Timex Expedition WS4

The new Timex Expedition WS4 watch will soon be available in the United States and on some of the overseas markets.

Although looking quite large on a wrist, the Timex Expedition WS4 is bulky, but not monstrous. According to specs, its boxy case is just 50mm wide and 40mm high, making it a little bit larger than an average box of matches and a tad smaller than Linde Werdelin’s new Land Instrument II (aka The Rock). Well, the Rock is certainly a more technically advanced device, but at a price of just $199, the Expedition WS4 is also six times more affordable.

For such a humble price, you will get a great number of gizmos, including an electronic altimeter, barometer, compass, and a 100-hour chronograph with a 1/100-second resolution up to one hour. An interface for a GPS tracking device would be a good thing, too, but you can’t get everything in such a cheap instrument, can you?

My favorite toy in this kind of gadgets, the altimeter, works in the range between -399 and 8997 meters (well, the Everest is too high for it, but you’ll need real professional gear to climb on top of the mountain, anyway), tracks current, highest, as well as accumulated altitude and it even has an altitude alarm making sure that you won’t die of hypoxia.

Of course, you can set the watch to display all the info in either metric or U.S. customary units.

Timex Expedition WS4 watch’s specification:

Price range: $199
Movement: N/A
Functions: Chronograph, time/date, compass, altimeter, barometer
Power reserve: N/A
Case material: Composite with a stainless steel bezel
Case dimensions: 50 mm x 40 mm
Case height: N/A
Display: Widescreen, 38 mm x 25 mm
Total weight: 90 grams
Water resistance: 50 m
Strap: Black / yellow / orange / white / blue / black rubber strap (depending on color of the case) OR an expandable fabric strap
Crystal: N/A