>>950039I'd like to share my views as a seafarer. I spent 2 years at sea and relied on my watch as a tool.
My watch needed to be reliable. It had to be waterproof because sometimes watches end up inside a washing machine or in the rain if I'm on shore leave and I can't replace it easily.
Because we kept moving through time zones, when the ship's slave clocks were being adjusted, sometimes there would be errors. So I needed a watch to use as a reference point. Quartz watches are better for this.
I also like having dual time, not just for calling home, but also for roughly estimating my longitude and thus location for tuning into shortwave radio stations in my free time.
For these reasons I favoured digital watches, specifically the Casio W-71. Rubber straps tend to disintegrate, so I prefer metal straps.
However some seafarers who spend years at sea, much longer than me, tend to prefer automatic watches, because they never have to worry about batteries. Getting batteries or watches replaced when you are at sea can be hard.
