The British Camping Association has announced that 31st May - 6th June is the Nation Week of Caravanning and Camping 2021. In particular this year the focus is aimed at newcomers to tent life.
There's two types of watches for the outdoor life -
Cheaper, easily replaced, capable of telling the time and sometimes reading your map… or
Rugged, good looking, high end timepieces and capable of far more than just telling you the time. Not just an investment luxury watch but also equally wearable once you are back at work and not under canvas.
The choices suit, of course, the two ways of tent life - if you are in a flat level grass field the first type will do just fine.
If your idea of tent life is somewhere remote and extreme then read on - we have our pick of the second type of timepieces.
If your idea of tent life is camping is miles and miles from anyone then may we firstly suggest the Breitling Emergency watch, mostly because it carries its own distress beacon. A dual frequency beacon capable of transmitting at a temperature of -20°C.
This watch beacon has actually saved numerous lives now, not least the famous story of Quentin Smith. Quentin Smith and Steve Brooks had just spent three arduous months getting to the tip of South America in an attempt to fly by helicopter from the North to the South Pole. They were attempting to fly the the Drake Passage – a hazardously windy, iceberg-filled 550-mile body of water between the southern tip of South America and Cape Horn. 450 miles in there was a bang, no power and they ditched into the aggressive icy waters. They fought to stay afloat on the emergency raft and deployed his Breitling Emergency Beacon. This enabled a rescue plane to find them in less than nine hours, within a 600 square mile search area!
Rolex Explorer. This watch was originally developed to survive Sir and Tenzing Norgay’s climb to the top of Mt. Everest, and it has graced many a wrist of intrepid explorers since. The Chromalight display is visible in the darkest conditions — even climbing a mountain in the pre-dawn hours. It has a 70-hour power reserve and is waterproof to 100m.
Every emergency watch should have a tale in its history - and the Bremont Supermarine Terra Nova certainly does. Ben Saunders is one of three people in history to ski solo to the North Pole. A ferocious white out cause Saunders to be at the final 576km with only 13 days of food left - not anywhere near enough -forcing the reluctant decision to stop and request he be picked up. His Terra Nova GMT chronometer from Henley-based watchmaker Bremont, performed faultlessly, invaluable in determining his rescue longitude in an environment far too cold for any battery-operated device.
Maybe its more than one story - Worn by Round-the-word expeditionary Mike Horn on every one of his journeys his Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 GMT can proably tell quite a few tales. The Panerai is fitted with a useful time-zone function for keeping track of time back at home if you are overseas. It’ll also survive any {very} wet hiking/camping situation thanks to 300m water resistance.
Currently at time of writing Watch Buyers has a Omega Seamaster 300M Diver James Bond 007 in stock - if anyone can survive extreme camping its Bond, James Bond.
Also in stock is the Hublot Big Bang Unico Titanium Ceramic - nothing is made of tougher materials and the rubber strap is perfect for outdoors.
Check out all of our watches for sale here.