An Underrated Classic

In the age of watches that can play music, send messages, and do all sorts of other fancy things, I am a still big fan of the Timex Ironman Classic.  The Timex has been around pretty much unchanged since the 1990s.  It costs $35 dollars and is basically indestructible, small, light, and runs for years on a single battery.  It just plain works.

What I like most about the Timex is its simplicity.  It only does a few things, but it does those very well.

• Its screen is easy to read in almost all light conditions and even with polarized glasses. 
• Its stopwatch function is very simple.  One button gets you to the stopwatch then starting, stopping, and laps are controlled by two big buttons that are easy to hit swimming or running on a dark track.
• It has a basic countdown timer.
• It has alarms.

That’s it. 

One of the trends in newer watches that I do not like is that they are huge and have sharp angles.  This hurts function as huge watches get caught on clothes (taking off a layer) and the big faces can get damaged by things like Kettlebell workouts.  The Timex is light and tiny and survives everything I have thrown at it.

Oddly enough, even though I own a GPS watch I find the Timex superior for some types of workouts.  Specifically, track workouts and hill repeats.  For these workouts I don’t need mid-workout pace data; I just need a stopwatch with a great lap function.  The simplicity and big buttons of the Timex watch function works better than my GPS watch chronometer.

The other situation where the Timex holds its own is long runs or races, like ultramarathons, where I don’t need or don’t want my live pace but where the overall time is vital.  For these I always have my phone anyway.  The phone records my track just as good as a GPS watch, has far superior navigation tools, has a bigger battery and is easier to recharge mid race.  The GPS watch is superfluous to the phone and is less reliable than the Timex.

There are some circumstances where I don’t pick the Timex.  If I want to record my track but I am not taking my phone, I leave the Timex at home and take the GPS watch.  If I am doing a workout that requires live feedback on pace or distance – like a tempo run – I take the GPS watch.  Finally, if I am running a mountain ultra or doing a big backpacking trip in the mountains, I sometimes leave the Timex at home in favor of a non-GPS watch that has a long battery life but also an altimeter and barometer as knowing real time elevation in the mountains is useful.

Obviously, GPS watches are amazing inventions, and they have their place.  If you like yours, great.  But with complexity comes downsides.   Maybe I am a Luddite, but I like my Timex for what it avoids: a mental distraction of always checking miles, wondering whether I have enough battery life to complete a run, frustration when the battery runs out or when the GPS data is not very accurate or it can’t find satellites.  I think I will keep mine for at least a few more decades.