This watch is a decent compromise in an era when shopping for a watch is a real pain. Of the half dozen watches I've collected over the years, the non-battery watches need service, currently difficult to arrange, and all the remaining batteries, which I'm not equipped or trained to replace, have run out. I wanted a watch to tide me over through the COVID19 pandemic lockdown. A rechargeable smart watch seemed like a good idea in the circumstances, but I hated the smart watch I tried last month, going crazy gesticulating to wake the dodgy display trigger, so I sent it back. The other smart watches on the market at the time showed distant future delivery dates or outsize prices. Based on experience with an almost identical watch to the one I'm reviewing, this watch will do, with it's always-on analog display, clearly superior in its basic clock-display function to the smart watch. My purchase was intended to duplicate a favorite backup watch, now battery-dead, a low priced Timex Expedition Indiglo, with comfortable leather strap and high contrast between hands and face, for an easy, quick read in low light. Upon delivery, I discovered two minor differences, the strap color and the second hand. This silver second hand is less easy to see in low light than the prior white second hand. It's still visible, just harder to see, much like the silver numbers I had forgotten my old Timex had, which my mostly-functioning good old Seiko automatic doesn't even bother to provide. The bright white dots on the hours and the white hands on dark face are the key to the quick read. I have one other battery-dead Timex Explorer, which I like less, with its NATO-style strap and low contrast tan face behind the white hands; its red second hand stands out in moderate, if not low light. This Timex Explorer's leather strap, though reportedly hard to replace, seems to me the most comfortable of all my watches. For modest, short term use, I can happily recommend this watch, while I suppose we should all start shopping now for that replacement strap, as well as the tool to install it. I already have one on order for the Seiko, a similarly comfortable and scarce green leather strap, on a slow boat from Hong Kong, due sometime next month, ordered on the competing well-known classic American online marketplace. Why four stars on this pretty good watch? The reported strap replacement problem, the silver second hand and one other annoyance: in an era of smart watches and smart phones, having to remember to manually advance the date after a short month, five times a year, is just painfully retro. This watch is good for what it is, but it would be more with less, if Timex ditched the date. If this review seems rambling, that's how an agonizing month of online watch shopping felt, before concluding this watch was the right approach for me, another backup watch. If nothing else, dear reader, you get my sympathy as you shop for a watch in a very muddled market. Good luck!
