Men's Expedition North Field Solar 36mm Watch - Brown Strap Black Dial Stainless Steel Case

I purchased this 36mm Expedition North Solar Field watch about one month ago, for roughly $150, and I couldn't be more impressed. When I took it out of the box the first week of January, it had no charge...because it was in a dark box in freezing temperatures. No problem, I shined light from a regular 500 lumen rechargeable flashlight on the watch face and the second hand started to move, erratically at first, but within a minute it was moving normally. I set up the flashlight 3 inches from the watch face and left it on for 3 hours, and it has been keeping perfect time ever since. I do physical labor and this watch looks just as good as it did when I got it a month ago. The low profile keeps you from banging the watch on everything you walk past, or reach for, and the black watch face contrasting with the white numbers and near white dials, makes it very easy to tell the time at night. Also, in the past I had owned quite a few expensive watches, however, my last watch was a Timex Indiglo that I put a Shell Cordovan band on, and the real leather band that comes with this watch is more comfortable than the shell cordovan. I only own 1 watch and wear my watch continuously, only taking it off when I shower, so I feel after a month I have a pretty good read on what this watch is. It is a very tough, reliable, and comfortable watch that I will be wearing for many years to come. In my opinion, the best value for a field watch on the market.

I am very happy with this purchase. I think the watch looks better in person than it does in photos. One note to buyers: I recommend unscrewing the crown and setting the time before placing it in a window or under a lamp to charge. It didn't take a charge at all until I did this, but once I did it immediately started to come to life. For some reason unscrewing the crown and moving the hands and screwing the crown down again seems to activate it.

Update: I went ahead and bought this watch again. Like many other Timex watches I’ve had in the past, the first one was faulty but I decided to roll the dice again. I needed a beater solar watch for when I go hiking, camping, etc. There are several options out there—Vaer, Casio, Citizen. I liked the look of Vaer, but their solar offerings are overpriced, IMO. The Citizen watches priced similarly to this Timex are too big and don’t offer sapphire. Casio’s analog watches have the same issue. There is their Edifice watch, but I don’t like integrated bracelets. So Timex it is again. 36mm, sapphire, solar powered, 100m water resistant, a field watch, it has what I'm looking for. And this second time around, it's been good so far— it's been reliable and accurate. So, it’s the luck of the draw with these watches. It’s one of the more attractive Timex watches, too. If I hadn't had a prior bad experience with this watch, I would give it 5 stars. But due to the inconsistency in quality, I can’t rate it higher than 3 stars. Original review: I wanted to add a solar powered watch to my collection. So, after some research, I decided to buy this one. It had great specs—sapphire crystal, 100m water resistance, solar powered (of course), looked good in pictures. A perfect grab-and-go-anywhere watch. It was love at first sight when I got this watch; It was seeming like a great bang-for-buck product… That is, until I looked at it as a timekeeping device—its primary purpose. I compared it to my other watches and noticed it was 4 seconds behind. I thought maybe I had set the time wrong, so I corrected it. A few days passed, and again it was several seconds behind. I repeated this process a few more times, same results. So here’s the problem: this watch doesn’t keep good time. More specifically… This QUARTZ watch doesn’t keep good time. Derided by watch collectors as having no soul, accuracy is a quartz watch’s most redeeming quality. It may lack soul, but you can’t say it doesn’t excel at timekeeping; it wipes the floor with mechanical watches in that department. But this quartz watch doesn’t do that. At least the one I got didn’t do that; your results may vary. But this is the third Timex in a row that I’ve bought that cost over $100 that had some kind of major defect… Three times in a row.. I can’t rationalize buying a Timex anymore. At least not at the higher price range. Luckily, Amazon has a good return policy.

I had a smart watch from a well known brand. It was irritating me so much that I had to charge it daily. I thought, wouldn't it be great if the watch was solar charged. After a quick search I found out it was a thing and after doing some research I decided on this marvelous creature. Being familiar with Timex mad eme comfortable right away. The eco friendliness of the product got my attention as did the compact size. The water resistance rating means I can wear it while kayaking without worry. It has 24 hour clock markings on it which help with my job. The one single thing I do not like about this watch is the lack of the date.

This a beautiful watch and the 36mm size was perfect; I was impressed with the styling and finish, including the non-leather band—that was most impressive. However, the unit I received had zero battery life and failed to charge properly, despite leaving it on a window sill for 3 days. It arrived in November, when the day light is shorter, but I think it should have charged with that much exposure. On day two, it did charge enough to leave low power mode (second hand skips every two seconds) but despite leaving it on the window sill until the next day, it slipped back into low power mode. What a pity. At that point I gave up and returned the watch for a refund. I would have asked for a replacement, but by that time I could see the lume was inadequate. I get that the solar face precludes adding Indiglo, but they should have realized that and made the lume much stronger. I hope Timex keeps making 36mm watches and keeps improving this line because I’ll take another look in the future.

*Ordered the watch as a daily beater* Absolutely love the black dial with orange accented indices. Sapphire crystal is a bit reflective as expected but it is much less reflective to the eye compared to my phone camera shots. In my macro pic I held a dark box over it so you can see the difference between the white ceiling and dark back drop. When setting the time, the second hand moves about 0.5mm with the direction I am rotating the crown making it a bit harder to be really precise. The leather strap is supple and really comfortable. I managed to fit an old Seiko bracelet on it and I feel it elevates it a bit more. But I'm happy with the leather strap and will be swapping them out every now and then. I ordered the Timex tw2v03600 together with this one and the second hand also moves with the crown as you set the time, so I don't think I have a lemon. All in all I love the watch and it has been in my daily rotation for the past 5.5 months.

I have several timex watches that just plain work without fail. This is my first Timex solar. Weirdly it works when it's NOT on my wrist. Put it on and it will stop at some point and require resetting. This will occur within a 12 hr time period. It makes me think certain motions will cause it to seize and stop. I consider myself an active person and cannot trust this watch to keep time. I'm beyond return period. Very disappointed and not recommended

Timex rectified the gripe I had with other Expedition North watches with this model, the sapphire crystal has good AR coating on it. Couple that with the easy-to-read dial and a robust solar movement (made by SeikoEpson) and this watch is a great choice for an modest priced rugged field watch. The strap is "meh" at best but outside of that it's one of the best field watches out there for the price asked.