Mechanical wristwatch for shooting

J

JasonG

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No, no, not shooting AT the watch....

I'm a fan of mechanicals, have a Muhle Glashutte and an Oris but don't want to wear them to the range because I'm concerned about the effect of recoil.

I'm inclined to pick up a G-Shock or something but was wondering if any of you guys wear mechanical watches while shooting and if you've had any problems with the movements.

Any thoughts on the topic would be appreciated.

-Jason
 
There's a school of thought that says wearing a mechanical watch during golf could effect the movement. I'd say firearm recoil is much worse than anything encountered during the golf swing.

Get a nice analog quartz watch.

I'm guessing your watches could handle it, but I wouldn't do it if you're going to worry about it.

I wear a G-Shock or my Hamilton Khaki quartz to the range. I have a Sinn UX-GSG9 edition that could handle it, but I never seem to wear it while shooting.
 
Anything built with the Lemania 5100 movement would work OK and not be crazy expensive. (that's the movement that is in the 'official' space mission watches by both the US and USSR. Bell and Ross, Fortis, and many others use it. It's an automatic with a rotor winding. I've never had it so much as slow down with regular use. You can easily tell as it has 2 buttons on the side of the crown, the large second hand is the stopwatch, not the time's second hand, the regular time seconds are on a sub dial. Also has day and date and a 24 hour subdial. Since it can be had in cases for space flight, it is not hard to find versions with 200 meter water resistance.

Here is a generic dial - various manufacturers will do their own thing.

xara.jpg
 
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I wear a 23 jewel self winding Bulova watch that dates back to the '50s.
I guess that it is probably good for another 50 years. Don't know if I will be wearing it by then.

Jack
 
You guys have some mighty fine taste in watches! The next watch in my collection will be an automatic, I just have yet to decide on which it will be...
 
I have a Seiko Arctura kinetic that I haven't had an issues with, the crystal is solid and the action has not had any issues. It wasn't crazy expensive when I bought it and seems to be a well made watch.
 
I wouldn't worry about it, you probably jar it much worse in day to day movement. I've been wearing mechanicals for 20 + years and have never had an issue.
 
I have a Air King that seems to take recoil fine. A baton to the wrist, not so much. Ended up costing me $250 at the time to rework the watch after it stopped.

Firearms, howerver, have never been a problem including short barreled FAs.
 
I take off my Omega Speedmaster or Seamaster when I go out. I'd imagine you could wear something like a Seiko dive watch, or an Invicta though.
 
BeerGuy said:
I have a Sinn UX-GSG9 edition that could handle it, but I never seem to wear it while shooting.
Click to expand...

Talk about my dream watch. That or the Sinn U1.

One day......... [grin]

I wear a Luminox Navy Seal Dive watch (3100 series) and I've had no problems shooting with it.
 
I have been shooting with my Bulova Marine Star watch quite a few times with no ill effects. Granted it's nowhere near as intricate and sensitive as some of the watches here.
 
I wear my Omega Seamaster to the range all the time, and have a habit of shooting 357 mag out of my Airlite. At one point my buddy actually remarked that I was probably voiding the warranty on the watch with that combo. Still keeping perfect time. When I pay good money for a watch I expect it to hold up at least as well as I do.
 
I have never had any sort of issues with any watches, from the russian cheapies, up through rolex, panerai, anonimo and others. Just wear it enjoy it, don't worry about it and if something ever goes wrong, then have it serviced. No biggie.
 
JasonG said:
No, no, not shooting AT the watch....

I'm a fan of mechanicals, have a Muhle Glashutte and an Oris but don't want to wear them to the range because I'm concerned about the effect of recoil.

I'm inclined to pick up a G-Shock or something but was wondering if any of you guys wear mechanical watches while shooting and if you've had any problems with the movements.

Any thoughts on the topic would be appreciated.

-Jason
Click to expand...
I wear a basic Timex that I have owned for about 5 years now. I have fired many rounds of 12-gauge buckshot and slugs through my Remington 870, along with a fair amount of commercial .308 and milsurp 7.62 Nato through my Ruger KM77MKII rifle. Never had a problem with the watch.
 
Someone should call up mythbusters and have them test this out. See if they can destroy a watch by shooting with it on... a lot. Bet they'd agree to it, they like shooting at things.
 
I wear (wore) a Rolex Sub for 9 years doing everything from golf to shooting... No issues at all, still kept great time and I never worried about it. It took a motorcycle accident to damage it, and it still ran!!!! (ground the crystal and bezel down from the slide...) I need to send it in for service.

Most good movements have a shock compensator, consisting of a leaf type spring to compensate for these things.
 
chris_1001 said:
Most good movements have a shock compensator, consisting of a leaf type spring to compensate for these things.
Click to expand...
+1 I wear my Breitling automatic every day and it has gone through some rough treatment. Runs perfectly.

My uncle ran over his submariner and it kept running.

Point being, any depth-rated dive or aviation watch is going to be a hell of a lot tougher than most things you can throw at them, especially some little recoil shocks from shooting a gun.

Hell, most of you probably put your watch through worse when you rub one out when the SO refuses to put out...
 
I usually wear a vintage mechnical Gruen Veri-Thin and have never had an issue, usually wear it trap shooting.
 
I wear a Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronograph on my left wrist and shoot with my ridght hand. I have had no issues.
 
I probably wouldn't wear my Bulova Accutron SpaceView while shooting a .500 Magnum, but I don't think that any mechanical watch would really have a problem. it's only when you DROP the watch that you tend to have problems.
 

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