Although it can be nice to lose track of time occasionally, a reliable marine watch will keep you safe on schedule. Water resistance is of course the first characteristic but other features like countdown timer, stopwatch and elapsed-time indicator complete the racing watch for sailors. Here are a few famous brands that make world class racing watches.
Ronstan RF 4030 Clear Start Race is considered the best. Its features include a huge digital display, multiple start sequences, audible alarms, a 24-hour clock, stopwatch, high water resistance and an adapter for mast fitting. It is water resistant to 50 meters. Thus it is easy to set, easy to use, easy to see, and easy to hear.
The drawback is its size; it’s not something you’d wear outside the boat park.
Optimum Time Series 3, the famous big yellow watch is firm favorite with racing sailors. Its large 16mm digits make it easy to read with a quick glance, whether it’s on your wrist or mounted on the mast. The watch is also waterproof to 10m. Series 4 has great use and has great visibility, but has no stopwatch feature. The specialty of this series is it has tidal prediction information. Although the Series 4 is huge, it’s light, and the strap is comfortable. This watch has been designed solely for racing.
Gills Regatta Master is a water-proof sailboat racing watch. There’s a countdown feature with multiple settings, a count-up timer for figuring deltas at marks and finishes. Serious racers will enjoy the countdown feature that gives a sound signal every minute. In the final minute of the countdown the seconds enlarge for maximum visibility. This is a great feature especially if there is water running over the face in rough conditions
Citizen’s Sailhawk, is a watch at the higher-priced end of the racing watches spectrum. It is one of Citizen’s Eco-Drive watches, which means it “never needs a battery.” As long as you expose the Sailhawk to light the battery will never run down. This is a great-looking watch, and a favorite among sailors. It has all the features you’ll need for racing, but a small face, no light, and is easily scratched
Suunto M9 Personal Sailing Instrument marks nothing less than a revolution in personal wrist watch equipment, – with its ability to position itself anywhere on the globe, via a built in GPS, it can track speed and bearing in addition to providing you meteorological trend information from the integral barometer and thermometer. Tested over months at sea in the most arduous conditions this is currently the ultimate sailing watch!
Omega’s Seamaster: OMEGA has an undeniable connection to the sea and produced the first divers’ watch and the only wristwatch ever to have received marine chronometer certification. They are the preferred choice of some of sailing’s greatest names. Though new technologies such as GPS have superseded the Omega Marine Chronometer wristwatch, there is still a strong demand for Omega’s robust and highly water resistant Seamaster watches and the brand retains its strong nautical links as a sponsor and official timekeeper of the world’s top competitive sailors and sailing events.
Article compiled by Vishwaja Salian