A Timex Expedition Tradition (Timex Expedition T43892)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Timex Expedition T43892
Date:	23/07/09 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Indiglo feature, good clarity, 50m water resistant, comfortable to wear

Disadvantages: Changing prices, availability, 31 date has to be changed. Leather accents unstitch easily.

When I grew up in the early 1980's most of my friends didn't own a watch let alone be able to tell the time properly until they were 10 years old! My Gran had taught me how to read the time when I was 7 and from then up until I was 14 embarrassingly wore a red Timex Snoopy watch largely because watches were given as gifts and were something to be taken care of. When the late 1980's exploded with the Swatch fashions I owned two of their fabulous designs although it's a great pity that the major cities don't have exclusive Swatch watch shops anymore although Rosebud2001 firmly assures me there's a shop in Edinburgh - Yippee!! Whilst I'm the more modern Timex fan, my family are fans of Seiko and Sekonda that in my mind are the more expensive brands that tend to last longer.


Thanks to price changes these days you can now pick up a reasonably well-designed watch for less than £20 and that was something that was unheard of when I was growing up! As the components and the designs get cheaper or newer brands appear every year I've been very impressed with the features of Timex Expedition watches but could never find ones that were priced below £30. The T43892 model in particular can be hard to find and some prices at private jewellers have this watch priced at £15-95 so it does pay to shop around. Later around 2003 I discovered that Argos sold them and at cheaper prices too, particularly in their sale clearances.


The Timex Expedition T43892 is understated in its design but all the same by its analogue quartz watch function also has the handy nightglow "Indiglo" function that shows up the whole dial in luminous green when needed. It usually costs £19-95 from Argos (Amazon sell it for £24-95 now, unbelievably) and the watch is seldom available to view on the Argos website but rather appears more frequently at the shops throughout the year. This is my second T43892 in five years and for the price I'm happy to continue with the Expedition range for several reasons not just cost; when I was a student my parents bought me a rather expensive Timex Expedition that cost £35 and got stolen but I have been a fan of the sub-brand from Timex.


I prefer the analogue style clock when it comes to watches and clocks in general and the modern feature of Indiglo is just a great advantage to have over the clarity of the dials and sizing. Both small and large hands are very clear, black in colour and contrast to the white background whilst the numbers are also very easy to see from a distance. Both hands have luminous inserts and white numbers on a small black background shows the date. Sadly for the price this means the Timex will reach 31 on every month but it is reasonably easy to pull out the single side stopper that has two notches respectively (one to change the time, one to change the date.) to change the right date. The minute hand is however extremely quiet and when the watch is not on me, it doesn't have that loud a tick. On the bezel it has flat glass and a slight ribbed coating on either side of its main black frame. If this is supposed to offer some protection it doesn't really work well although it can grip clothing well such as shirts or sweaters when the watch is worn. Generally I find the T43892 is very comfortable to wear and easy to read at a glance.


Another reason for choosing Expedition is the strap design. In my experience thin wrists and watch straps generally don't last, particularly plastic or leather and my wrist measures 7 inches/18cm. Here the tough nylon material strap is very flexible and easy to wash when it gets dirty. A bonus to the strap is that it does have an extra leather loop where you naturally place the last of the buckle strap to keep everything together and the buckle is made of strong metal that doesn't bend or break easily. Although primarily black in design there are further tan leather accents to bolster the design lending a rather rugged and masculine look added with the "Expedition," name tag; sadly in less than a year they started to unstitch before I ripped them off as it gave the strap a rather tatty appearance. It is a very thin watch and isn't at all bulky which is one of the considerations I always look for in a watch if I know it is going to be subjected to many pursuits. Run by a single Lithium watch battery, both my Timex Expedition's run for a year to two years at most and the batteries only cost a few pounds depending on where you go.


Long term this is a great watch to depend on even though my first one suffered an early fault of not being able to sustain running hot water. Although it states easily that it has water proof characteristics of up to 50 metres depth/165 feet, the watch can stop working when it is subjected to hot water but with lukewarm or cold water near it, the Timex T43782 does rather well at protection but could be better if its own protection design was slightly better made. If it is priced at above £25 it is far too expensive to consider, particularly for the limited features it offers but if it pops up at Argos again I'll definitely consider another Expedition to keep on the Timex Tradition in our family or perhaps a Swatch! Thanks for reading. ©Nar2 2009

More images can be seen here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timex-Expedition-Camper-S trap T43892/dp/B0000TIIUK/ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&s=watch &qid=1246960481&sr=1-1

Summary: A reasonable watch that won't need much maintenance; clear and easy to depend on.