The 11 Best Field Watches You Can Buy Right Now

Timex has objectively nicer watches than the humble Scout, both in-house with the Field Solar and in collaboration with fashion powerhouses like Todd Snyder and Noah. But the simple, no-frills Scout is a great starting point for people looking to explore the field watch world. It’s got the classic look—canvas and leather strap, and a clear, legible face—and a reliable quartz movement. Plus, it’s got some upgrades: an orange second hand, a date window, and a 24H center track time. All of this is neatly packaged for under $100. What else do you need?

In the watch world, Hamilton and field watches are just about synonymous. The reputation is well earned. Hamilton made some of the original wristwatches (i.e, original field watches) for American soldiers in WWI. It's since moved production to Switzerland, a little country you’ve probably never heard of.

While the much lauded Murph is beloved by fans of field watches and Christopher Nolan movies alike (Jessica Chastain wears a version of it in Interstellar), I think the Khaki Field Expedition is the best in the line. Fairly priced for its attention to detail and with just the right amount of complications with its rotating compass bezel, this is the field watch I recommend to people who are just looking to buy one watch for the rest of their life. It’s a well-designed workhorse, beloved by newcomers and the horology-obsessed alike. This is the only watch I’ve been up in a hot air balloon with and will be the only watch I wear for future Jules Verne escapades.

You could plumb the eBay depths for an authentic WWII A-11 Hack watch. It’s a fun way to spend a weekend, and you’ll probably end up bidding against Esquire commerce editor Luke Guillory. The watches are named for the “hack” feature, which allows the second hand to be stopped and restarted via the crown, allowing synchronization.

If you’re looking for something that carries the spirit forward and comes with a warranty, Bulvova makes a modern re-creation of the heritage style. This one has an ivory dial, a center track with 24H time, and a 42-hour power reserve. Not that you’ll need to take it off at night with its luminous hands. If you want something that feels a bit more special, a few years ago Bulova did a remake with black dials and green nylon straps to match those original Hack watches. As a bonus, sales from that watch go back to the Veterans Watchmaker Initiative.

I’ve worn a few Marathon watches on photo shoots for editorial travel features where the focus is decidedly not supposed to be on watches. And each time I do it, the comments section is guaranteed to contain at least one “ID on that watch?” question. That’s because these are well-made, visually striking watches that are just the right amount of different.

Recently, I’ve favored the brand’s limited edition Blue Yonder Arctic Navigator, named after the opening line of the US Air Force’s official song. But that’s a pilot watch. For field watches, I like the brand’s small but mighty officer's mechanical watch. It’s 36mm, but not dainty. The hands aren’t simply painted, they’re Tritium gas tubes, which sounds a little WWIII-ish but means they're more luminous and reliable than anything else on this list. Mechanical watches can be divisive, but I love the ritual of winding the watch.

Cameron Weiss is an American watchmaker with a distinct point of view. I first encountered the brand when they collabed with fellow Nashvillians, made-in-the-USA devotee Imogene + Willie, on a limited-run field watch. That’s long sold out, but this Todd Snyder collab is still available. I stuck around to read Cameron’s accounts of the BTS of running an American watch company and hanging out with Grateful Dead legends. And the watches hold up. The watch is full of all sorts of little details that make you confident they’re made with both expertise and a long-term plan. The canvas strap has a subtle leather backing, giving you an old school look but higher comfort. And speaking of leather, the watch ships in an elegantly tooled flat leather case. Most brands send you something large and ostentatious: an embossed box or a replica of a scuba tank. Collectors' items, sure, but impractical. Weiss’ doubles as a travel case, which, while it isn’t a reason to buy the watch, demonstrates the maker’s attention to detail. If they get this right, they’ll get everything right.

The Terra Nova is obviously upmarket and priced accordingly, but it combines in-the-field functionality with classic design for a rugged beauty. I love this deep brown dial, which is field ready but looks nice enough on the wrist to wear with a suit. That may be divisive, but the Terra Nova is nice enough to pull it off. This watch is pure adventure, proven enough that they’ve got a Jimmy Chin edition—North Face mountaineer at large and director/cinematographer behind the Oscar-winning and death-defying Free Solo. Marketing stunt? Sure. But I respect that the brand is funding real expeditions instead of celebrity action heroes on greenscreens.

Generally, I like to stay below 41mm on my watch sizes. Anything bigger tends to overwhelm the wrist and feel a little too flashy. But the exception proves the rule, and sometimes, you just gotta wear a real big watch. Like spring allergies or a bad hangover, you can feel it coming upon you. When that’s in the air, I turn to the Luminox Atacama, which offsets its size with a tactical efficiency and raison d'être: namely, the bigger face equals more legibility in the field.

The Swiss-made watch is named after the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest (non-polar) desert in the world, but you can easily wear it in the office as well, tracking how long you have until your boss comes back from a long lunch. I’ve linked the automatic here, but the brand also has a slightly smaller quartz version in an all-tactical black.

I’m on the Esquire record as a Citizen fan. The Japanese brand's “Fugu” dive watch is in my weekly rotation and has caused my toddler daughter to think all watches have engraved fish on the caseback. I’m also a sucker for a green face and a steel band. Both of my weaknesses come together in the Promaster Tough, a very good watch at a very affordable price.

It’s lightweight and made from titanium, not steel (okay, I lied about the band, but it's all the look with less of the weight, so the principle holds). The crystal has a subtle magnifying effect, and the numbers are big and legible. Great for wiping mud off after a dirt track 4x4 ride or for reading after a few shots of well whiskey. If the default Citizen is a little too Emerald City for you, this recent Huckberry collab has a nicely toned down olive green face that I’ve been coveting of late. To round it all off, the watch is made with Ec0-Drive, meaning it's perpetually powered by the sun.

Vaer’s another brand poised to bring watch manufacturing back to the US, and doing it with the kind of laid-back, California cool kid style of a Bruce Brown film. The brand’s got a bunch of enviable styles (including the R1 Racing Chronograph, which I’ve hovered over the “checkout” button in my cart half a dozen times today already), but for field watches, I like the A12 Dirty Dozen.

I own the Americaquartz version, an American-sourced and assembled quartz power, but the brand makes an automatic version too. The dial is clean, simple, and classic. Best of all, the quick change straps are actually quick change, meaning that it’s easy to dress this piece up or down based on the occasion. I have spare straps for my other watches, but don’t usually bother with the effort. With Vaer, I easily swap the stock black rubber strap for a ballistic tan nylon or the dressing stainless steel jubilee bracelet. And this gets bonus points for the reference to the 1967 classic Lee Marvin movie.

Watchmakers are an impassioned crowd, hence the proliferation of micro-brands. Despite the enormous amount of resources and knowledge it takes to start a watch company, the little guy is out there. But don’t mistake these micro-brands for home-brewery equivalents. They’re more than just dads messing around in their garages brewing over-piney IPAs. I’ve been wearing microbrand Nodus’ Ti, a slim, titanium field watch that punches above its weight class. It’s got a robust, box-shaped sapphire crystal which allows the dial and hands to sit closer to the glass, resulting in clear legibility despite a slightly smaller size. And it doesn't skimp on the details: the buckle’s titanium as well.

Baltic doesn’t have the long and storied history of some of these other brands, but I’d say that’s a feature, not a bug. It’s freed the brand up to pursue a design ideation rooted in the classics, but distinctly contemporary. It started on this side of the 2000s, but has quietly made a splash in the watchmaking world for its handsome, reliable timepieces. The Hermétique Tourer Bronze has all the capabilities of a classic field watch but with an elevated design language. No surprise I like the green face version, but the beige on beige take is also striking. A field watch isn’t necessarily dressy, but the Baltic’s take is the kind of watch you could wear spearfishing and then to a Michelin-starred night out. That’s the kind of versatility I’m looking for in a timepiece.