If there is ever a time to have a trustworthy watch, it’s when traveling. A great travel watch can save your ass time and time again. Journeys of all kinds rely on being in the right place at the right time – to catch a flight, meet up with a guide, claim that restaurant reservation, or check in to a hotel.
Though other bits of gear, like smartphones, have usurped the role of the watch for many in everyday life, with changes in time zone and attempts to get away from the constant demands of working life, there’s still no single item more useful to the modern traveler than a good watch.
Besides, in certain places, you want to reduce how often you’re pulling out your phone. A travel watch can keep your smartphone from getting snatched in busy urban areas, where it’s all too common.
Here we bring you what we believe are the very best travel watches to keep you on schedule!
- Quick Answer: The Best Travel Watches
- Best Travel Watch for Men
- Best Travel Watch for Women
- Most Attractive Travel Watch
- Best Travel Watch Under $500
- Best Watch Under $100
- Best Analog Travel Watch
- Best Digital Travel Watch
- Best Travel Watch for Hikers
- Best Smart Watch for Staying Fit while Travelling
- Best Travel Watch with GPS
- Best Minimalist Travel Watch
- Best of the Rest
- FAQ about the Best Travel Watch
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Quick Answer: The Best Travel Watches
- Best men’s travel watch – Casio G-Shock Gravity Master
- Best women’s travel watch – Timex Women’s Ironman Transit
- Most attractive travel watch – Nordgreen Influencer
- Best watch under $500 – Garmin Instinct 2 Solar
- Best watch under $100 – SOLARMATE watch CITIZEN Q
- Best analogue travel watch – Tissot Seastar 1000
- Best digital travel watch – DIDITIME Sports and Military Watch
- Best travel watch for hikers – Samsung Galaxy Watch
- Best smart watch for staying fit while traveling – Fitbit Charge 4
- Best travel watch with GPS – Garmin Fenix Chronos
Casio G-Shock Gravity Master
- Price > $
- > Protective body
- > Water resistant to 200 m
Timex Women’s Ironman Transit
- Price > $55
- > Durable on the go
- > Follows two time zones
Nordgreen Pioneer
- Price > $289
- > Quality Build
- > Interchangeable Straps
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar
- Price > $449.99
- > GPS tracking and route finding
- > Web connectivity
SOLARMATE watch CITIZEN Q
- Price > $56.43
- > Large digital display
- > Metal wristband
Tissot Seastar 1000
- Price > $493.85
- > Luminous hands
- > Large face
DIDITIME Sports and Military Watch
- Price > $45.99
- > Fabric strap
- > Protective body
Samsung Galaxy Watch
- Price > $249.99
- > In-built GPS
- > 4-day battery life
Fitbit Charge 4
- Price > $149.95
- > Measures heart rate without chest strap
- > GPS connectivity
Garmin Fenix Chronos
- Price > $499.95
- > TracBack GPS feature
- > Activity monitor
The FIZILI
- Price > $36.98
- > Great look
- > Water resistant
Best Travel Watch for Men
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The Casio G-Shock Gravity Master is a serious travel watch for serious travelers. What makes it so great? First off, the microchips and inner workings of the G-Shock Gravity Master are encased in a body that protects from sudden shocks such as dropping or knocking, centrifugal forces, and vibration. Then there’s the fact this watch is water resistant down to 200 meters, meaning evening scuba diving is an option with this watch. Finally, techies, in particular, will love the fact that the G-Shock Gravity Master will automatically synchronize to your time zone when you reach a destination – using a combination of GPS and radio waves. How cool is that!
- Protective body
- Water resistant to 200 m
- Automatic synchronization to time zone
- Calendar
- A little bulky for some
- Analogue-digital display
- Imported from US for UK customers
- 52 mm diameter
Is the Casio G-Shock Gravity Master for me?
If you’re a frequent traveler or you simply struggle with working out time zones when you do, the Casio G-Shock Gravity Master is definitely the travel watch for you! Not only does it use GPS technology to ensure it’s always synchronized to the correct time (even taking account of daylight saving time!), its hard protective body and impressive level of water resistance mean you’ll never find yourself without a functioning watch when away.
Best Travel Watch for Women
Timex Women’s Ironman Transit
The Women’s Ironman Transit by Timex offers a great blend of functionality and style. The relatively large digital display makes it super easy to check the time while moving, whether you’re on a busy underground train or scaling a mountain on a rope harness. The resin case means it will resist knocks, while the strap is durable and easily cleaned. The clock itself has the option of two different time zones, so you can keep a clear idea of the time at home, and a customizable alarm, which is always a useful feature while traveling. What’s more, it’s also water resistant to a depth of 100 meters! What more could you want?
- Durable on the go
- Follows two time zones
- Alarm
- Water resistant
- Resin strap
- Simple buckle closure
- No automatic synchronization of time zones
- Digital display
Is the Timex Women’s Ironman Transit for me?
The answer is undoubtedly yes! Its stylish modern design of smooth lines and molded resin certainly means it looks the part, while the ability to follow two time zones, the customizable alarm, and water resistance down to 100 m also means it acts the part! It may not have some of the bells and whistles of other travel watches on our list, but we still love it!
Most Attractive Travel Watch
Nordgreen Pioneer
Not every travel watch has to feature James Bond level gadgets and gizmos. The Nordgreen Pioneer is an industry leader when it comes to producing quality minimalist watch designs that are fit for your days exploring cities and nights on the town. A big selling point for this watch is that you can easily change out the bands if you are feeling like a different look/color (bands sold separately).
The combination of sleek specs like the domed Sapphire crystal face and Japanese quartz make for a watch that you will be using for many years to come. In addition to being a sexy travel watch – the Nordgreen Pioneer also is a great everyday watch.
- Minimalist design
- Comes with Steel Case
- Water-Resistant
- Scandinavian Made
- Extra Watch band colors not included
- No smart technology
- No automatic synchronization of time zones
- No alarm feature
Is the Nordgreen Pioneer for me?
If you are looking for a no-frills watch that looks much more high-end then the price reflects, this is the watch for you. As mentioned, the Pioneer is not just a travel watch – and it is classy enough for use in a professional setting as well as when you are not on holiday.
Best Travel Watch Under $500
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar
Just scrapping under the $500/£390 mark at its full recommended retail price, the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar gives the widest array of features for a travel watch under $500. Coming from a trusted brand like Garmin, you know what you are getting here! What we also love the most is that being solar powered it will basically stay charged indefinitely if you spend a few hours a day outside, pretty rad! It’s also got stealth mode to disable wireless communication if you’re going to be doing some rogue ops or just don’t want your crazy girlfriend to know your whereabouts!!
Other cool features include built-in 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter plus multiple global navigation satellite systems meaning you can track your adventures over varied and challenging terrain. You’ll never be lost again!
If that wasn’t enough, this watch also boasts several built-in sports tracking modes like running, biking, swimming and strength training as well as tracking for things like heart rate, VO2 max and sleep!
- Tested to military standards
- GPS tracking and route finding
- Real-time weather information
- Web connectivity
- Requires USB charging
- Nylon strap
- Digital display
- Not touchscreen
Is the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar for me?
You don’t have to be a hardened adventure to see the benefits of the Traverse Alpha GPS Outdoor Watch by Suunto. If you’ve ever got hopelessly lost in a foreign city you’ll really appreciate the real-time GPS tracking and route finding functions, while its web connectivity will ensure you can stay in contact with friends and family while away too!
Want to compare this watch to other awesome outdoor models? Check out our EPIC review of the best outdoor watches.
Best Watch Under $100
SOLARMATE watch CITIZEN Q
We think the SOLARMATE watch CITIZEN Q is simply a bargain for what it offers! Deep within the inner workings, you’ll find (if you were ever to look), a movement by Japanese watchmakers Citizen, and a battery meant to last three years. On the outside, you have a large, easy to read, digital display with a classy metal band. The watch is also waterproof so you’ll have no issues taking anywhere you end up on your travels.
- Great price
- Trustworthy internal workings
- Large digital display
- Metal wristband
- Only water resistant to 50 m
- Not great for slim wrists
- No second time zone function
Is the SOLARMATE watch CITIZEN Q for me?
You don’t have to be counting the pennies to think that the SOLARMATE watch CITIZEN Q is a great buy for what it offers. For an incredible price, you get a trustworthy brand, and an easy-to-read digital display alongside waterproofing and a nice look. Brilliant!
Best Analog Travel Watch
Tissot Seastar 1000
Although aimed at the diving market, the Swiss-engineered Tissot Seastar 1000 is just as functional as a general analogue travel watch. The large face makes it easy to read the luminous dials even in the low light of an aircraft cabin or a candle-lit restaurant, while maintaining enough style to ensure you won’t feel embarrassed at wearing it even at more formal occasions. The tough body will keep it safe from knocks, while the resin strap is comfortable and easy to keep clean. As you might expect, the Seastar 1000 also has an impressive degree of water resistance too – safe down to 300 m!
- Large face
- Luminous hands
- Stylish
- Water resistant to 300 m
- Analogue
- No alarm
- Lacks GPS features
- Not as tough as the Casio G-Shock Gravity Master
Is the Tissot Seastar 1000 for me?
Having been making watches for more than one and a half centuries, Tissot is clearly doing something right! Their Seastar 1000 is no exception, with this analogue travel watch bringing a touch of class to the proceedings. But more than just having a pretty face (very literally) its also functional thanks to luminous hands and water resistance to 300 m.
Best Digital Travel Watch
DIDITIME Sports and Military Watch
From the best analogue travel watch to the best digital watch of our reckoning with this number from DIDITIME. It can be argued whether the best digital watch should be as simple as possible or as feature heavy as possible – we’ve sided with simple. But simplicity doesn’t mean you’re laying aside reliability – the DIDITIME is based around a Japanese-made movement and battery for precision timing. The time/date display, auto calendar, alarm, and backlight are matched nicely by the black fabric strap, and protected by the carbon fibre case.
- Japanese movement
- Alarm
- Fabric strap
- Protective body
- Lacks features of other digital watches we’ve covered
- Not suitable for submersion
- No analogue dial
- Some customers mention build issues
Is the DIDITIME Sports and Military Watch for me?
If you’re after a digital watch that can tell you exactly where you are at any given time and what the weather is likely to be in the next couple of hours, we’d recommend the Garmin Solar 2 Watch, however if you’re looking for a simple digital display with which to tell the time, this DIDITIME watch will be perfect for you!
Best Travel Watch for Hikers
Samsung Galaxy Watch
It’s a fact of life that tech has encroached into the world of hiking as much as other sports and activities, and while a paper map and physical compass is always a good idea, a lot of the hard work of route finding can be made simple with a watch such as this Samsung Galaxy offering. As well as keeping you connected with calls and messages straight to your wrist to keep you hands-free, the Samsung Galaxy also automatically (yes, automatically) detects movement and activity and monitors it for you. This watch also has in-built GPS, so you can follow pre-planned routes or find a short cut home on the move effortlessly!
- Lets you stay connected hands-free
- Automatically detects and monitors activity
- In-built GPS
- 4-day battery life
- Requires regular charging
- Water-resistant to only 50 m
- Resin strap
- Weighs 300 g
Is the Samsung Galaxy Watch for me?
If you’re an Apple fan, look away now…While a smart watch may not be the obvious choice for hikers, the Samsung Galaxy watch does in fact make a fine travel watch for hikers. Why? Because you can stay connected, have your activity monitored without even having to touch a screen, and have the safety and security of GPS route finding as well!
Best Smart Watch for Staying Fit while Travelling
Fitbit Charge 4
Market leaders are market leaders for a reason, and the Charge 4 by Fitbit remains to our mind the best smart watch for staying fit while traveling. The smooth lines of the Charge 4 monitor your heart rate from your wrist – meaning no unwieldy chest strap for starters. Its all-day activity tracking measures distance, steps, and calories among other metrics, and can remind you to move if you’ve remained still for longer periods. Finally, with its GPS connectivity, you can see real-time stats in addition to your current location and route!
- Stylish look
- Measures heart rate without chest strap
- All-day metric measurement
- GPS connectivity
- Requires regular charging (every 4+ days)
- Additional accessories cost extra
- Touch screen scratches quite easily
- Two-year warranty
Is the Fitbit Charge 4 for me?
Staying fit while traveling used to be difficult to monitor, what with the change in routine (and the added calories that undoubtedly come with many types of travel!). Then the Fitbit Charge 4 came along, with the possibility to record metrics from heart rate to steps taken without issue, alongside the brilliant functionality of GPS connectivity.
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Best Travel Watch with GPS
Garmin Fenix Chronos
You’ve got to love GPS, don’t you? Endlessly useful in your home town and abroad, its certainly saved us from all manner of potential pitfalls! The Garmin Fenix Chronos is a masterly GPS-enabled travel watch, with a tracking log for pinpoint accuracy and its ‘TracBack’ feature that helps users head back the same way you’ve come. But as well as GPS functionality the Fenix Chronos has ABC (or altitude, barometer, and compass) functions, and will record and monitor your activity levels, whatever sport or activity you’re undertaking. All this, smart phone connectivity, and a battery life of up to eight days make this the best travel watch with GPS for us!
- TracBack GPS feature
- Altitude, Barometer, and compass readings
- Activity monitor
- 8 day battery life
- Leather strap
- Water resistance to just 100 m
- Has a traditional look some users may not like
- Requires USB charging
Is the Garmin Fenix Chronos for me?
If you’re regularly traveling, looking for the very best of travel watches with GPS, we think you’ve probably found it with the Garmin Fenix Chronos! The ‘TracBack’ feature will be really useful for many, while more seasoned adventures will love the ABC functionality too!
Best Minimalist Travel Watch
The FIZILI
The FIZILI’s combination of ageless elegance and simple minimalist design makes their watch a hands-down winner. Their travel watch, just like the Nomatic travel bag, is extremely versatile; it can be used whether you’re traveling for work or pleasure, and when roughing it or in the highest-end resorts – without looking out of place.
There are a whole number of different colourways to choose from too, whether you want the uber cool black-on-black look or you want to throw in some red highlights or a blue face, there’s even gold, silver and blue wristbands available too.
- Great look
- Versatile
- Affordable
- Water resistant
- Analogue
- No alarm
Is the FIZILI for me?
If you’re after a pared-back but classy travel watch which you know you can rely on while on the move the FIZILI is the perfect choice for you. With a style that looks great in any situation, the quality steel mesh strap and the variety of different styles means there’s something to suit everyone and at this price you could buy them all!
Best of the Rest
Shinola Runwell
Detroit’s Shinola has a growing legion of fans on both sides of the Atlantic, and travelers old and new will be sure to fall for the Runwell too. This analogue watch has a traditional look, complete with a real leather strap, while ensuring a large face to ensure the clock face is easy to read whatever the light levels. The sapphire crystal window is scratch resistant, which is obviously ideal when traveling, and the watch is also water resistant down to 50 m – more than deep enough for a swim in the hotel pool!
- Beautifully styled traditional look
- Leather strap
- Scratch resistant sapphire crystal window
- Water resistance to 50 m
- Imported from the US for UK customers
- Luminous hands but no backlight
- Not for budget travelers
- No GPS functionality
Is the Shinola Runwell for me?
The style-conscious traveler will be very happy to be seen wearing the Shinola Runwell, as a result of its phenomenal looks and literally crystal-clear analogue display. But this watch isn’t just style over substance, with durability built in with the leather strap, scratch resistance, and water resistance. When looking for a traditional and trustworthy watch, the Shinola Runwell is a great option!
Seiko SEIKO SRPE99 Prospex
The SEIKO SRPE99 Prospex watch comes with a stainless steel bracelet style strap that slips over the hand to close. The 21 jewels used in its analogue movement ensure accuracy, and although this is an automatic movement – rather than a battery-powered one – it has a power reserve of 40 hours, meaning you can forget to wear it for an entire day without having to manual wind the watch on to restart it. The face incorporates a very useful day and date window, that will surely stay clear as a result of the scratch resistant Hardlex crystal glass. The fact it’s a diver’s watch also means it boasts water resistance to a depth of 200 m.
- 21 jewel movement
- 40-hour power reserve
- Scratch resistant Hardlex crystal glass
- Water resistant to 200 m
- Automatic movement
- Metal bracelet style strap
- No GPS functionality
- Intended as a men’s watch
Is the Seiko Divers Automatic for me?
If you’re an experienced diver you’ll be probably looking for a more sophisticated divers watch than that offered by the Seiko Divers Automatic. However, for mere mortals, this watch reaches the right balance between everyday practicality and specialization. Accurate and tough, we can’t see the Seiko Divers Automatic letting you down!
Timex Expedition Scout
The Timex Expedition Scout offers an analogue face with both twelve- and twenty-four-hour time settings, and accuracy you know you can trust. This rugged outdoor watch is protected by a durable body that is guaranteed to be water resistant down to a depth of 50 m and has the added feature of an ‘Indiglo’ light-up watch face. There’s also a quick date window on the face so you’ll never lose track of the time or date, while the classic yet contemporary look will have to check the time far more than is actually necessary!
- 12 and 24-hour dial settings
- Accurate
- Water resistant to 50 m
- Indiglo light-up dial
- Analogue watch
- No alarm
- Lacks different time zone settings
- Date but no day window on face
Is the Timex Expedition Scout for me?
Forget those tempting added features of other watches in our review, the Expedition Scout is a good ‘solid’ watch that will see you through while always looking fresh and up to the minute thanks to its classic looks.
Suunto Core
The brother of the Suunto Traverse Alpha GPS Outdoor, you might consider the Core the more basic (and also cheaper) of the two watches, but that’s not to say the Core is not a fantastic travel watch in and of itself. Though it obviously doesn’t match all the Traverse Alpha GPS Outdoor’s incredible functions – such as being military grade – this unisex watch still has a lot of flash features of its own! Its barometric altitude measurements, depth gauge, and weather warnings make it an ideal companion in the Alps if you’re hiking, snowshoeing, or skiing, where its tough enough to do the job thanks to a metal casing. Comprising aluminium, it keeps the watch light, while it has a battery life of up to a year, meaning you have little worry over when it’s going to need its next charge!
- Dedicated mountain watch
- Cheaper than the Traverse Alpha GPS Outdoor
- Detailed altitude and depth measurements
- Lightweight
- Water resistant to just 30 m
- No GPS tracking
- Too large for some wrists
- No different time zone settings
Is the Suunto Core for me?
Avid skiers and mountaineers are the target market for the Suunto Core, and they are undoubtedly the group of people likely to get the most benefit from wearing the Core thanks to its barometric data, altitude graphics and depth gauge. The rest of us will just have to make do with having a pretty cool watch on our wrists!
North Edge Dive and Sports Watch
North Edge brings us this travel watch which is water resistant to a depth of 100 m, meaning you can check out its analogue-digital face pretty much anywhere you choose – from a city centre café to a shipwreck on a coral reef! The large backlit dial makes it easy to read the time too, while the mineral glass mirror surface is resistant to scratches and the body protective against knocks and bumps. This clever little watch is also capable of monitoring steps with its pedometer, and calculating calories burnt, as well as offering users the ABC of altimeter, barometer, and compass too!
- Trusted brand
- Analogue-digital face
- Water resistant to 100 m
- ABC functions
- Intended for men only
- No GPS tracking or route finding
- Stainless steel strap
- Not the longest battery life when heavily used
Is the North Face Dive and Sports Watch for me?
This dive and sports watch by North Edge should definitely find its way onto your shortlist for best travel watch, combining traditional analogue looks with the benefits of digital technology. It has great features for anyone who likes to get outdoors, from mountains to seabed, making it a good all-round travel watch!
Lad Weather Sensor Master III
Look at the full list of what the Lad Weather Sensor Master III can track and you’ll feel like you’ve got NASA monitoring your every move, calories, highest peaks, lap speed, total distance…. We could fill up this entire space just listing them! So this watch by Lad Weather certainly meets the need of anyone who likes (or needs) to record data while travelling. What also makes it a great travel watch is the fact it is preset with 59 city time zones, can provide a weather forecast for your location, has two daily alarms, AND is water resistant to 100 m – far deeper then you’ll ever head unless scuba diving!
- Fantastic data collection
- Preset city time zones
- Weather forecasting
- Water resistant to 100 m
- Overly complicated for some travellers
- Large dial face
- Thermometer function can be affected by body heat
- Plastic dial window
Is the Lad Weather Sensor Master III for me?
Greatly improved over the Sensor Master I, the Sensor Master III is a phenomenal travel watch by Lad Weather. Having clearly absorbed customer feedback from the previous models, this travel watch is both well protected against physical damage and packed full of very useful monitoring and forecasting data!
Luminox Navy SEAL Colormark
And finally… we bring you the Luminox Navy SEAL Colormark, and unbeatable travel watch when it comes to durability! Comprising an incredibly light carbon compound case, this analogue watch has been tested to 20 atmospheres of pressure, has a window made from tempered mineral glass, and has the added protected of a double-gasket security crown. The large numbers on the face make it easy to read in all light levels, although the in-built Luminox light technology will provide constant night lighting for up to 25 years! The Swiss-made movement comes with a two-year guarantee against faults, providing added peace of mind!
- Very light on the wrist
- Durable
- Added Luminox light technology
- Swiss-made movement for precision
- Imported from US for UK customers
- Analogue rather than digital
- Large bezel numbers can confuse with time
- No different time zone settings
Is the Luminox Navy SEAL Colormark for me?
If it’s good enough for the Navy SEALs its good enough for us, right? As you would expect from a watch made for military personnel this Luminox is as tough as old boots and you’d have to really go out of your way to damage it – great news for all travellers! It also has a Swiss-made movement for accuracy, and innovative lighting technology for checking the time in the dark.
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Never Miss a Flight Again!
There we have it – the very best of the best when it comes to travel watches. Whether you prefer a simpler analogue watch, want a digital watch with GPS tracking and route-finding, or are happy with a travel watch that looks stylish whatever the backdrop, we’re sure you’ll find your next travel timepiece among these fantastic watches!
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Check out Vaer watches. Swiss ETA movement, American assembly. 100M water resistant with a screw down crown. To me, it’s a much better value than the Nomad.
Hi Joel, Indeed we will check out Vaer watches, thanks for the heads up.
The Nomatic battery does not last 45 years! No watch battery does. It’s rated for 45 months.
Thanks for the correction Dwight! Indeed, no battery will last 45 years :).