# Prepared Time Pieces



## tinker (Jun 19, 2013)

After the SHTF what do you plan on strapping on your wrist? I have several basic requirements; must be rechargeable, must have metal straps, must be water proof to 100m, and must be functional at night. Rechargeable means it winds itself up or charges itself without you having to remember. 100M is deep but will ensure that a light immersion will not kill it. Functional at night means you can tell time at a glance. For me Casio solar atomic. 

What are your picks and why?


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

When it's light it's time to get up and when it's dark it's time to go to bed. I don't think that having or not having a watch is going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I will be using the sun. I don't plan on being overly social.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

On the farm the only reason to keep track of the "time" is so you know when the stores close Time keeping can be useful for coordinating with other people or for measuring many things. Pressure canning by the sun could be tricky

That being said I have no plans to start wearing a watch, destroyed too many in my time, maybe keep one in my pocket from time to time. Lots of clocks though, including an old little windup travel alarm clock. 

Somewhere I have charts with the equinoxes and sunrise/sunset etc. for setting a clock, really should print that off and have it around where I can find it.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Wind-up alarm clock next to bed. That is all.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I stopped wearing watches around 1995, I always had a bad rash on my left wrist where the watch would sit. Since then, I have practiced my "telling-time by the sun" skills and I can bet just about anyone that I can tell them the time and be within 15 minutes of the real-time. Most of the time, I am within 9 minutes.

My internal timer is very good - even to the point of planning out meals - I can put food on the stove, in the oven and everything and have it all come out at the same moment and all hot and ready to eat.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

I suppose accurate time would matter in the PAW, if you were planning a battle, IE we will start firing on the attackers at 03:45, other wise I don't see much importance in keeping account of it, most trade will be barter and most communication will be live.


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

I wear a watch pretty much all the time. That may change once i dont have to get up to an alarm clock... Anyway, Casio g-shock solar. Ive burned through many watches, but this one has lasted several years.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I could see wearing a watch if you're some distance from home and you want to be back home before it gets dark. In a post collapse world you don't want to walking at night carrying a flashlight. People will see you long before you see them. You could always go to Wal-Mart. Buy a cheap watch. Buy some extra batteries and you should be good for a long time. Or you could get some type of self-winding watch too.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Sand egg timer, hourglass and a sundial. Done.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I have a wind up wrist and pocket watch. I was looking just yesterday and some more wind up watches for others. I would like to have a very high quality wind up time piece for in the house.


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## RoseAlba (Aug 8, 2013)

I've always worn a wind-up wrist watch because for some reason I zap the ones with batteries in less than a month or two. I also have a wind-up alarm clock that I always use as back up to my iPhone for waking up. And I must have about 10 wind-up food timers around here. I've been looking at a solar watch for my husband but he says no, he can use his fathers wind-up pocket watch which still works very well.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

LincTex said:


> Wind-up alarm clock next to bed. That is all.


I have an internal clock that won't let me sleep past 6:30 am, regardless of what time I go to bed.


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## Jerry D Young (Jan 28, 2009)

I had a hard lesson spanked into me when I was 6 years old. You do not make people wait for you. If you said you'd be somewhere at a certain time, you'd better be there, or there'd better be an Act of God that prevented it.

Time in the PAW will be precious. Every minute can count when you basically only have from sun up to sun down to work without burning a lot of energy on lighting. And the same thing goes for dealing with other people. Be on time, get things done, and go on to something else. No 'I'll be there about noonish' stuff. I'm pretty sure I won't be dealing with anyone that can't make an on-time appointment. It is why there was such a drive to develop effective personal watches.

So, my minimum situation is a self-winding watch with leather or polymer band; subdued case submersible to 10 meters; black dial with luminescent markings and date indicator. Reset occasionally to either local sunrise or local noon. And a couple of identical back ups.

Ideally, I'd have a sundial clock and calendar in the yard, an 8-day windup grandfather clock with moon phase, an 8-day mantel clock, several windup alarm clocks, a couple of small solar powered digital clocks, 2 windup pocket watches, plus the self-winding wrist watches.

Just my opinion.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

I wear a casio pathfinder solar. I'm thinking of getting an automatic ( just give it some light shakes to wind it). I already have two windup clocks for in the house I found at walmart years back.

I would like to know how all these folks are going to time their canning also but I guess they'll just joke about that too ( good luck with that).



so I guess all the folks who could care less what time it'll be would also not give a hoot about calendars then either huh?

I have enough calendars printed out for the next 25 years. found a web site where you can do that


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Jerry D Young said:


> a couple of small solar powered digital clocks,


Oh yeah, I forgot I had a small battery operated digital travel alarm clock. I haven't used it in years, but I am pretty it still would work. I can recharge batteries with solar power.


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## Idaholady (Apr 24, 2010)

It will be the least of my worries; surviving will come first. If I can tell where the sun is during the day, I know what needs to be done before dark. 

I'll make a sun dial if I'm really insistent on needing to know if it is time for lunch and dinner....otherwise, I will listen to my stomach or eat when I get hungry....as for meeting up with friends, forget it...I don't plan to leave my BOL...... don't expect any welcome visitors either....


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## k0xxx (Oct 27, 2011)

I have numerous wind up watches in both wrist and pocket versions also, but my daily use watch is an Invicta 0420. It's self winding and good to 200m (I just hope that I'm not with it, if it ever gets there). The wind ups are good back up, and I figure may be decent barter items. They're cheap at yard sales and eBay.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Genevieve said:


> I wear a casio pathfinder solar. I'm thinking of getting an automatic ( just give it some light shakes to wind it). I already have two windup clocks for in the house I found at walmart years back.
> 
> I would like to know how all these folks are going to time their canning also but I guess they'll just joke about that too ( good luck with that).
> 
> ...


As for canning- that's what an hourglass is for or a few cheap windup timers.


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## tinker (Jun 19, 2013)

Telling time or measuring time within a day is important to me. People stopped wearing watches as most people carried cellphones that would stay accurate while connected to the cell towers. If the towers stop working and you can't see through clouds then what do you do? What
About at night?

Wind ups are nice. So, are kinetic watches or solar. One works when you move the other will charge itself if exposed to light. My g-shock has lasted me a decade. Oh, I have broken my share of wrist watches bumping into doorways, working, or just horsing around. All I do is rinse it off and let light hit it. No battery change in ten years! 

I have taken it to 100 feet underwater. I will pass on 300 feet too. 

If you sweat like I do, rinse your watch at night and those rashes stop. I also rotate watches. Rubber straps break with time and make mor e rashes, IMHO.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

tinker said:


> Telling time or measuring time within a day is important to me. People stopped wearing watches as most people carried cellphones that would stay accurate while connected to the cell towers. If the towers stop working and you can't see through clouds then what do you do? What
> About at night?


I agree that telling time within the day can be useful for many people, particularly when coordinating with others. Wristwatches haven't even been around for 100 years though, pocket watches were around before that but nowhere near the majority of people wore them. Many people never wore a watch before the advent of cellphones but they certainly replaced them for the majority that had been.

Currently I am not carrying a cell phone or a watch, I have no clock in the machine I am operating and it makes no difference to me. I go out to work and stop at lunch or when I'm hungry, if you are outside all day the time is pretty obvious whether it is cloudy or not. Sunrise, sunset, noon etc all make a lot more sense to someone working outside of conventional society than the ridiculous base60 conglomeration of hours and seconds we are saddled with.



Genevieve said:


> so I guess all the folks who could care less what time it'll be would also not give a hoot about calendars then either huh?


To be honest I could care less about the current iteration of calendar we are using, it makes no difference to me whether it is August or September:dunno: Going by the calendar for weather is foolhardy at best, I know people who insist on gardening or farming by the calendar so I know better. Yes we use certain dates but those are in relation to the position of the sun rather than which particular division of our mess of a calendar they fall within. We do have the last big calendar switch to thank for having two Christmases in our area/family though

To me days and years and their natural divisions such as noon, midnight, equinoxes, etc. are a natural important part of the world and cannot be dismissed whereas the current time/calendar system is only useful because it is a standard that is communicable to others.


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## AgentFlounder (Dec 12, 2008)

I've been a fan of automatic watches for a long time. Haven't always worn one but that'd be my go to in rough times. In a short term disaster scenario I would think the sun would be good enough. How did the Romans, Greeks, and myriad other civilizations ever survive without watches, anyway??


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## Texas (May 14, 2013)

I am not really materialistic, ok maybe a little. Like when my wife says "why do you need a new RCBS press when the old one still works fine". Oh well back to the topic. I will have a few outdated MRE's waiting on some starving "yuppie" who only has a Rolex to trade. Just because I always wanted one but spent extra money on food, ammo, solar panels and all the other stuff. More than likely will still be wearing the Timex I got at Wally World. When and if SHTF then it will be if the sun is up time to work, sun down gaurd duty or sleep.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Shucks. TEOTWAWKI I don't think anyone will be making a dinner date for 6:30 PM sharp.

Group A. Take out the Sentry.

Group B. When you see the Sentry go down start moving in.

Group C. When you see Group B moving you drop the tree to prevent motorized reinforcements and provide security.

Groups A & B. When you see their main HQ on fire start your withdrawal.

Group C. When you see their main HQ on fire do a twenty count and start your withdrawal.

Groups A, B & C rendezvous at the local Dairy Queen for a ice cream cone and celebration dance. Don't need no stinking watch.


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## Jerry D Young (Jan 28, 2009)

AgentFlounder said:


> I've been a fan of automatic watches for a long time. Haven't always worn one but that'd be my go to in rough times. In a short term disaster scenario I would think the sun would be good enough. How did the Romans, Greeks, and myriad other civilizations ever survive without watches, anyway??


People that needed fairly precise times learned to read the sun, or had someone that could, plus sundials were numerous, and then water clocks began to be installed in facilities that needed the most accurate time over 2,000 years ago.

Accurate time keeping has been a goal of humankind for centuries. I don't plan on giving up the abilities, skills, techniques, technologies, and devices created to achieve that goal. I see no need to regress several thousand years in how to tell time.

Just my opinion.


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

I still have a wind up Hamilton that was made in USA way back. Also have a handful of Timex windups from the Vietnam era. I wear a Swiss made one my kids gave me years ago and it will not wear out. The thing is nearly twenty years old and it still has the original band. GB


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## Foreverautumn (Oct 25, 2010)

I currently have a Relic watch, but I'm still looking for a good wind-up!


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

http://www.crossboweducation.com/sand_timers1.htm


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