As a sailor or yachtsman, you must have the best sailing watches in your wardrobe collection. It is the most precious armory for a yachtsman. In today’s world, there are so many various functions on a sailing watch.
These functions will give you the upper hand when you will sail. Sailing is related to water, so you need the best sailing watches in your collection.
Nowadays sailing watches are not only limited to their functions. Watches have also become fashionable. So for buying a watch you must look out some important things.
The market is oversaturated with myriad brands and models of sailing watches. In this article, we will give you a proper guide for buying the best sailing watches from the market.
Here Is Our Top 5 Best Sailing Watches
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Product Name |
Product |
Rating |
Check Price |
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OVERALL BEST
Timex Ironman Classic 30 |
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BEST FOR SPORTS
Garmin Quatix 5 Marine Watch |
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BEST MULTISPORTS WATCH
Suunto Ambit 3 |
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BEST LUXURY WATCH
Rolex Oyster Yacht-Master II |
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BEST CHRONOGRAPH WATCH
Timex expedition scout watch |
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10 Best Sailing Watches For You
Overall Best : Timex Ironman Classic 30
Timex Ironman Classic 30 is the best affordable watch. This is a watch model of 2013. It has a large digital display with 5-button access to 100 lap stopwatches. It has a lightweight build quality and access to all times, alarms & Indiglo backlight.
Its special feature is a regatta chronograph. The band of this watch is also very comfortable. It has a water-resistance of 100 meters.
This watch gives you up to 10 years of power reserve which is very rare. This is one of the best durable watches in the market and is also priced as the best budget watch. If you want a nautical watch with all-round features, you should go for it.
Pros
- Good lightweight build quality
- Large display
- Regatta timer
- Good battery life
- Reasonable price
- Water-resistant depth is about 100 (330 feet) meters
Cons
- None
Best For Sports : Garmin Sailing Watch
Looking for a watch with top multi-sport functions? You should go for Garmin Quatix 5. Garmin watch is a popular sports smartwatch brand. So you are getting all the best technology in this watch. This is one of the best sailing watches including some killer marine features.
This marine watch builts on the powerful Fenix 5 platform. German Quatix 5 can track your physical activity. Its advanced fitness feature tracker can track all fitness statistics such as running, swimming, hiking.
You can pair it with your phone and see all statistics. You can receive email, text, and all social media notifications on your watch. It has a wrist-based heart rate monitor that tracks you every time. This watch is designed with a sailing timer function and also has a race countdown timer also.
The GPS navigator is also great and also has Wi-Fi connectivity. Its water resistance depth is about 100 meters. This watch is suitable for every weather and conditions. This is one of the best sailing watches with advanced smart features.
This watch covers almost all marine features. It’s a great yacht watch for your daily use. If you want a stylish GPS smartwatch, you will love it.
Pros
- Stylish smartwatch
- Heart rate monitor
- Easy Quick fit band changes
- Excellent on water
Cons
- Very little internal storage
Best Multisports Watch : Suunto Ambit 3
Suunto Ambit 3 is a great multisport digital watch. You can rely on this watch in every weather and conditions. If you are looking for a good regatta watch, it has got all compatibility for sailing.
In Suunto amber 3 you will get the barometric altimeter. A good diving watch comes with barometric pressure, tide data & an electronic compass. Suunto amber 3 got all these features. The barometer can measure atmospheric pressure.
So you can measure altitude by calculating the location’s air pressure. It has a longer battery life up to 50 to 55 hours. You can go on adventures with it without worrying.
This watch has a build on activity tracking mode. It tracks you every moment while you are running, cycling, or doing any other activity. You can track your heart rate by connecting your Bluetooth to your smartphone and you don’t need to wear a chest strap.
This watch can also be used for water sports since you can track your heart rate and swim simultaneously. This is a suitable sailing watch for any kind of water activity.
Suunto ambit 3 has a good-looking bezel. You won’t find any scratches on the screen after heavy use. Its durability is quite good.
Ambit 3 has a GPS feature and functional compass also. It’s recovery time feature will tell you how many hours you will have to recover from a specific activity.
It’s a solid piece of gear. There is no way to find a fault with the quality of this.
Pros
- Good for multisports
- Barometer & Advanced Digital Compass
- Training programs
- Good battery life
- Recovery time feature
Cons
- GPS not accurate
Best As A Luxury Watch : Rolex Oyster Yacht-Master II
Now we will talk about one of the best luxury watch brands. We absolutely must include this model in the sailing watch review.
The Rolex Oyster Yacht-Master II is one of the most popular luxury regatta watches. Rolex oyster yacht-master II was first available in 2013.
The first edition of the yacht-master was one of the most popular watches in Rolex’s brand history. If you are looking for a good regatta watch, this is it.
Rolex oyster yacht-master II incorporates the extra-special regatta countdown function, that can be programmed from 1 to 10 minutes.
This watch has been programmed to memorize its own previous setting when you reset it. This regatta watch runs on an automatic chronograph calibre 4161 movement, which gives you 3 days of power reserve.
This watch is scratch-resistant and also water-resistant. Its water-resistance level is about 100 meters.
It is one of the best sailing watches with a high price tag. But you can’t complain about the quality of this watch.
Pros
- Gorgeous nautical watch
- Automatic Chronograph
- Regatta Countdown function
- Water-resistance depth is 330 feet
Cons
- Large for small wrists
Best As Chronograph Watch : Timex Expedition Scout Watch
Timex is one of America’s best timepiece makers. They are known for making high-quality watches within an affordable range. They have shown the other brands how backlighting should be done. Their backlighting technology, indiglo set a new standard in watch history.
The material used to make the case of this watch is stainless steel. This is an analog watch with mineral glass. The case diameter is 43 mm and thickness is 12 mm. There is another Timex Fly-Back watch with leather strap.
You can set the watch in several modes. The main mode is the time mode. In this mode, it displays hour, minute, and second. There is also a five-minute countdown timer. Stopwatch scale to 5 minutes.
Every five minutes it resets to zero. This watch will function perfectly at a maximum depth of 100 meters. This watch has a special feature, which is a scout chronograph. You can stop-reset-restart the chronograph with a single action. It also has a split time mode. If you press the crown button, you will activate Indiglo night-light.
Timex intelligent is a very beautiful, solid, and elegant watch. This watch fills all criteria for being the best sailing watch.
Pros
- Interesting features
- Nice bezel
- Scout Chronograph
- Countdown timer and Stopwatch
- Water-resistance depth is about 100 meters (330 feet)
- Indiglo Night-Light
Cons
- Bracelet got insufficient adjustment options.
Tag Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5
Tag Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 is a beautiful, classic designed and one of the best sailing watches. This watch has the best materials in it.
My favorite part of this watch is the bezel. The bezel is made of ceramic and beautifully high-gloss polished. It’s got a lovely kind of black reflecting coating on the crystal but the bezel as well as a little thinner.
Tag Heuer is built Swiss automatic movement. This watch has a stainless steel bracelet with diver’s extension and sapphire crystal glass.
Tag Heuer Aquaracer is a stunning piece and this is a premium brand. There is nothing wrong with this watch except the price.
Pros
- Stainless steel case
- Sapphire Crystal glass
- Elegant design
- Ceramic bezel
- Swiss automatic movement
- Water-resistance depth is about 300 meters
Cons
- High price
Citizen Promaster Professional Diver
Citizen Promaster is a fully-fledged professional diver watch. It measures about 44-mm in diameter. It’s just 11.5 mm thick which makes it fit in your wrist. The case material is built on stainless steel.
The case is entirely polished and the finish is just fantastic. It’s a great comfort wearing this silicone strap. The watch has 660 feet of water resistance and is suitable for swimming, snorkeling & diving.
The bezel is made of stainless steel and aluminum. It also has a three-hand analog display with an Eco-drive movement. The quartz movement powered by a battery that charges via a solar panel in the dial. With the solar panel, you don’t have to care about changing a battery every few years.
This is a high-quality watch sailing watch. You will be impressed with this watch. This is a high-quality watch. This is a bargain and you should really pick it up if you are looking for the best diving watch.
Pros
- High-quality diving watch
- Durable crystal glass
- Simple rotating bezel
- Good battery life
- Good for water activities
Cons
- Small watch strap
Nautica Men’s N14536
Nautica N14536 is a casual yachting watch with a good sporty look. This stainless steel watch redefines speed and style. It has a 47-mm stainless steel case.
This Nautica chronograph has a solid build quality. It has an analog display with a one-way rotating bezel and resin strap. The watch is empowered with Japanese quartz movement. This watch has a scratch-resistant mineral crystal display.
This watch has three sub-dials and a date window as well. You can swim and dive wearing this watch. Its water resistance depth is about 330 feet.
Nautica N14536 is a good analog watch with a reasonable price range. It is one of the affordable best sailing watches on the market. You will be drawn to the minimalist beauty of this watch.
Pros
- Good build quality
- Scratch-resistant display
- Hard to find better chronograph function under in this price range
- Last for many years
- The watch strap is very durable
- Water-resistance depth is 300 meters
Cons
- Stopwatch function isn’t that good
Casio Men’s Pathfinder
Casio Pathfinder PAG240T is a popular sailing watch. This watch is easy to use compared to other Pathfinder series.
It has five alarms but most of the watch has only two alarms. The Pathfinder also has a stopwatch and timer. This watch has 31 time zones to set sunrise and sunset alarms.
The case is made of titanium. It has some other features like a digital calendar, water-resistant. This watch has three triple sensors including altimeter, barometer/thermometer, and digital compass.
The altimeter memory will hold up to 40 seconds. The watches have an attractive backlight. The best thing about this watch is it’s solar-powered and it can run almost six months without light. The water-resistance level of this watch is 100 meters.
Pathfinder is effective both on water and drylands. Before you buy a sailing watch, you might want to consider this watch.
Pros
- Titanium case
- Mineral crystal glass
- Triple sensor
- Solar-powered
- 31 time zones
- Attractive backlight
- Multi alarm
- Water-resistance depth is about 100 meters (330 feet)
Cons
- In your wrist, you can’t use the thermometer
Timex Intelligent Quartz Yacht Racer
Timex has placed itself into the list of most famed watch brands in the world. This sailing watch ranks at the top of most famed watch brands in the world. Timex Yacht racer is built for water sports. This is a yacht racer watch for yachtsmen.
This analog watch is as functional as it’s beautiful. Yacht racer has a silicone strap and a stylish analog display. The bezel is made of stainless steel. The case is made of steel with sharped resin pushers. It also has a multi-layered dial.
The unique bi-direction hands will provide you a countdown to start and you don’t have to save the date ever.
Yacht Racer can be set into several modes. Time mode is the main mode. In this mode, it displays hour, minute, and indicates the date. Yacht racing mode provides countdown times to the start of the race and then counts up time to the finish.
It has an extraordinary never ending calendar. Its perpetual calendar is good through 2061. Water-resistance depth of this watch is about 100 meters.
Yacht Racer is designed bearing the marine sports in mind. This watch ranks as one of my personal favorites.
Pros
- Stylish analog display
- Perpetual calendar
- Multi-layered dial
- Comfortable silicone rubber strap
- Specially built for yacht racing
- Water-resistance depth is about 100 meters (330 feet)
Cons
- No indiglo backlight.
History Of Sailing Watches
Yacht racing is one of the most luxurious sports in the world. For yacht racing, you need some special features in your watch.
Because normal watches are not ideal for sailing expeditions. To fulfill these needs watchmakers are beginning to build special watches of sailing and that’s how It started.
In the 1950s rotating bezels were used for starting a race. In the 1960s the Aquastar model came to the market. This was one of the first sailing watches in the watch industry.
Heuer and other luxury watch brands are also early inventors of some regatta timepieces. In that decade many unheard brands got involved in the watch industry.
In the 1970s, Omega joined the list. Seamaster Yachting watch is an important model from the Omega brand. Seamaster was a huge success. In the ’70s Heuer also offered some chronographs and tide watches. These watches were too good with their elegant designs.
In the 80s, Quartz came to the market. Quartz replaced Heuer’s chronograph and tide watches with their cheap timers.
Rolex introduced its famed Yacht-Master in 1992. They got popularity with their Yacht-Master. So they let the watch gradually evolve. Later they launched Yacht-Master II. Sailing enthusiasts still continue to love this watch.
Things To Look Out In A Sailing Watch
Countdown Timer
A countdown timer is an essential part of a sailing watch. It measures lead at the start of the race.
Chronograph
The chronograph feature is available on most sailing watches.
Durability
Severe rough conditions are normal on the sailing boat. Hence, durability is the number one quality to seek in a watch. It’s a good thing for a sailing watch to have additional durability.
Water Resistance
Water-resistance is essential for every sailing watch. A sailing watch has to be at least 300 feet of water resistance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sailing watch?
A sailing watch is a special kind of watch that is normally used for racing. They are also called Regatta watches or Yachting watches.
The purpose of a countdown timer for sailing races was taken into consideration while designing these special watches. When they hear a signal, they start their countdown timers. That tells them when the race will start.
What are the best features of a sailing watch?
Every sailing watch needs to fulfill some criteria to be the best sailing watch. A best sailing watch must have some special features like countdown timer, racing chronograph, advanced compass, depth meter, tide feature/ tide tracker, durability. There are also some other features like barometric pressure e.t.c, but that’s optional.
Waterproof or Water-Resistance, which one is best for sailing?
Before buying a sailing watch, you need to understand the differences between “proof” and “resistance”.
Normally sailing watches have a depth of average 50-200 meters. In 50 meters of resistance, you can take a quick swim. 100 meters is perfect for unlimited swimming. A 200-meter watch is the best watch for sailing. Waterproof watches will save you only from accidental water splashes. These watches are not good for sailing.
Final Thoughts
This review might help you to find the right timepiece for you. These are the best sailing watches in my eyes. There are some other good sailing watches like Bremont Regatta, Breitling Superocean, and Optimum Time Series.
We will try to cover these watches in another article. But don’t worry, this review has covered some best sailing watches. This is a perfect buying guide for you if you want to buy the best sailing watch.
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