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The Best Sport Watches for Every Situation

Whether you’re an athlete or just want a watch with a rugged build and “sporty” style, start here.

a collage featuring watches from victorinox, nixon and fortisCourtesy

By Zen Love

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If you’re looking to buy a watch in the 21st century, there’s a good chance you’ve got a sport watch in mind. And why not? Sport watches are pretty ideal for daily wear in our increasingly casual culture, promise durability and tend to communicate a “man of action” — whether or not you’re actually engaging in the activities they were made for.

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What exactly is a sport watch?

Pretty much any watch that’s not a dress watch is some kind of “sport watch.” At least, this is how the term is widely used. Sport watches mostly originate in a specific activity, with functionality and durability driving the design — good qualities for any watch to have. And that often makes them not only interesting but cool-looking, fun to wear and even useful in all kinds of day-t0-day applications.

You might use the rotating bezel on a dive watch to time your pasta. Though a Breitling Navitimer was originally made to help mid-century pilots do important calculations, you might use its chronograph to time how fast your kid can clean his room. You might wear a field watch, originally made for soldiers, just because it’s rugged, tells the time and is fun to have on your wrist.

While dress watches are a pretty well-defined category, sport watches include many genres from dive watches and field watches to pilot watches, racing chronographs and more. Many luxury watches such as the Rolex Submariner or Omega Speedmaster are also sport watches, even though most probably aren’t used for their intended purposes. Watches like the Audmars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus are considered “sport watches” due solely to their design rather than any practical purpose behind them.

If you want a watch for actually doing physical activities like hiking or biking, there are watches specifically for those sports, too. Smartwatches, fitness trackers and watches with features like GPS will serve you well. Whatever your needs, here are some great sport watch options to consider.

For the Beach

Great watches for swimming, lounging, strutting or surfing.

Breitling Superocean

Water resistant to 300m, you could also take the Breitling Superocean diving deep beneath the waves. But it’ll serve you just as well splashing at the surface or on dry land, and it’s a great example of why dive watches are so versatile. One of the colorful variants is all the more appropriate for sun and sand.

Diameter: 42mm (also available in 36mm, 44mm and 46mm)

Movement: ETA 2824 automatic, COSC-certified

Water Resistance: 300m

Nixon Base Tide Pro

Tough, water-resistant and available in fun colors, the Nixon Base Tide Pro has genuine street cred (beach cred?) with actual surfers. A major reason for that is its big easy-to-read display that also features tide graph data for 550 beaches around the world. This is the sport watch to get when you’re actually doing beach-related sports.

Diameter: 42mm

Movement: Quartz

Water Resistance: 100m

For the Backcountry

Tough watches made for the outdoors.

Victorinox INOX Mechanical

If you just want a tough watch to tell the time when you’re out in the woods, field watches were made for that. Many are smaller and with a retro military aesthetic, but the Victorinox INOX feels like a modern instrument genuinely built for camping — and it’s tested for extreme endurance. A watch from the brand that makes the famous Swiss Army Knives also will just feel somehow appropriate.

Diameter: 43mm

Movement: Sellita SW200 automatic

Water Resistance: 200m

Garmin Instinct 2S Solar

If your sport is something like camping, hiking, kayaking or biking, a watch from Garmin can have a lot more utility than just telling the time. A company founded on GPS technology, it puts an incredible amount of important mapping and other information right on your wrist. Garmin watches like the Instinct 2S Solar are what many outdoorsmen and adventure athletes rely on.

Diameter: 40mm, 45mm

Movement: Smartwatch

Water Resistance: 100m

For the Gym

Wanna track your heart rate? These smartwatches can do that and more.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch remains just about the ultimate fitness tool for your wrist. If you didn’t already know, it’s equipped with an extensive array of sensors and features all integrated to offer a smooth and intuitive user experience. No matter what kind of sport or activity you’re doing, at the gym or otherwise, the Apple Watch is one of the best choices — and that makes the smartwatch a bonafide sport watch.

Length: 41mm, 45mm

Movement: Apple iOS

Water Resistance: 50m

TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4

Maybe you’re not an Apple adopter. And maybe you don’t want to mess around with many of the plasticky, gadgety smartwatches running Android. In that case, TAG Heuer, a historic Swiss watchmaker, offers an elevated experience. With the same kind of case that houses mechanical movements in the brand’s Carrera collection, TAG Heuer’s smartwatch offers a luxury experience and specific applications for a range of activities.

Diameter: 42mm

Movement: Calibre E4

Water Resistance: 50m

For the Racetrack or the Cockpit?

Even if you’re not an F1 driver or a pilot you can enjoy a racing chronograph or pilot’s watch.

TAG Heuer Monaco

A lot of chronograph watches were made for timing motorsports, but one of the most famous is the Monaco. Its quirky, sporty character has led to an on-screen legacy, appearing on the wrist of Steve McQueen as he portrayed race car drivers as well as the fictional anti-hero Walter White in the show Breaking Bad.

Diameter: 39mm

Movement: Sellita SW300-1 automatic (modified) with Dubois-Depraz chronograph module

Water Resistance: 100m

Fortis Flieger F-39 Automatic

Fortis’s take on the classic flieger style of pilot’s watch, has a distinctly modern feel. Designed for legibility and sometimes even calculations, pilot’s watches are sport watches by nature but the steel 12-hour bezel and orange highlights make the F-39 even sportier. It comes in a few different variants and sizes, but we like the simple automatic version in a wearable 39mm.

Diameter: 39mm

Movement: Sellita SW-200 automatic

Water Resistance: 200m

For the Office

Yes, sport watches have a place here, too.

Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight

Dive watches like the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight have plenty of sport and diving cred, but you know what? They’re also handsome as hell and completely appropriate for professional situations, short of anything really formal. Call it a “desk diver” if you will, but this is a sporty watch that’ll hold its own in just about any situation — and you’ll want to keep wearing it on the weekend.

Diameter: 39mm

Movement: Tudor MT5402 automatic, COSC-certified

Water Resistance: 200m

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin

While the sport watches above are made for a specific activity like diving or flying, the Royal Oak is unusual in that it’s just broadly a “sport watch.” That’s because its design is “sporty” rather than having a specific purpose or water resistance of more than 50m. If you want a sport watch for the office, though, this is a serious flex.

Diameter: 39mm

Movement:

Water Resistance: 50m

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