I recently developed a burning need for a watch that displays tides. No, not the University of Alabama Crimson Tides, the ocean’s tides. High tide, low tide, slack tide, whether the tide is coming in or going out have much more import for me than ever before.
This calls for a new watch.
I’m assessing my options, but I have more than I thought I would. As much as I would like a mechanical watch with a tide feature, it is out of my reach for the moment, but quartz has me spoiled for choices. Rip Curl, Nixon, Vestal, Reactor, Quicksilver, Freestyle, Oceanus, Casio, and Timex all have watches with a tide feature. Casio has several digital options with displays that are easy to read, but the Freestyle Mega Tide makes it clear that the designers knew that what the tide is doing is more important than the time of day. The Rip Curl Titanium Tidemaster looks the premier analog tide watch. The Oceanus loses out on this because the tide display is nowhere near as readable as the Ripcurl’s and doesn’t show spring and neap tides. The Reactor Graviton has an analog display over an LCD that has a graphic tide chart, in the customary Reactor steel ingot style.
The Nixon Lodown Ti is a contender in the digital category. This one has a clear tide display, showing where the tide is now and where it will be over the rest of the day. It is programmed with tide data for 200 beaches for 15 years. It is digital, so styling is a secondary concern, but the case and strap are fairly sleek, without protrusions to get caught on things. In addition to the tide display, it has all the usual bells and whistles of a digital watch; alarms, timer, backlight, and second time zone. I usually think of Nixon as a fashion watch, so I am concerned about durability, but it is rated for 100m water resistance. Pretty good option for $90.
Coming soon; Part II, Analogs.
