A sports watch doesn’t have to be thin. It doesn’t have to fit under a cuff. It doesn’t even have to be pretty. It can be many things, but there are certain traits any watch with sporty ambitions should have.
We’re talking about the likes of water resistance, shock resistance and legibility, among other pragmatic features. Such features were born out of necessity and led to the basic durability that many rightfully expect from nearly any modern watch. Alas, watches today can feel disconnected from their purposeful origins, and many might think of a sports watch merely in terms of its “sporty” design or casual style.
It’s worth remembering where sports watches came from and the core elements that define them. This is instructive to the consumer bombarded with lifestyle marketing as well as insightful for the enthusiast as a window into the history and development of the wristwatch itself. After all, it’s the utilitarian nature of sports watches that makes them compelling in the first place.
Today, the category of sports watches is vast and varied, whereas nearly everything else is relegated to the narrow term “dress watch.” Dive watches, pilot watches, field watches, even many chronographs and GMTs are just some of the most popular examples. While anyone can now wear these watches for nearly any occasion, their history and traits are rooted in very specific applications.
Sports watches are tool watches. They were made for use, worn by athletes, adventurers or soldiers — or for timing the likes of athletic events and even scientific endeavors. They’re watches of action. They were made to endure rough conditions. Sports watches today might be elegant and “sporty” merely
