Most Worn Watch of 2025

For the watch geeks…(snobs won’t like this…)

Very cool watch (not mine) by Luiz Neto vi Unsplash.

2025 has been an interesting year in a lot of ways. I have had some interesting changes to my life, which I will cover in another upload. But one of the interesting things I can talk about is my continuing watch obsession.

I started out 2025 with my most worn watch being none other than an Apple Watch series 9.

Author’s own wrist.

This was my day to day watch. I wore this for work, shoveling snow, and life in general. But for special occasions, I would wear my Seiko diver’s watch.

Author’s own wrist.

This is the Seiko SNE549, a Prospex (“Pro Specs”) Diver’s Watch from Seiko. It’s solar, and has 200 meters or water resistance, a screw down crown, and a very sturdy, chunky, nearly 13mm height (43.5 mm circumference/ 50mm lug length/ 20mm lug width). These specs put it just on the almost too big side for me. And it had a heavy steel bracelet that would dig into my pronounced wrist bones.

When it was getting too heavy, I would switch to this beauty — the Timex Weekender.

Author’s own wrist

This is the 38mm Timex Weekender, with a cream dial on an olive Nato. This is the quintessential ‘takes a licking and keeps on ticking’ quartz Timex watch. When the weather warmed up I put this on a tan leather strap and it was the perfect watch for a navy polo and grey shorts at the dinner table.

The Weekender isn’t perfect. It has a shiny brass case and a loud tick (which I liked but drove my wife crazy). But it’s a great alternative to the Seiko.

Nevertheless, for most of the hot weather, from the beach in Florida in April to the beach in Delaware in August, the Seiko diver was on my wrist. Ironically, the hot weather made it easier to wear the steel bracelet.

By this time, the Apple Watch had been completely phased out, not even getting wrist time at the gym. And when I needed a watch that would serve as an early morning watch to go on long walks, and it got a little too cold for the Seiko to be comfortable, I gravitated toward one of my favorite watches, my Timex x J Crew Military Watch.

J Crew Timex Military watch, from Whiskey & Watches

This is the 36mm Timex, WW2 inspired field watch from a J Crew collab. My wife bought this for me when it came out in 2010-ish. Keeping it on the included Nato is a great watch to throw on and keep under the cuff, but at 36mm, this is tiny on my wrist and even hard to read.

But the overall aesthetic of this watch was great — black dial, black (non-leather) strap, military-inspired, tool watch, good for any situation. Did I mention black on black?

So, I kept my eyes open for a watch like this. Actually, during the summer, I tried on that I really liked.

Author’s own wrist.

This is the Shinola Duck. It’s 40mm, which is the sweet spot for me — not as tiny as the field watch, not as bulky as the Seiko. Slim and low profile, sapphire crystal, all brushed with no polished surfaces, and on a very comfortable silicone strap, so perfect for almost any occasion.

Silicon Strap

And it’s assembled in Detroit. As someone who has an affinity for things made in America, this watch being assembled in a factory in Detroit with Swiss parts made me really love this watch.

And did I mention the black on black aesthetic? You know my favorite color, right?

So I tried that one on in August at the beach, but didn’t pull the trigger. And as a few months rolled by, my daughter and I found an old specimen in the garage (while looking for a flip phone for her to satisfy her Y2K fascination).

This my friends is a Fossil cuff watch from circa 2003. They were probably the coolest watches you could get in your mid-20s. But I gave my daughter the cuff and added a more traditional watch band. Voila.

So this was a fun little detour and trip down memory lane. I even changed the battery myself.

But on Black Friday, I pulled the trigger on what will no-doubt be my forever watch.

Yes, picked up the black on black, matted-out, made in America, tool watch. This will be my every day watch going forward. Yes it’s a quartz like my other ones. To be honest, I don’t care about that at all. I have no desire to have a mechanical movement that needs constant attention.

I do need something with a silicone strap. It’s rare that I wear anything that would require a steel bracelet or leather strap. And people wear the silicone Apple Watch strap without a second thought.

So now there is equilibrium in the world. Christmas came early for this watch geek.

Tell me what you think. Watch snobs, be nice.