It’s a big EDC market out there, and tons of awesome gear is released all the time. We made The Drop to help you discover the latest and greatest essentials worth a spot in your EDC.
Timex makes some of the most practical and stylish everyday carry watches on the market. And in a world flooded with aspirational watch content telling you to spend the same amount of money that can buy you a house on a watch, it’s good to know that you have other options. In particular, Timex has the Q Timex line, which refers to some of their most stylish and classic designs in decades past. Their newest release in this line is the Q Timex Three Time Zone Chronograph, a beautiful diver-style watch with immense practicality. The fact that it’s fractions of the cost of a luxury watch is just the icing on the cake.
As its name implies, the Q Timex Three Time Zone Chronograph lets you easily keep track of three different timezones. It can do this while maintaining a stylish and highly legible face with your choice between a white, black, or green dial. Large diver-style markers feature at the hours, and they, as well as the hands of the watch, have bright lume to provide excellent low-light readability to you. The first time zone available is the standard minute, hours, and seconds hand setting for your current time. A fourth 24-hour hand lets you track another time zone. And if you rotate the outer bezel, you can augment the current time to display yet another time zone on the outer edges as well.
Alternatively, you can use that outer bezel to keep track of elapsed time in hours if you move the marker to your current hour position and look at it later in the day. Adding further practical complication to the watch is the chronograph built into the highly-accurate quartz movement, letting you keep track of tasks or activities on the fly.
While this diver-style watch has a vintage influence, its 40mm case diameter has modern dimensions while still being suitable for most wrists. You can choose an integrated rubber strap or a stainless steel link bracelet for a comfortable everyday wear experience.
What we like: The striking vintage-inspired looks of the Q Timex Three Time Zone Chronograph match an extremely-accurate quartz movement and practical complications, making it a great value as an EDC watch.
What to watch out for: While the Three Time Zone has diver-style looks, it does not have the kind of water and pressure resistance that make it an actual watch you can take down to the depths. And if you prefer to use NATO/Zulu style watch bands, the integrated nature of the strap can make it difficult to wear it that way.
Final verdict: If you’re in the market for an actually-affordable yet stylish timepiece with immense practicality, the Q Timex Three Time Zone Chronograph is hard to beat for the price.