Want to know which is the best watch for a Navy SEAL?
I was issued a standard Navy dive watch when I checked into an East Coast SEAL Team. It was an expensive Seiko and I was scared I would damage or lose it.
I quickly switched to a much cheaper 1982 Casio G-Shock and put the nicer watch back in the box and put it away in the upper back corner of my locker.
A good rugged timepiece is an essential piece of gear for any Frogman. What most of us are looking for is a piece that can accurately keep time at depth underwater – be extremely durable and cheap on the wallet as well.
Check out this list of recommended watches by Timex, Luminox, Casio, Sunnto, Rolex and Seiko (all gear have been worn by SEALs, Rangers and Special Forces over the last 5 decades).
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Each of these watches are ranked by both popularity and quality but also which watch works to get the job done.
OUR CHOICE: The Classic Timex Ironman Watch has been getting a fair amount of coverage thanks to Jocko Willink and his Zero Dark Thirty Instagram posts. Great price for a really functional watch that will last you through use and abuse.
This is by far the best watch I have ever bought. I had a Swiss Army summit XLT for years and replaced it with the same watch because I loved it so much. The only time you would ever see me not wearing it would be walking through metal detectors at airports. I love the Luminox Evo Blackout Watch 3051.
I like pieces that have a tactical look to them. Big, showy pieces with a ton of bling aren’t my style. When I would wake up in the mornings before my alarm clock sounded, I would have to hold my wrist inches away from my face to see if I had to get up for work.
The markers around this piece aren’t green paint that has to “charge” in the light. They’re tiny tubes filled with a radioactive gas that luminates 24/7 with or without light. The blue markers look so sick and the orange 12 indicator is just as sharp.
Question: What piece were you issued in the mid 1980’s in the Teams?
Answer: I was issued a Seiko dive watch. But I ended up wearing a Casio G-Shock Classic as it was lighter and thinner.
Question: What dive watch were the old Frogmen from the Vietnam War issued?
Answer: These old timers were issued Rolex submariner dive pieces.
AS so many other competent reviewers have stated, this is one tough and classy tactical timepiece. In fact, the G-shocks are the preferred choice among USMC Marine Corps Infantry, MARSOC, and Army Special Forces guys (NOT the brand that claims to be the “official” issue for those underwater elite fellas). THAT brand seems cool, until the glowing pieces come detached and wander around in the housing. Not good.
The Casio G-Force Military Concept watch piece won’t have that problem and it will still provide you with a low-profile, abusable time-piece with the functions you need to accomplish your assigned mission. I bought this for timing things that needed to be timed with a countdown timer :D, and that wouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb as “tacticool” or like a wannabe aviator.
Question: Do you have any info for the Rolex submariner vs Luminox?
Answer: Check out the video below:
Question: Do you know what time pieces the Army Delta Force Army Special Forces or Rangers wear?
Answer: My buddy in the Rangers wears a Casio. Guys in Delta wear a wide range of pieces from Luminox to Casio.
From Jim (Army Ranger): I was issued this G Shock before leaving for Iraq. Everybody in the battalion was issued it before we shipped out for Iraq back in 2005.
Five years ago today actually, and the battery finally just died last night, WOW! This thing lasted through an entire tour in Iraq, it made it through all the blood, sweat and tears and it just kept going.
GREAT PIECE!
Question: Do you have any info on Luminox vs G Shock? Or MOM Special ops vs G shock?
Answer: Check out this video for the Suunto Vector vs Casio G Shock:
Question: Are Team guys issued Rolexes?
Answer: Not in modern times. Yes; back in the old days frogmen were issued Rolexes.
I was on a course awhile ago, and some of the instructors were wearing Cores. They loved it, but said that using the compass a lot drained battery. Also that you need to regularly calibrate height and compass. (To be fair, that’s what the manual says too, and it’s a simple operation.)
Normally I wear an IWC, which is lovely, but not really something you want to be throwing yourself around in- I was considering saving up for an Omega, but logically it didn’t make much sense. I’ve had my Suunto Core Sport for a week and so far it’s really excellent. It doesn’t take too long to work out the operation either.
Question: Which watch would you prefer with the Luminox blackout vs the G-shock Gulfmaster?
Answer: Both are great watches. You can find good reviews on the Gulfmaster.
Question: Where can I find out more info on becoming a SEAL?
Answer: Check out this website page at Navy.com.
A short and sweet story about this model of Seiko. In February of 1978 I was in a specialized unit of the Air Force and had just arrived at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. I needed a good piece as my old Timex had just broken. I went to the BX and bought it for $110.
Most expensive piece I had ever owned but I needed a good one and figured this was it. I wore the Seiko Dive Watch on my left wrist everyday, all day for 22 and a half years! There is no embellishment here. I sent it in every 5 years or so for a cleaning and adjustment and that’s it!
How many bands did I replace? I couldn’t tell you how many bands and band pins I replaced on that band.
It went with me everywhere through my youth to middle age. It is truly like an old friend – the things we had done and the things we had seen – death, destruction, sea depths, high altitude, girl friends, wives, marriages, divorces, child birth, child graduation. Incredible!
The day the jeweler told me it was wore-out and could no longer keep good time was the day I put it in my safety deposit box.
Question: What about Luminox vs Victorinox?
Answer: Both are great watches so I would try to put them side by side and see which one has the features that you would want? Which one fits best on your wrist?
The Luminox Men’s 3001 Original Navy SEAL Dive Watch is a superb day piece.
Although I am on my second one in eight years, this may be a record, as I am not easy on gear and have been known to break stuff quickly.
Here is a picture of the back:
The crystal on the first one I owned cracked, but the second one is driving on like a champ and no problems at all.
I just had a buddy ask about this watch and he bought one too.
Question: Does Tissot have a Special Forces watch?
Answer: Yes; they have several models of rugged military watches.
I own several TAGs, Breitlings, Omega, Citizen, Torgoen, and Tissot. This is my first Luminox, and I bought the Luminox EVO Navy SEAL Colormark the Tritium illumination vials – everyone should have at least one H3 in their collection. All markings are very high contrast white.
The tritium 5-minute marker vials are BLUE, the second hand marker vial is BLUE, with GREEN vials on the hour/minute hands, a GREEN vial on the 12 hour marker and a small GREEN bezel marker.
The tritium illumination isn’t as bright as perhaps some marketing material and pictures would make it out to be – however it is very good and certainly does the job in low light or darkness. The face is large which is my preference, about the same size as a TAG Formula One Grande. Check out our comparisons for the Luminox Navy SEAL Blackout vs Cascio G-shock Rangeman
The Sub needs no intro, but the new Sub is a better boat all around. First, the case redesign, claimed by father Rolex to be more sporty, but is actually a Deepsea lite. The new Sub case is beefier, bigger, and thus heavier and slightly thicker.
The bezel is georgous and it’s platinum coated ceramic is stunning in looks and performance. The Rolex Submariner in Black an obvious upgrade of the old scratchable Aluminum one.
The bracelet is almost straight off the Deepsea and delivers the most satisfying clunk when set down. It is literally solid unlike its hollow predecessor, and the clasp is the world’s best IMHO.
On a side note, the Glidelock adjustment is amazing, but also necessary given that the sheer mass of this beast often requires daily micro adjustment to keep it fitting properly and comfortably. A note – S.E.A.L. Brandon Webb wears a Rolex Submariner and gives good reviews.
Question: What about the Casio Gulfmaster vs. Suunto core or Victorinox vs Luminox?
Answer: They are both great watches so I would look for the one with features you like.
I have owned G shocks for 30 years both during my time on the teams and afterwards working in the field. I have recently purchased the Casio G-Shock GD-120 and love it. For years I wore a Casio PRG 270 and I still like to wear it occassionally.
This piece is a little bigger but is not too big. I have beat it up for months and no problems at all.
It lives up to the same protection and workmanship that the previous 3 decades gave me. Thanks Casio.
Question: What do Navy SEAL Team members wear on their heads?
Answer: Your head gear is up to you as long as you are not a liability to the platoon. You may see team guys wearing boonie hats or tactical baseball caps depending on the operation. You always want to have acceptable headgear to protect your head from sun and weather.
Question: What about the Tudor Heritage Ranger vs Rolex?
Answer: Check out the specifications on the Tudor Ranger here:
SEALgrinderPT is a proud donor and fundraiser for the Navy SEAL Foundation and the Navy SEAL UDT Museum.
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Special Forces units often operate in incredibly harsh conditions. These conditions change drastically depending on the mission, and may require long stints away from civilized society and as such, the watches worn by these operators must be as rough and tough as the seasoned operators relying on them.
Special Forces around the time of World War II used to be equipped with standard watches that the military chose for them but this has since been phased out, allowing the operators to choose the watch of their liking. Most Special Forces operators have received enough training and experience to know exactly what they’re looking for and in this quick guide, we’ll go over the attributes that make a watch “Special Forces approved” and which watches are most commonly utilized in the field today.
Even if you aren’t a part of the US Special Forces, getting a watch that has seen combat and is tried and true through what I could only describe as a trial by fire will ensure you have something on your wrist that you can truly rely on, whether that's for your hiking trip in the mountains of Russia or just everyday abuse from a physically demanding occupation, like law enforcement.
What Makes a Watch Tough Enough for a Special Forces Operator?
Reliability: Reliability focused on a watches ability to continue its operation for long durations of time despite what environment or stress it endures. It’s hard to tell exactly how reliable a watch is from marketing material but some of things you can look out for is it’s shock resistance and actual operating mechanisms.
A great example of a reliable class of mechanical mechanisms is found in Marine Chronometers. First developed in 1730 by John Harrison, wrist watches wouldn’t be equipped with Marine Chronometer technology until 1914 when Rolex was the first company to both engineer, manufacturer, and receive the Marine Chronometer certification with a wrist watch. Watches with this certification must have less than a tenth of a second of time loss per day.
Now, the term Marine Chronometer used to be reserved for timepieces physically outfitted to a ship and were always set to Greenwich time. Normally, wrist watches do not have this certification, however, in modern day times many brands such as Tag Heuer, Tissot, Ball, and several others have obtained the proper standards for Marine Chronometer wrist watch certification.
Other notable movements include the Zenith Defy Lab which, in 2017, was widely considered the most reliable and accurate movement for a wrist watch. Of course, the Japanese also have an excellent track record of building incredibly reliable products and the category of watches is not sitting this one out. The Seiko Spring Drive movement was released in 2004 but had a long history of similar designs dating back to 1969. These watches utilize a rather new technology called the Tri-Synchro Regulator which ensures the unwinding of the internal springs cannot deviate even over long periods of time, far exceeding the accuracy and reliability of an automatic movement watch.
Durability: How much abuse can a watch sustain before it becomes unusable? Of course, no watch is technically indestructible, but if you’re reading this page, you’re looking for something that can survive diving to great depths, traversing harsh terrain, sustaining physical damage during combat, and being strapped on for some good old fashion high altitude low opening (HALO) jumping and still being functional behind enemy lines even after crashing back into Earth.
Starting with the face of the watch, because let's face it, if you can’t read the time, it doesn’t matter if it works, the watch face is by far going to bear the brunt of most physical damage as well as weathering. Watch faces that are highly regarded for their incredible resistance to damage include hardened mineral crystals and sapphire faces. The watch face must be extremely hard so that it resists scratching and there aren’t many things that can make a mess of a hard sapphire watch face.
Now, the materials the face is constructed of are only part of the equation as coatings also play a role. Manufacturers usually have their own proprietary names for face coatings so we won’t try to name a bunch here but at the end of the day, you get what you pay for and high quality watch face coatings are expensive, just like they are in the world of optics.
Of course, if the watchband breaks or falls apart, it’s going to be pretty tough to keep it on your wrist and conveniently find the time when needed. Leather does look great and in normal day-to-day life for just the average Joe, high quality leather would be just fine, however, nowadays, most watches found in combat are going to be using really strong synthetic bands made out of woven ballistic nylon. Metal bands can be strong too but they make noise when they brush against your equipment and are often heavier than a nylon band with no real benefits other than aesthetics.
The internals of your watch must be extremely shock resistant. One of the most popular brands to achieve such internal durability is the G-Shock line. Yes, G-Shock has become a bit consumer oriented and there are cheaper models that simply won’t survive harsh abuse, but those hefty G-Shocks like the G9300 Mudman still incorporates incredible levels of physical damage resistance and are almost always sealed up tightly to protect against any moisture or dirt entering the watch.
Water-Resistance: Obviously a minimal resistance to rain is going to be our baseline here but as a Special Forces operator, a watch may need to survive intense pressure at depths normally not visited by humans. Remember, if you have to open the watch up to replace its battery, the seal can become stretched or damaged, sacrificing the water resistance of the watch. If possible, watches should always be serviced by a professional even if you have the tools and knowledge to replace a battery on your own.
A watch rated for just general “water resistance” is only going to protect your timepiece from splashes of water or rain and will not survive complete submersion.
Watches rated at 3 BAR or 3 ATM are technically rated for 30 Meters but still are not advisable for deep diving operations where the watch will endure submersion for long periods of time. All in all, watches with this rating or lower really aren’t technically resistant to water at all, but more so just capable of withstanding that level of pressure. A watch with this rating or less is not considered a military watch and should be avoided. You can wash your hands with it and that's about it, don’t expect these to survive even being tossed into a cup of water.
Watches with the rating 5 BAR or 5 ATM are good down to 50 Meters and just like a 3 BAR watch, they can withstand submersion for small amounts of time but are not recommended for actual swimming or diving.
10 BAR or 10 ATM watches can be submerged down to 100 Meters. These are excellent for long swims and exposure to water but still, not advisable for long and deep dives even though they are rated for entry level diving.
20 BAR or 20 ATM ratings are good for 200 Meters and is where diving watch certifications truly begin. These watches should survive most diving operations and all water sports or water exposure but are still not recommended for maritime operations.
30 BAR+ rated watches can exceed 300 meters of submersion and is where you’ll find coveted military use watches such as the Rolex Submariner. If you’re still alive, your watch is still working.
A Special Forces operator should be utilizing a watch with a minimum of 20 BAR/20 ATM rating with preferably 30 BAR/30ATM or beyond ratings. You may be thinking that you’ll never exceed 100 meters of depth and you might be right, but having watches rated for much more than that ensures they are built to withstand a lot of pressure, meaning they are extremely tightly sealed and overbuilt for the average maritime incursion. This high standard of engineering and manufacturing makes the watch very durable and tough, even to other types of exposure and abuse such as shock and physical damage.
Low-Profile Characteristics: A watch being used in combat is meant to help you, not hurt you, and as such, it's important to consider how your watch may make you stand out while on recon. Bright flashy watches with over the top backlit displays will give away your position and draw unwarranted attention to you and those around you. A black matte finish is going to be what you’re looking for with a band that is relatively thin, light, and doesn’t produce any glare glint when hit with external light.
Minimal Maintenance: Simply put, you must be able to maintain the watch without special tools or access to watch batteries and as such, an operator will be utilizing a watch with incredible battery life and little need of any maintenance whatsoever. If your watch stops working in the field, it is highly unlikely you’ll have the time or tools necessary to repair it.
Visibility: The watch face must be uncluttered and easy to read in both high and low visibility settings. Military watches are now equipped with tritium, a radioactive material that can remain bright enough to read for over eight hours without needing to be recharged by an external light source.
The watch must also not be visible to the enemy, meaning bright colors, bright backlights, etc, are a no go as they would give away your position if activated, so you’ll need to find something you can read easily but something that also does not stand out. Also, silver and gold metallic accents on a watch or the watchband may reflect light and cause glare, just like a scope's objective lens, which is yet another reason why synthetic nylon bands are recommended or at the very least, metal bands with a dark matte finish or rubberized coating.
MIL-PRF-46374G: This is the official military standard for watches. We won’t go into detail here because there is a ton of information and this standard has been revised several times in the past and will likely continue to be revised in the future. If you’re in the military and searching for a new watch, there are many options nowadays that adhere to these specifications and encompass approval from the US military.
Examples of Watches Used by Special Forces:
In this section we’ll provide a few examples of watches you may find equipped to an operator across several different classes of watches. These lists will be sorted alphabetically and their position in no manner reflects their quality or any type of arbitrary ranking system. If you want to learn more about some of the more popular models out there right now, I found a good article by a Marine on military watches that are currently being used in the field.
Analog Watches: These are simple watches that have withstood the test of time, telling the time, and that’s about it. High quality analog watches are extremely durable and a lot of them nowadays have incredible duration of use, and in some cases, have unlimited durations of use. If longevity, simplicity, and ruggedness are your primary focus, analog watches are still king.
1. Ball Engineer Pioneer II
2. Citizen Eco-Drive Military
3. Luminox Navy Seal Blackout
4. Luminox Nighthawk F-117 6400
5. Marathon GSAR
6. Marathon Navigator
7. Marathon Search & Rescue
8. Military Watch Company (MWC) G10SL MKVI
9. Rolex Submariner 5513, 5514 or 5517
10. Seiko 5 Automatic
11. Seiko Prospex
12. Tag Heuer Aquaracer
13. Timex Allied Tide-Temp-Compass
14. Timex Expedition Field Chronograph
15. Victorinox Swiss Army Alpnach
Hybrid Watches: A hybrid watch is utilizing both Analog movement alongside digital technology. The analog does what it does best, tells the time, while the digital aspects of the watch often offer supplementary information, like calendar, alarms, timers, and even sometimes basic navigational data. (Not to be confused with hybrid movement watches).
1. Breitling Chronospace Military Edition
2. Casio G-Shock Mudman GG-1000
3. Casio G-Shock Mudmaster GWG-1000
4. MTM Special Ops RAD
Sport Watches: These are digital watches that are specifically designed to be extremely lightweight and resistant to harsh climates. Sport watches have an emphasis on being water and mud resistant and usually host a strong polymer plastic housing that is far lighter than a metal housing but very close in terms of durability. Sport watches usually have a digital timepiece running off of a battery but they also come with additional features such as timers, alarms, activity trackers, and more.
1. Casino Pathfinder
2. Casio G-Shock DW-6900
3. Casio G-Shock GD400
4. Casio G-Shock Rangeman GW-9400
5. Cressi Leonardo
6. Suunto Core
7. Timex Ironman Rugged Edition
GPS Watches: These watches were designed to provide GPS related information while telling the time as a secondary feature. GPS Watches are often not allowed inside classified buildings but are often used by Special Forces out in the field.
1. Casio G-Shock Rangeman GPR-B1000
2. Casio Pro Trek
3. Garmin Foretrex
4. Garmin Tactix Bravo
5. Suunto Traverse Alpha
Smart Watches: Bluetooth enabled technology rich units that are capable of providing exceptional levels of data including O2, sleep data, activity data, GPS, SOS functions, and even sometimes communications. Bluetooth enabled watches are not allowed in highly classified areas or buildings due to their ability of recording and storing large amounts of personal and environmental data. To this day, most smart watches still suffer from lack of battery life and for the most part, any smart watch you plan to use often will require charging after about a day or so which is obviously not ideal for a Special Forces operator. Some of the following do have a “low power” mode, enabling them to be used without their highest power draining features such as GPS for several days without charging.
1. Casio G-Shock Move GBDH1000
2. Garmin Fenix Sapphire
3. Garmin Instinct Tactical
4. Garmin Tactix Charlie
5. Samsung Gear Frontier
6. Suunto Ambit3
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