dollar watch,” bringing personal timekeeping within the economic reach of the average American for the first time. Waterbury sold so many dollar watches that they became almost the smartphone of their time – an essential device carried by countless people across the country.
After World War II, the company, then known as the United States Time Corporation, launched the Timex brand in 1950. These watches were marketed for their affordability and toughness, a tradition that would continue to be a cornerstone of the brand. Timex gained widespread popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, especially with its memorable advertising slogan “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
The 1980s saw Timex adapt to the digital revolution. They introduced digital watches, including the iconic Ironman Triathlon watch in 1986, which became an instant bestseller. In the following decades, Timex continued to innovate by integrating new technology into its watches, including the “Indiglo backlight” and GPS features.
In more recent years, Timex has developed a line of more classically-styled watches that often use automatic movements and feature designs that look vastly more costly than they actually are.
The Timex Expedition Titanium Automatic Field Watch
The Expedition Titanium Automatic Field Watch from Timex is a new design that was developed very much in the spirit of the first field watches, which were in turn developed based on early military watches.
Form very much follows function, and there is no unnecessary glitz or glamor – this is a watch that you can daily wear, or that you can use when you’re out in the wilderness and you need a reliable timepiece with no concern about batteries dying on you suddenly.
It has a full titanium case, a sapphire crystal, and an exhibition case back that shows you the movement
It has a full titanium case, a sapphire crystal, and an exhibition case back that shows you the movement. The movement itself is a 21-jewel Japanese automatic unit designed with toughness and long-term reliability in mind – think the Toyota Land Cruiser in watch-form.
It’s now being offered by the outfitters Huckberry for $399 USD, and it comes with free US returns, free US shipping, and a best price guarantee. You can visit the listing here if you’d like to get your own.
Images courtesy of Huckberry
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
