31 Best Field Watches For Every Price Range in 2023
Field watches have stood the test of time in functionality, endurance, and their minimalist style. Originally produced to support soldiers on the battlefield, they have now become part of watch enthusiasts’ collections and a great base for watch beginners due to their simplicity. Being one of the most popular watch models there are endless varieties and brands offering some form of a field watch. So, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to make it easier for you to narrow down the options with our suggestion of the 31 best field watches out there.
We focused on qualities that go into a good field watch, like movement, easy-to-read dials, military time, aesthetic, and of course price. Our wide-ranging list includes both mechanical and quartz options, field watches that continue to honor their predecessors but newer modern details, and brands which have been pioneers in the field since their first productions. There’s a watch for everyone with prices ranging from as low as $60 USD to just under $10,000 USD.
Oris Big Crown Pointer Date
The birth of Oris’s big crown feature came in 1938 when they introduced their first pilot watch, so that pilots could easily adjust their watches with their leather gloves on and has stuck as a point of design to this day. What we love about this watch is the seamless pointer date. Rather than a date window Oris has incorporated the date function as an inner bezel on the dial with a sleek pointer that sits perfectly right over the date, and is superbly legible with its triangular curved red tip. This red accent counterparts the red rotor visible through the visible caseback. Other elevated features of the watch are the coin edge bezel and classic leather strap, giving it a slightly distressed look. The watch starts at $1,750 USD and is also available in other colorways and materials at various price points.
Rolex Explorer
What list of the top field watches is complete without the Rolex Explorer? The Rolex Explorer 1 was originally launched in 1953 and indeed became famous when Sir Edmund Hillary wore the watch when he, along with Tenzing Norgay, became one of the first two people to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest. If a watch can withstand the elements of the highest peak in the world, it definitely deserves a place on the this list. The follow-up model currently in production, the Rolex Explorer Ref. 124270, shares many similarities to the watch that made it to the top of Everest, but with modern upgrades. It is clean and simple, as well as being one of Rolex’s more affordable models at $7,250 USD.
Marathon General Purpose Mechanical Watch
The General Purpose Mechanical field watch is a lightweight watch durable enough for the military with its high-impact fibreshell case and DEFSTAN nylon strap, making it versatile and easy to wear. Marathon manufactures the GPM with military standards, so it’s fit for any field excursion. The easy-to-read dial has both 12-hour and 24-hour time display, with its bright white numerals. The gold tinted indices and syringe hands glow green at night while a pop of color is visible at the 12-hour mark with its red luminescence. The watch typically starts below $500 USD and can be upgraded to a leather strap or additional colorways that can add some cost.
Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical 42mm
The Hamilton field watch has come a long way since its production for American soldiers between WWI and WWII, but still holds its classic and minimal look while remaining a staple in today’s market. The Hamilton field Khaki is fashioned in a 42mm sandblasted stainless steel case and has the option of a black or white dial set with bold legible numbers. It stays true to its military watch style and has both 12-hour and 24-hour indices rings. We love the olive green textile strap, as we feel it contracts well with the handset and dial. The watch utilizes a hand-wound H-50 caliber with an 80-Hour Power Reserve—which will last up to 80 hours without being wound! Whether you prefer the traditional NATO strap or upgrade to a stainless steel bracelet, and is available for quite the steel, around $450 USD, on Amazon. It truly is one of the most classic field watches and has that vintage field watch charm
Carpenter M23 Brooklyn Field
From its sleek 40mm stainless steel case and wire lugs to its matte black dial, the Carpenter M23 Brooklyn Field watch combines vintage and modern in its minimal look. The orange second hand provides a pop of color and contrasts the thin indices while complimenting the tapered leather strap (available in three colorways: navy, brown, & black). Its sapphire exhibition caseback displaying the automatic movement pays homage to Neil Carpenter’s love of his family’s antique pocket watch collection, and that really shows in the overall M23 aesthetic. The Carpenter Watch brand is based out of New York and their M23 Brooklyn field is one of our favorites coming in under $500 USD.
Omega Railmaster
OMEGA has released the Railmaster as a 60th anniversary tribute to three of their classics releases in 1957. It’s limited to only 3,557 pieces and has certainly become a looker to any enthusiast with an eye for field watches. The 38mm watch is available on a stainless steel bracelet with a fold over clasp. The black tropical dial adds a distressed vintage look elevating this modern remake The indices are uniquely railway inspired (hence the name) and channel that aesthetic incredibly well. If desired, you could switch out the bracelet with a multitude of strap options. This minimal yet bold piece is priced at $7,100 USD.
Weiss Standard Issue Field Watch
The Weiss Watch Company does not cut corners when it comes to crafting their timepieces with careful attention to detail and dependable function, and their field watch is no exception. Designed with influence from Cameron Weiss’ own outdoor adventures, the Weiss Standard Issue Field watch can endure the elements. The 38mm stainless steel case is set with a classic black dial, but is also available in a variety of colorways and strap options. The luminescent hands and indices are bright and just as visible at night. The traditional look is completed with a waterproof canvas strap fit for any journey and made to be an heirloom in your watch collection with its modern materials and finishes at $2,000 USD.
Panerai Radiomir California PAM00931
The Panerai Radiomir California stands out in size and style. Its unique California dial designed with luminous Arabic and Roman numerals and hour markers gives it a funky, but original feel. A delightful pop of color comes through on the blue hands and compliments the brown hues. This gives dial great legibility. The watch stays true to Panerai’s traditional 47mm cushion-shaped steel cases, which will give it quite the wrist presence, so keep that in mind. The calf brown leather strap extending from the wire lugs are more details that play ode to a classic look. Price for the PAM00931 is $9,200 USD.
Timex Expedition Scout
The Timex Expedition Scout has a very traditional field watch look in its beautiful olive-green colorway. The green dial features bold grey numerals and indices, white syringe hands, and an orange 12 o’clock index and second hand. It has both 12-hour and 24-hour time, nodding to military roots, and a discreet date window. And as is traditional with many Timex watches, with the push of a button you can activate the INDIGLO light feature, which lights up the entire dial to tell time at night. The textile strap has some minimal leather touches at the lugs. The watch is also available in an all-black colorway as well as a blue dial and textile strap option. All come in at the affordable price of $40 USD!
Formex Field Automatic
Formex was derived from the French word, “forme extreme” meaning “extreme shape.” Created by two Swiss brothers the brand is inspired from their love of race cars and bikes as well as their passion for watches. This led to their distinct patented Case Suspension System, giving their watches a cushion-like case, which protects the movement while adding comfort. The Formex Field Automatic watch dons this signature style with its titanium cushion case. The recessed numbers and markers give the dial a double layer feel and add depth. The indices are filled with old radium to give it a nice glow in the dark no matter which color dial you go for. You can choose from a variety of colorways amongst their nylon or leather strap options. Price for the Formex Field Automatic is $820 USD.
Timor Heritage Field WWW
The Timor Heritage Field WWW designed by a British Army veteran, roots back to its history in WWII as one of 12 manufacturers or “Dirty Dozen,” who produced durable and reliable watches for the British Military – A very rich heritage and prestigious class of watches. The Timor Heritage Field takes its place on our list as one of the smallest in size with its 36.5mm case allowing for its versatility on any wrist and occasion. It combines both a vintage and modern look with its bead blasted stainless steel case, neatly visible numbers and its beige super-luminova hands making it easy to tell time day or night. Its seatbelt nylon strap adds an adventurous touch for any journey. Price for the Timor Heritage Field WWW is $974 USD.
Lang 1943 Edition One
Lang 1943 was recently founded in 2022 and launched with the Lang 1943 Edition One, which honors the historical field watches of the Dirty Dozen in the 1940s. The brand started by Georg Bartkowiak was named after industry leader, Gerd-Rudiger Lang, founder of Chronoswiss, who is now an advisor for Lang 1943 providing his knowledge to the design and functionality of the watches.
The Lang 1943 Edition One field watch is a modern take on this classic model with its sunray brushed dial and brushed stainless steel case. Working off an unexpected Marvin movement holding onto its vintage heritage, which is visible through the sapphire caseback—an obvious necessity of Lang being one of (if not the) first to use transparent casebacks on wristwatches. The watch is available with a leather or textile strap adapting to different styles and locations. Price for the Lang 1943 Edition is $3,700 USD.
Tudor Ranger
The Tudor Ranger family of field watches found its origins in 1929, but its new release celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Ranger watches worn during the British North Greenland Expedition. The style carries a similar aesthetic but with modern touches like the luminescent Arabic numerals incorporated with the indices. The grained black domed dial showcases the arrowhead hour hand as some of its previous models with an added pop of burgundy at the tip of the second hand. Tudor delivers the new model in an updated case size of 39mm making it a more comfortable wear for smaller wrists, and has a variation of straps and clasps. The Tudor Ranger starts at a modest price point of $2,825 USD and will make anyone feel like an explorer.
Zodiac Olympos
With its unique Manta Ray shaped case and crown placement at 2 o’clock the Zodiac Olympos field watch is back. Marrying vintage with modern the hacking secondhand feature is still prominent on the Zodiac Olympos, a feature used in the battlefield during its first introductions. The modern textured dial boasts bold luminescent numbers and pointed hands visible both day and night. Offered in two earth tone dial and strap colorways, at $895 USD this watch may be worth adding to your collection.
Seiko Alpinist (SPB121)
The Seiko Alpinist field watch has been an integral part of the collecting community. So much so, that Seiko has released a number of more contemporary versions on the watch in recent years – All sold out almost immediately. Our favorite still, is the green dial SPB121. The gold numbers and markers contrast beautifully with the dial adding to its luxury. The ivory Cathedral style hands with gold details brings sophistication and a vintage feel. Its inner compass bezel grounds it in the field watch family allowing any adventurers to be ready for anything. At the price point of $725 USD, this is a watch not to miss out on.
CWC T20 Field Watch
Honoring the original wants of the Ministry of Defense standard for the request of a tonneau shaped quartz watch for the British Forces the CWC released this field watch 40 years after the standard was set, known as the “Lost Boy” they almost never made watch. The quartz movements back in the 1980s couldn’t fit the tonneau case style, therefore CWC had released the “Fat Boy” to be able to incorporate the movement. Now, it has brought the world a vintage watch with the help of updated technology—a tonneau quartz field watch—in a 38mm case diameter. Keeping in line with its original dial the white luminescent numbers and hands are clear day or night, and the watch comes fitted with a black CWC issued military strap available for $310 USD.
Accutron Railroad
The Accutron Railroad field watch is where minimal meets classic with its clean white dial and bold black numbers and hands, in a smaller case size of only 34mm – Considered a unisex size by many brands standards. It comes with a date window and an inner 24-hour ring, once again nodding to military roots. You can find unique features like the crown at 4 o’clock, or a 0 at the 12 o’clock placement following Canadian Railroad specs. A pop of color on the second hand gives it a playful contrast. This limited edition watch with only 600 pieces is available at a price point of $1,290 USD.
Farer Lander IV
The Farer Lander IV captures the eye with its intrepid sea green sunray dial bringing sea, sky, and earth together in its colorways and versatility. The sky-blue indices adds contrast to the bold dial, and the array of earth tone strap options are fit for any wearer. The Farer Lander IV functions as dual time and provides a seamless date window. Additional pops of color can be seen on the orange second hand and red stop second hand as well as the bronze capped crown. Its Super-Luminova “astronaut silver” hands and numbers bring the effects of a nighttime dive or interstellar scape completing its modern look and feel at $1,450 USD.
Luminox Atacama Field
We love the modern look and feel of the Atacama Field Urban Adventure. The double layer blue dial adds a cool and elevated look with pops of orange on some of the numbers, indicies, and second hand. The dial displays the hours with white indices, 24-hour in smaller orange Arabic numerals, and a tilted inner bezel with the seconds in small white Arabic numerals. In the dark the hands and 12 o’clock index glow red while the other indices glow green making it easy and fun to tell time at night. A large rectangle date window displays the day and date. The Atacama inherits its name from the Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the most intense terrains in the world, therefore made for your most extreme adventures. While the watch retails for $1,095 USD with its standard textile strap, it is available for just $725 USD on Amazon.
Boldr Venture
Boldr heard their customers and added a date window to their automatic Venture field watches. The date window is located at 4 o’clock parallel with the unique crown placement. The Boldr Black Dawn Venture follows suit with its name in its muted black and gold colorway. Its black matte dial is a great backdrop to the gold Arabic numerals in both the 12-hour and 24-hour rings. A really cool play on colors is the bright yellow tip of the second hand, which gives it just the perfect pop of color without overdoing it. The nylon NATO strap is a great fit for any wrist and slides nicely into the tough, but light titanium case. All for $339 USD.
IWC Spitfire
Following a similar design of IWC’s Big Pilot’s Watch developed in 1940 the Spitfire still carries the yellow triangle marker at 12 o’clock with the two small dots on each side as well as the simple clean black dial. The markings on the dial are interchanged between white and yellow indices and all white numerals. Although a pilot’s watch it’s also configured for the field and we love it’s versatility. Another feature we really enjoyed is the leather backing on the textile strap. The leather lining sits at the top of your wrist giving comfort all day long. The automatic self-winding movement will give you a reserve of 72 hours all under $5,000 USD.
Longines Heritage Military
One of the coolest details of this watch is the hand sprayed black specks on the dial, giving each piece a slightly different look. The aged look harkens back to the aging process on a vintage timepiece. We also appreciate the minimal openness of the dial with its black numerals and contrasting metallic blue hands. With the Heritage field watch Longines stays true to its heritage taking inspiration from their older timepieces first developed for the British Royal Air Force. You can add this watch to your collection at a pretty nice discount for $1,864 USD.
Bulova Hack
This contemporary Bulova Hack field watch has all the looks of a vintage field watch like the green NATO strap, except in leather rather than the expected textile NATO. The olive-green tone sits well with the grey stainless steel case. These colorways capture the military history of Bulova’s earlier field watches, and this newer rendition adds some color with the red 24-hour inner ring display. It is worth checking out for under $300 USD.
BENRUS DTU—2A/P
To celebrate 100 years of watchmaking Benrus chose to recreate their DTU—2A/P military field watch. The deep green seatbelt nylon nato strap has a silky look and a super neat removable compass that you could easily slide on and off depending on your next move. As most of the other field watches on this list it comes with both 12-hour and military times. When recreating this iconic watch, they decided to keep it simple and true to its nature with a black dial and white numerals, indices, and hands, but it doesn’t fall short compared to the other pieces on this list. This watch is ready to serve the next generation of watch wearers and service men and women. They even feature military stories on their website if you want to learn more about their watches out in the field. The Benrus DTU-2A/P comes in just around $600 USD.
Orient Defender
Orient is a Japanese company founded in 1950 by Shogoro Yoshido and a favorite of Wrist Enthusiast. Compared to most of the other watches on this list the Orient Defender has a much more contemporary look for a field watch, featuring two sub dials. A smaller sub dial at the top of the dial displays the day of the week, while the slightly larger one below displays military time giving it a fun and cool feel. There is also a small date window at 3 o’clock. The dial itself has bold white indices and large hands that feature a skeleton center. This allows wearers to be able to easily read time, an important detail to a field watch. The super bright luminova keeps you reading time even when the sun has set. The Defender family is available in different colorways, as well as NATO strap, leather, or bracelet starting at $280 USD making it one of the lowest-priced field watches on our list. We think it is a great deal for a reliable watch.
Breitling Aviator 8
The Breitling Aviator 8 is another limited-edition field watch that has made it onto our list for a number of reasons. The watch itself wasn’t exactly the most popular when it was first released, but quickly picked up some steam. With its beautiful coin-edged bezel and very cool jetliner on the second hand this is one fun watch. The attention to detail doesn’t end there. A turbine engine is engraved to the caseback. This watch is modern, it’s sleek, and yet has the touch of a vintage field watch. The clean black dial enhances the gold numerals and hands with a special luminescent coating that nods to earlier timepieces. Produced with 1,000 pieces only this limited watch is available for $4,315 USD
Vertex M100A
The Vertex M100 A is another field watch that was significant to the British Military. The M100A field watch has one of the most authentic looks compared to the others, and still it holds onto some very contemporary aesthetics. At first look the brushed stainless steel case, bold numbers, and syringe hands display its vintage style. When you take a closer look you can see the numbers are raised and have a beautiful contrasting dimension to the black dial, and looks even cooler as it glows at night. There is a subdial at 6 o’clock featuring the seconds. It is available in a classic NATO strap or a regular leather strap at $2,563 USD.
Nodus Sector Field
The Nodus Sector Field watch has one of the most modern designs to it. Available in three colorway dials, each one is multihued adding dimension and appeal. The outer dial is lighter in color where it displays the 12-hour clock, while the center is darker displaying a 24-hour clock. It comes with the option of date or no date, althought we love that the date complication is so seamlessly cut out that it doesn’t obstruct the structure of the dial. The watch is available on a stainless steel bracelet keeping with the contemporary style. Nodus is designed and assembled in Los Angeles, and you can get this watch for below $500 USD.
Sinn 856 Tegimented
As far as simple styled watches go, we think this one has one of the cleanest looks. It might be the effects of the nice font used for their name on the dial, or the big bright white numbers and indices, or maybe it’s just the black and white colorway of the dial. It all works. The hands are majority white with black centers and have no borders adding to the clean modern flair of this field watch. A small date window flows with the rest of the details. With a multitude of strap materials and colorways there’s a look or two or three for everyone. Price for the Sinn 856 is $2,290 USD.
Merci LMM-01
The Merci LMM-01 quartz field uses a Seiko VH31 movement giving the piece features of a mechanical watch, like the second hand that imitates the even rotation of an automatic sweep second, but with quartz technology. The smooth stepped bezel contrasts nicely with the brushed case and the black dial. Set with white Arabic numerals and white syringe hands with a vintage loom capturing the older military field watches. A great feature is the quick release spring, making the strap easy to remove so you could switch out the black NATO strap with their other options (sold separately). This is another lower priced field watch on our list at $270 USD.
Citizen Garrison
The Citizen Garrison is a durable and great looking quartz movement watch that is also environmentally friendly. It functions using any form of light with its E101 Eco-Drive movement, never needing a battery, reducing environmental waste! The Garrison field watch is one that captures the authenticity of an original field watch in style and design. The green textile strap fits comfortably on the wrist and the clean black dial is easy to read detailed with large white Arabic numerals large hands, and a day date function. Simple and to the point, the Citizen Garrison is a nice field watch at under $200 USD.
