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Timex

Timex

Specifications that repeatedly beat the price, and a warranty that excludes almost everything that fails.

By Sawyer V. · Published

The short answer

Timex offers a one-year warranty that explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery, and does not name the caliber on most of its automatics. Several Timex watches nonetheless offer sapphire, titanium and 200m at prices nobody else matches.

Timex is the most contradictory brand on this site. It sells a $40 brass-cased quartz watch rated to 30m, and it also sells a 41mm titanium automatic with a sapphire crystal and a 200m rating — and it treats both with the same one-year warranty.

The ownership facts

From Timex's published warranty and product documentation.
Timex
WarrantyOne year from purchase
Warranty exclusionsCrystal, strap or band, case, attachments, battery
Published service pricesNone
Service intervalNot published
Calibers namedNo — most automatics list only "Automatic"
Crystal policyRanges from acrylic to sapphire, depending on model
Dimensions publishedYes, and thoroughly — including lug-to-lug on most references
From Timex's published warranty and product documentation.

On prices: we publish no figure we have not verified today, so every buy button reads "Check price on Amazon".

How we picked

We have not worn these watches. What follows is what we checked instead, on documents you can open yourself — the same criteria, in the same order, on every roundup on this site. The full method is on the methodology page.

  1. 01Warranty term

    The stated length, and — usually more revealing — what it excludes.

  2. 02Published service pricing

    Whether you can find out what keeping the watch costs before you buy it.

  3. 03Named calibers

    Whether the brand tells you what movement is inside, so an independent can quote.

  4. 04Crystal policy

    What the brand fits at each price, and where it saves money.

  5. 05Water resistance

    The rating, and whether a screw-down crown sits behind it.

  6. 06Parts and service network

    How obtainable parts are, and who can do the work.

Disclosure · Some links below are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not decide what goes on this page or in what order — here is exactly how that works.

Quick picks

Ranked on the Keep Score below — six published specifications, weighted identically on every page. The last row is the one we would not buy.

#WatchBest forKeep ScorePrice
1

Timex Expedition Field Post Titanium Automatic 41mm TW2Y90900

Titanium, sapphire, 200m and 65 grams — from Timex.

The specification sheet nobody expects8.0/10
Check price
2

Timex Expedition Pioneer Automatic 41mm TW2Y87400

The best specification-per-dollar on the site, with the biggest documentation gap.

Sapphire and 200m for the least money anywhere8.0/10
Check price
3

Timex Expedition Field Post Solar 36mm TW2V00400

36mm, 44.5mm lug-to-lug, sapphire, 100m and solar.

The smallest genuinely good watch here6.6/10
Check price
4

Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

An automatic under acrylic — the only crystal you can polish back to new.

A crystal you can restore yourself6.5/10
Check price
5

Q Timex GMT 38mm TW2V38000

A quartz GMT with an acrylic crystal and a battery any shop stocks.

The cheapest second time zone there is5.6/10
Check price
—

Timex Weekender 38mm T2N647

A brass case at 30m, warranted for a year, excluding almost everything that fails.

Skip this one

Nothing you intend to keep4.5/10
Check price

Keep Score is arithmetic, not opinion — six published specifications, weighted the same way on every page. The formula is on our methodology page, so you can re-run it yourself.

01

Timex Expedition Field Post Titanium Automatic 41mm TW2Y90900

Best for: The specification sheet nobody expects

8.0/10

Keep Score

Crystal
2.5/2.5
Serviceability
2.5/2.5
Water resistance
1.5/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
Check price on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · We publish no price we have not verified today

65 grams, sapphire and a 200m rating is a combination that costs considerably more from anyone else. 41mm across, 50mm lug-to-lug and 13.5mm thick.

No caliber named, so you cannot look up what a service costs, and the one-year warranty excludes the crystal, the strap and the case.

65 grams, sapphire and 200m is a spec sheet Timex has no business hitting. The one-year warranty is the reason to think about it: everything else here is covered for two to five.

Manufacturer specifications for the Timex Expedition Field Post Titanium Automatic 41mm TW2Y90900
MovementAutomatic (caliber not published by Timex)
Power reserveNot published
Case41mm titanium
Lug-to-lug50mm
Thickness13.5mm
Lug width20mm
Crystalsapphire
Water resistance200m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, TW2Y90900.

02

Timex Expedition Pioneer Automatic 41mm TW2Y87400

Best for: Sapphire and 200m for the least money anywhere

8.0/10

Keep Score

Crystal
2.5/2.5
Serviceability
2.5/2.5
Water resistance
1.5/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
Check price on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · We publish no price we have not verified today

Sapphire, 200m and an automatic on a steel bracelet, at a price where Seiko is still fitting Hardlex and rating to 100m.

And no movement named anywhere on the page. On a mechanical watch bought to keep, that is the central question left unanswered. 166 grams on the bracelet, 48mm lug-to-lug.

Sapphire and 200m for the money is real. What Timex does not publish is the caliber — which means you cannot look up what an overhaul costs before you buy, and that is exactly the number this site exists to check.

Manufacturer specifications for the Timex Expedition Pioneer Automatic 41mm TW2Y87400
MovementAutomatic (caliber not published by Timex)
Power reserveNot published
Case41mm stainless steel
Lug-to-lug48mm
Thickness14mm
Lug width20mm
Crystalsapphire
Water resistance200m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, TW2Y87400.

03

Timex Expedition Field Post Solar 36mm TW2V00400

Best for: The smallest genuinely good watch here

6.6/10

Keep Score

Crystal
2.5/2.5
Serviceability
1.4/2.5
Water resistance
1.1/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
Check price on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · We publish no price we have not verified today

36mm and 44.5mm lug-to-lug is properly small, and sapphire with 100m and solar charging means nothing to wind and no battery to change.

The 18mm lug width suits the proportions, and there is no movement to service — which makes the warranty exclusions matter much less here than on the automatics.

The smallest genuinely good watch here. Sapphire, solar, 100m and 44.5mm across the lugs — if you have a small wrist and want to stop thinking about batteries, start here.

Manufacturer specifications for the Timex Expedition Field Post Solar 36mm TW2V00400
MovementSolar-charged quartz analog
Power reserveNot applicable
Case36mm stainless steel, ip black
Lug-to-lug44.5mm
Thickness12mm
Lug width18mm
Crystalsapphire
Water resistance100m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, TW2V00400.

04

Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

Best for: A crystal you can restore yourself

6.5/10

Keep Score

Crystal
1.8/2.5
Serviceability
2.5/2.5
Water resistance
0.6/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
Check price on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · We publish no price we have not verified today

Acrylic scratches within a week and every mark polishes out with a cloth and a few dollars of paste, indefinitely. On a forty-year horizon that is a genuine advantage over sapphire, which cannot be polished at all.

40mm, 13mm thick, 50m, 20mm lugs, and no caliber named.

Acrylic reads as a downgrade and mostly is not: it scratches easily and polishes out with a cloth and a tube of paste, which sapphire does not. On a watch you intend to keep for decades, that is a feature.

Manufacturer specifications for the Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600
MovementAutomatic (caliber not published by Timex)
Power reserveNot published
Case40mm stainless steel
Lug-to-lugNot published
Thickness13mm
Lug width20mm
Crystalacrylic
Water resistance50m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, TW2V44600.

05

Q Timex GMT 38mm TW2V38000

Best for: The cheapest second time zone there is

5.6/10

Keep Score

Crystal
1.8/2.5
Serviceability
1.6/2.5
Water resistance
0.6/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
Check price on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · We publish no price we have not verified today

38mm, steel, an 18mm lug width, and an SR920SW battery that costs almost nothing to change. If the second time zone is the point rather than the mechanism, this does the job.

50m and a one-year warranty excluding the crystal, strap and case. At this price, acceptable limits.

A quartz GMT at 38mm, with an acrylic crystal you can polish and a battery any shop can change. It is not built like the mechanical GMTs on this site, but nothing about it is expensive to keep running.

Manufacturer specifications for the Q Timex GMT 38mm TW2V38000
MovementQuartz analog, SR920SW battery
Power reserveNot applicable
Case38mm stainless steel
Lug-to-lugNot published
Thickness12.5mm
Lug width18mm
Crystalacrylic
Water resistance50m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, TW2V38000.

Skip this one

Timex Weekender 38mm T2N647

Best for: Nothing you intend to keep

4.5/10

Keep Score

Crystal
1/2.5
Serviceability
1.6/2.5
Water resistance
0.3/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
Check price on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · We publish no price we have not verified today

The Weekender is the most recommended cheap watch on the internet and, as a strap-swapping toy for very little money, it is genuinely good fun.

Timex lists the case as brass and LLB, the crystal as mineral and the rating as 30m — rain and hand-washing. The one-year warranty excludes the crystal, the strap, the case and the battery, which is to say almost everything that breaks.

Buy it knowing what it is. Every other watch on this page beats it on at least three criteria, and the Field Post Solar above beats it on all six.

A brass case at 30m, with a warranty that excludes the crystal, the strap, the case and the battery — which is to say almost everything that fails. Buy it as a strap-swapping toy, not as a watch to keep.

Manufacturer specifications for the Timex Weekender 38mm T2N647
MovementQuartz analog, CR2016 battery
Power reserveNot applicable
Case38mm brass and llb
Lug-to-lugNot published
ThicknessNot published
Lug width20mm
Crystalmineral
Water resistance30m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, T2N647.

Are Timex watches reliable?

The quartz and solar watches are straightforwardly so — there is very little to go wrong, and the Field Post Solar in particular is a genuinely well-specified watch with nothing to maintain.

The automatics are a different question, and it is not about build quality. It is that Timex will not tell you what is inside them. Without a caliber name you cannot find out what a service costs, whether an independent will take the job, or whether parts will exist in fifteen years — and those are the three questions that decide whether a mechanical watch is worth keeping.

Do Timex watches last?

It depends entirely which one. A 36mm solar field watch with a sapphire crystal and 100m has almost nothing that can fail, and will very likely be running in twenty years. A brass-cased 30m quartz watch with a mineral crystal will not, and was never designed to be.

The brand covers both extremes with the same one-year warranty, so the warranty tells you nothing. The specification sheet — which Timex publishes unusually thoroughly, including lug-to-lug figures most brands omit — tells you everything.

What Timex does better than anyone here

  1. Publishes complete dimensions. Case diameter, lug-to-lug, height, weight and band width on most references — better documentation than Citizen or Hamilton manage.
  2. Fits acrylic on purpose. The Marlin and Q lines use acrylic, which is the only crystal an owner can restore themselves. It is a genuine long-term advantage dressed as a budget compromise.
  3. Sells specifications nobody else does at the price. Titanium, sapphire and 200m for the money is not available from any other brand on this site.

Questions people actually ask

Are Timex watches reliable?

The quartz and solar models are — there is little to go wrong. The automatics are harder to assess because Timex does not name the caliber, which means you cannot find out what a service costs or whether parts will be available.

How long is the Timex warranty?

One year from the original purchase date, and it explicitly does not cover the crystal, the strap or band, the case, attachments or the battery. Timex states it may charge for replacing any of those.

Do Timex watches last?

It depends which. A solar Expedition with sapphire and 100m has very little that can fail. A brass-cased 30m quartz watch with a mineral crystal was not designed to be kept. The same one-year warranty covers both, so read the specification sheet instead.

Are Timex watches worth it?

The Expedition automatics offer sapphire, titanium and 200m at prices nobody else matches, which is genuinely remarkable. What you accept is a one-year warranty with wide exclusions and an unnamed movement.

Is an acrylic crystal a downside?

Less than it sounds. Acrylic scratches immediately and polishes back to new with a cloth and paste, for a few dollars, forever — which sapphire cannot do at all. For a watch you intend to maintain yourself for decades it is a real advantage.

Sources

Every specification and figure on this page came from one of these documents. Where a manufacturer does not publish something, the page says so rather than filling the gap.

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