Ticked off for Christmas!

By Peter Fryer

Ah yes, the perfect Christmas gift. So personal, so useful, so stylishly sophisticated. What could possibly be better than a nautical character wristwatch? One of those you can navigate with and calculate race times. Or one of those that tells you when the tides are. In fact, the more features it has the merrier - and the family know you're mad about sailing, don't they? Perfect.

But be careful of the wristwatch present. Like it or not, it comes with emotional strings attached. Whoever chose it will expect you to wear it. And that includes in circumstances where it might not be appropriate. Just possibly you'll be expected to show off its usefulness too - sounding off about the bearing you're on and exactly how many minutes and seconds you are late for that key appointment.

Do water and watches mix?

It's a strange world that puts water and watches together. My first ever watch was bought by my Dad duty-free in Aden during a re-bunkering stops aboard P&O's Himalaya. Playing deck quoits two hours later, the expanding metal strap slipped over my wrist and I slung the thing overboard. I've had a bad time with watches ever since. Especially my latest - a very special gift from my other half - which slipped its catch, fell to the floor on one corner of its square face, shattering bits of glass off the inside that jammed the mechanism, bent the hands and caused the battery to run flat.

Ulysse Nardin Marine
worth £16,948 from
www. aatime.com
Allow 2-5 days for delivery

All of which makes me wary of timepieces of any kind. Especially for practical situations afloat where before you even get to the hype, a watch has to be practical, hard-wearing and reliable. Please note that does not include “accurate” or “elegant,” because if you think about it, ALL watches have been "accurate" for the last four decades. And these days digital watches are tuned to the National Physics Laboratory to be within 1 second in 1,000,000 years.

The most expensive marine watch you can buy?

So how do nautical wristwatches stack up? Well, at the top of the list has got to be the Ulysse Nardin Marine, which can set the family back as much as £16,950 if they club together. Quite what makes this one "marine" is not clear. You get a conventional face with symbolised digits, windows for day and month, a 60-second sub-dial and an indicator for hours ahead or behind GMT. Make no mistake, it's a stunning watch. But would you wear it where it might get knocked in a lively Force 6 when you're shipping green water? More tempting might be a state-of-the-art piece of kit for the boat.

Casio Tide & Moon from
www.nauticalia.com
Unbeatable at under £50

At the other end of the scale

There is a huge selection of models and makes, with Casio perhaps as one of the more significant players. Their Tide & Moon watch might not be the easiest to read at a glance unless you're digitally inclined, but it's water resistant to 300 feet, (I'm never quite sure why that should be an advantage) has a backlight, stopwatch with elapsed and split time modes, countdown timer, day and date, 12 or 24 hour time readouts and five daily alarms. You have to input local times for the tides, though once set the bold graphic displays are unmistakeable.

Is it a better watch? Well that depends...

If you're applying the Force 6 test, there may not be much in it. But when it comes to making an impression in the clubhouse it does become easier to choose a favourite.

OK, so it's a trade-off between practical and fashionable. This means if you really want to satisfy your own choice, you're going to have to choose it yourself. If you're up there with the Raymond Weils, Patek Philippes and Breitilings, good luck to you. And if you're looking at the budget end of things, a merry Christmas to you too.

Me, I'm after one of those see-in-the-dark Traser jobs that the SBS and SAS use. From around £130 or so, I believe they're indestructible.

Ho, ho, ho!