Here at The Watch Collectors’ Club, we’ve written about watches that have been to the North and South Pole, space, and in very fast cars. We are regularly inspired by the stories of human achievement and the watches that support them.

However, for many of us, these adventures are out of reach. More often than not, we tend to wear our most robust watches whilst we are on holiday (vacation). In fact, there is now a category of watches called “holiday watches”.  

What Is A Holiday Watch?

Your vacation might have lots of different activities, so the watch will need to be waterproof. You might be playing a sport, perhaps entertaining your children, so it’ll need to be bash-proof. More than anything though, holidays are a time for enjoyment. You’ll probably want your watch to be interesting and affordable, so it doesn’t matter too much if it gets broken or lost. Below, you’ll find a selection of brands and watches with great stories that are perfect holiday watches.

Yema – The Under-appreciated Explorers Watch

You might not have heard of the French watch brand Yema. It was founded in 1948 and has a history of making impressive watches for impressive people. Most notably, it made a watch for two explorers to assist them in journeys to the north and south poles. Jean-Louis Etienne wore a Yema watch in 1986 as he became the first human to travel to the North Pole alone. He completed the journey on foot, dragging a sled, and wearing a Yema Bipôle North Pole. Some watch industry commentators think that this watch was the first to be designed by Richard Mille, who worked for Yema at the time. 3 years later, Yema released a second watch, the Bipôle Duopoly, for Jean-Louis Etienne and Will Steger to wear, as they crossed Antarctica on dog sleds.

These watches have lots of useful features, that make them useful companions if you are going anywhere remote. They’ve got a waterproof Kevlar strap, so they can be worn over a coat, and they have a variety of compasses. You can find a vintage version online for a lot less than $1000. The Yema brand has recently been relaunched, and they now offer a variety of colourful watches, which are both interesting, and robust.

Mido – Colourful Diving Watches With A Twist

If you attended our diverse dials event recently, you would have heard our co-Founder Ed talk about his holiday watch – a Mido OceanStar Decompression Timer 1961. This watch is a reissue of a vintage watch, released by Mido in 1961, called the Powerwind 1000. You’ll notice that the watch has a very colourful dial. Not only does this look very summery, but it also acts as a dive computer. This computer tells the wearer how long they need to decompress at the end of the dive to avoid getting the deadly “bends”.

To use the calculator, you choose the blue, pink, yellow or green band which reflects the depth you have dived to. For example, the green band represents a dive depth of 30m or 95ft. You then need to choose the dive time and read the number in the green ring. You will see a little box within the green ring at the 35-minute marker So, if you’ve dived for 35 minutes at 30 meters, you need to decompress for 15 minutes. This is a great holiday watch, as it’s waterproof, has a dive calculator, and is both interesting to look at and relatively inexpensive.

Watch brands sometimes reissue older models, and they can be very popular with collectors, and this is a great example.

Ed's Mido Oceanstar Decompression Timer 1961

Is The Casio G-Shock The Ultimate Holiday Watch

For many people, including our CEO Hamish, the Casio G-Shock is the holiday watch against which all others are judged. The electronic module of a G-Shock is cased in rubber, so that it can withstand being dropped from great heights without breaking, or rough play with children and animals. They are also waterproof, so can be used swimming. They are made in a very wide variety of designs and colours to suit every taste, and are low-cost watches. Below you will see four of the G-Shocks that our members own and wear as holiday watches.

Many Luxury Watch Brands Are Now Making Holiday Watches

They might not call them holiday watches, but companies such as Tag Heuer and Breitling are regularly releasing watches which fit the holiday watch brief. They are easy to wear, waterproof, scratch-proof, and come in a variety of colours.

One of our members wears this Tag Heuer on all of his holidays. He particularly likes that the case is ceramic – so it doesn’t scratch and is very light.

Breitling have recently released a range called the Endurance Pro, which they market as being the “ultimate athleisure watch’. It is available in vibrant hues of blue, red, yellow and orange, has a lightweight case, and is powered by a quartz (battery powered) movement. This watch is very comfortable and could accompany you on almost any holiday.

a black grey and organe sports watch from Breitling with white numbers and hands and an orange strap

Watch enthusiasts and collectors love talking about their Holiday or Vacation watches and often bring them along to the Meetups and Events at The Watch Collectors’ Club. If you’ve got a watch you always wear while on vacation, we’d love to hear about it!