Beach holiday watch, one only - bracelet, rubber or NATO?

It's that time of year when the sun starts to peek out a little more and I start thinking about my holiday watch. I only ever take one with me to wear on the beach, in the pool, while sightseeing, going out in the evening etc. What type of strap do folks prefer in this situation?

* Bracelets are easy to clean but get scratched up very easily.
* NATOs are great for pool and sea duties but take a while to dry.
* Rubber straps are also practical but can get a bit sweaty.

What do you choose and why?

I tend to take a few NATOs: they're secure, washable, waterproof and while one is drying out you can wear another.

I can't take just one. I always take a Rolex for the evenings and a G shock for the days every year.

I always take my Isofrane.....no worry about sweat with one of these

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Originally Posted by adesmith

I can't take just one. I always take a Rolex for the evenings and a G shock for the days every year.

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Bad strategy IMO.

If the Rolex gets nicked whilst you're out and about in the daytime you would have a helluva job claiming on your insurance. Personally, I just wouldn`t take the risk. I only ever take one watch on holiday thesedays and it's always something with fairly low value. I used to take my Rolex Explorer 1 and it stayed on my wrist all the time, but I stopped taking that a while ago.

Best advice (and I know most folks don`t want to hear this) is to take a cheap G-shock or similar. Forget about nice watches whilst on holiday. There's also the risk of attracting the wrong attention in many places. I have an old Seiko that's smart enough to wear but worth nothing and I`m happy with that thesedays.

Paul

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Originally Posted by walkerwek1958

Bad strategy IMO.

If the Rolex gets nicked whilst you're out and about in the daytime you would have a helluva job claiming on your insurance. Personally, I just wouldn`t take the risk. I only ever take one watch on holiday thesedays and it's always something with fairly low value. I used to take my Rolex Explorer 1 and it stayed on my wrist all the time, but I stopped taking that a while ago.

Best advice (and I know most folks don`t want to hear this) is to take a cheap G-shock or similar. Forget about nice watches whilst on holiday. There's also the risk of attracting the wrong attention in many places. I have an old Seiko that's smart enough to wear but worth nothing and I`m happy with that thesedays.

Paul

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I agree - I recently considered this same conundrum as since selling my Orange Monster I don't have a holiday watch any more. I set myself a budget to get something on rubber for the days, and something smart on bracelet for the evenings. I realised there's just no point. SKX007 on rubber and sod anyone that thinks it looks scruffy in the evenings.

Yeah... Just one budget watch say under 200£ will do... On Nato is good as well and just bring a few straps...

I've pretty much always taken a watch on a rubber strap on holidays. Seiko Monster with a combination of white, blue & black did me fine for a couple of holidays. Last year I took my Fortis B42 Cosmo on an orange rubber (Obris Morgan 'frane').
Any time I have taken a bracelet I worry too much about scratches from sand... and when I've taken a nato (once) it was a pain when it got wet.

Gone for the cheap & chearful quartz Fortis Colors this year... I'll probably take 2 or 3 alternative straps for it, and no need for any tools this time.

I normally take two or three, nothing high end, Bracelet for daytime as I cant stand rubber or nato covered in sun tan lotion or wet all day, evenings is ok tho.
don't think I will take a rolex on hols, too risky to take a rolex really

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Originally Posted by walkerwek1958

Bad strategy IMO.

If the Rolex gets nicked whilst you're out and about in the daytime you would have a helluva job claiming on your insurance. Personally, I just wouldn`t take the risk. I only ever take one watch on holiday thesedays and it's always something with fairly low value. I used to take my Rolex Explorer 1 and it stayed on my wrist all the time, but I stopped taking that a while ago.

Best advice (and I know most folks don`t want to hear this) is to take a cheap G-shock or similar. Forget about nice watches whilst on holiday. There's also the risk of attracting the wrong attention in many places. I have an old Seiko that's smart enough to wear but worth nothing and I`m happy with that thesedays.

Paul

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Not bad advice and It is a risk, yes, but so is wearing your Rolex sitting in an office on your own as we have seen over the last few days. Theft could cause insurance problems but I always find a decent hiding place for my valuables when away. I don't wear an expensive watch to work very often so when I'm away it's the only chance I get to wear one consistently i.e 14 nights on the trot. I do go back to the same place most years so my familiarity with it gives me a sense of security, I realise that is not always the norm.
So it's the G shock for out on the water and my PO for the evenings.

Depends on the holiday really. City breaks I take whatever but I have given up on beach holiday watches completely and go au naturel...never need to know the time on the beach its either sun up or sun down!

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Originally Posted by eduk

Depends on the holiday really. City breaks I take whatever but I have given up on beach holiday watches completely and go au naturel...never need to know the time on the beach its either sun up or sun down!

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Beat me to it - completely agree!

I sometimes do - time lunch starts, time to be at the meeting point for scuba diving, time the pool closes etc. Not always necessary though I agree!

Bracelet > Rubber > No watch at all > painful death > NATO

I really don't like NATOs

I also cannot conceive of a time I would only take one watch on holiday; I could suffer with two, one for daytime; pool beach, walking, whatever, and one for the evening.

Why would leaving your holiday watches in a 'secure' locked house or room cause problems with insurance? I'm insured for my watches abroad for up to 90 days a year, with the same cover I have in the UK. This is a standard policy through Allianz.

As for taking only one…

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1594/...e390a6e3_z.jpg

I don't get this 'not taking a nice watch on holiday' thing at all. I'm no more likely to get mugged on holiday than anywhere else. I refuse to spend my life worrying about everything. I'm not saying be cavalier and take unnecessary risks but being afraid to wear your Rolex, PO or whatever on a rubber or NATO for a couple of weeks seems mad. If I'm afraid to wear them on holiday, to the gym, on my bike, in the shower....I might as well sell them and take up knitting

Just my view and to each their own...I just don't get it though

I go with seiko monster on rubber

I take an SKX007 or CWC Quartz diver on NATOS. Wet NATOs don't bother me - I don't even notice they are wet once I'm dry, perhaps because I wear them RAF style.

Plus a GShock as backup, time checks, I fancy a change or if I'm just feeling precious when I'm on the sand.

I guess it depends where you holiday.

If I'm going on a trip that includes diving, I'll take a diver with me (Usually my Longines HC if it's localish and my DN Voyager for longer hauls, although it's not set in stone) and wear that all week.

Otherwise, I'll just pick one watch at random and wear that for the duration.

Last year I holidayed in Val D'Isere (HC I think), Malta (errr....I forget...), Stockholm (nope, no idea...) and Lanzarote (CW Makaira).

This year it's Zermatt (Sinn), Indonesia (DN Voyager) and Azores (a diver, tbd!).

I'd agree with the sentiment about buying watches you're afraid to wear in public, but equally I've a friend from Rio who always warns me not to wear any semi-decent watch there, even in the better areas (I've never actually been to Rio, but forewarned... :biggrin:), so I guess it's a case of applying sensible logic to the environment you'll be in.

If you're going to get mugged in a dodgy area, the thieves will want cash and cards and jewellery. They'll take your Rolex, but if it's that dodgy an area, they'll probably assume it's a fake anyway! :biggrin:

On topic, if it's a sandy beach rubber, otherwise bracelet.

M.

Take one on rubber, it will be better for the beach and stand out less than on a bracelet.

As to the quality of watch to take doesn't that depend on where you are going, as far as any risk is concerned?

I have just come back from holiday, having taken 2 watches - an Explorer II and a cheaper dive watch, with a few Natos. Ended up wearing the Exp II all the time.

I'm going to be difficult and say Perlon.

Rubber - sweaty
bracelet - my first choice but then I'm easy re swirls
nato - thick and ages to dry
perlon - just as strong as nato, better ventilated, and dried instantly by folding it in a hand towel and standing on it to blot out the moisture from the strap.

diver on a bracelet for me. Easy to wash and keep clean and if its a smaller brand you never get unwanted attention 'out and about'.

If I am doing alot of wreck diving it will go on a NATO instead because it is more secure, but for the shallow reef diving i mostly do nowadays a bracelet is fine.

SKX007 (certainly not boutique on a dive boat!) or a Steinhart Vintage Red came with me on last few trips.

Sorry but just add another strap I tend to go Milanese mesh .

Rubber - the Omega one is very nice and I don't find it sweaty (and I sweat a lot). Found the hard way that sand on a beach stops a bracelet clasp working, and rinsing in the sea never got it completely clear...

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Originally Posted by verv

dried instantly by folding it in a hand towel and standing on it to blot out the moisture from the strap.

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I bet you get some funny looks around the pool!

I tend to wear fabric or perlon on holiday. Normally take three or four different colours.

Rubber for holiday

I go expensive g shock! - usually my frogman. No problem with time zones, a handy alarm and it will get a full charge of sun to stay on 'high' charge all year! (My wife hates me wearing a plastic watch in a posh restaurant, but that adds to the appeal for me when surrounded by Rolex subs!)

Combine rubber & nato?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psy4sty6kn.jpg

^^^ looks sharp, has it been relumed at all?

I like the Rubber NATOS too, plus a nice Mesh of some sort for the beach.

Combat Sub,

Drilled out holes, easy to change strap, rubber for beach time, leather to dress it up for evening. That's what I did.


Simples.


http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps8e6f5c3f.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/t...bat/2800px.jpg

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Originally Posted by jimmer42

I don't get this 'not taking a nice watch on holiday' thing at all. I'm no more likely to get mugged on holiday than anywhere else. I refuse to spend my life worrying about everything. I'm not saying be cavalier and take unnecessary risks but being afraid to wear your Rolex, PO or whatever on a rubber or NATO for a couple of weeks seems mad. If I'm afraid to wear them on holiday, to the gym, on my bike, in the shower....I might as well sell them and take up knitting

Just my view and to each their own...I just don't get it though

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My view precisely. Just got back from a skiing holiday.

Took 2 watches - sub date on 2 piece black nato style strap, and a protreck.

The protreck stayed in the safe all week. Waste of time bringing it.

Usually sub on rubber or bracelet - can't stand cream on material.

Other times one of my cheaper Seiko's etc. But because I feel like it, not because I'm worried of taking anything more expensive.

As I will be on a motorcycle I take a watch that's light, I can swim with and battery operated/solar as I don't wear a watch on the bike.

so my CWC diver, solar Seiko or citizen on a NATO [dries in no time if I have been swimming and still looks neat].

I don't worry about the cost of the watch I have possessions insurance and travel insurance.

but I really don't see much more chance of being mugged in a airbandb in Nice or Montpelier [Marseille maybe] than in London.

when I stayed in the Marseille youth hostel a young lad got mugged and badly beaten by a Moroccan gang on the beach.
that's the only holiday trouble I've ever know.


beach in Nice

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...psf74ef2b1.jpg

it fitted in with the Monaco boat drinks

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...pse2c40daa.jpg


and this one on another more recent trip


http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps560c9594.jpg

I used to take my Seiko Pepsi BFK. Now I have a Ceramic SubC and its perfect. Its understated and does the job whether im actually diving or just chilling out on the beach. Needless to say I have insurance

I've gone with rubber but I'm looking for a Velcro strap for my beach watch. They wear like a nato but without the Buckle. My main reasoning behind it is so the buckle doesn't ding up my surfboard (just about to order a new one) and it can be worn against my skin or over my wetsuit without leaving marks in the strap where it's been worn at different sizes.

Bremont supermarine S500 on bremont rubber, tough and comfortable smart and casual.

Depends on the destination & the watch I'd say. For a European holiday... 2254.50 on rubber

Unless you are going somewhere with a high risk of street crime I see no problem with a quality watch.

I'd go bracelet as anything else is likely to get manky with saltwater and sweat. Bracelets just need a rinse in fresh water.

I voted for bracelet, great all rounder.

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Originally Posted by adesmith

I can't take just one. I always take a Rolex for the evenings and a G shock for the days every year.

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Same here but in answer to the question I'd choose the bracelet.

Rubber.
Always only take one watch on holiday.

Depends on the break, if I'm off the beach it's normally for some serious boarding and fishing so it's normally a protrek with tide graph and I have strap adapters and a Zulu fitted, it survives wipe outs, boat fishing and dragging nets on shore, if it's overseas I normally have a GMT (not Rolex [emoji45]) I just like the 2nd time zone but I only ever take 1 watch and it has to have good lume!

I'd choose whatever option goes with the suitable watch I pick for the beach .. all three options seem to work fine. In my case a beach watch is usually an inexpensive solar analogue Casio with a plastic strap. All other things being equal though the NATO option does have the advantage that it will tolerate a spring bar breakage.

G Shock (Riseman) all the way for me, never worry or think about it for a moment, charges itself, sets itself every night, gets bashed, dunked, walloped and keeps going and going and going.

I tried a NATO on my last beach holiday and hated it. Sand and suncream on the strap, I didn't like wearing the strap wet, and the NATO takes longer to fasten / unfasten.

Not so keen on steel bracelets either unless they have a glide lock clasp. Too loose and the watch slides up and down the arm, but too tight and it is uncomfortable.

Prefer a rubber strap for a more comfortable fit, but increasingly for the beach etc. I prefer a G-SHOCK rather than a steel watch on rubber due to weight and comfort.

My holiday/beach beater is only on Zulu/Nato straps.

http://s21.postimg.org/u2w3yd8xz/02_22_10_49_55.jpg