Elliot Brown Canford, £360
Elliot Brown’s watches are built for the rough and tumble of an outdoor lifestyle – this one more than most. As you can probably work out from the name, the Canford Mountain Rescue Edition is made to be tough, with design input from Mountain Rescue Engand and Wales, which gets a £36 donation from every watch sold. The smart leather strap can be switched for an included ballistic nylon one when you head for the hills. elliotbrownwatches.com
Pebble Time, £179.99
The smartwatch revolution is in full swing, and Pebble’s Time is the one we’d most like to take on holiday – lucky thing. There’s a full-colour e-paper display and a huge, seven-day battery life, which makes it perfect for trips where charging’s an issue. Use it for easy access to apps, fitness tracking and – we know, madness – telling the time. getpebble.com
Oris Diver Sixty-Five, £1,150
If you’re a proper diver – the kind who hangs around under oil rigs – Oris makes watches just for you. However, if you’re the kind of diver who likes the idea of being Jacques Cousteau but would rather keep your feet on dry land, you’ll be more interested in the brand’s Diver Sixty-Five, based on a heritage model. oris.ch
Shore Project 1, from £115
Each watch from Shore’s Project 3 range is named after a British beach, which should tell you a bit about the brand’s ethos. Models come in a variety of colours, with a rugged case designed to keep out water, and interchangable straps so you can easily switch from beach-mode to bar-mode. shoreprojects.com
Seiko Prospex, £499
The Japanese brand launched its first diver’s watch in 1965, so it knows a thing or two about keeping things ticking along underwater. The latest Prospex model takes inspiration from Seiko’s ground-breaking professional diver’s watches, with a uni-directional bezel, maximum legibility in low light levels, and easy operation when you’re wearing gloves. It’ll take you down to 200m, which should be more than enough for a quick dip in the sea at Bournemouth beach. seiko.co.uk
Suunto Essential Carbon, £500
The Finnish brand’s beautifully made and reliably clever watches are a consistent escapism favourite, and the Essential’s no different. The design takes cues from heritage pieces but it packs plenty of modern tech inside, including a barometric altimeter, dual time and storm alarm. For action-packed adventures with a bit of style. suunto.com
Swatch Sistem51, £108
We know you know Swatch – you’ve probably even owned one – but the Sistem51 is a pretty special thing, and the perfect companion for your travels. Its self-winding mechanical movement consists of only 51 parts, all held together with just one screw and hermetically sealed, which means it’s accurate, has less to go wrong and looks unique. We’ll take it in camo, because you never know when your wrist needs to go stealth. And because it looks cool, obviously – yes, we’re that fickle. swatch.com
Tissot T-Touch Expert Solar, £795
There are 20 functions in Tissot’s T-Touch Expert Solar, so if it isn’t quite prepared for everything, it’s certainly ready for most things you’ll throw at it. We love the titanium case, solar-powered quartz movement and the dual-time-zone function, but most of all we love the no-nonsense looks and tactile display. tissot.ch
Tudor North Flag, £2,500 on bracelet and £2,430 on leather
Tudor has been making functional tool watches for decades, but the polar exploration-inspired North Flag has a secret weapon – a new, self-winding movement made entirely in-house. It’s designed for high performance in extreme environments – like the pub, we presume. tudorwatch.com
Withings Activité Pop, £119.99
Withings takes a pretty sensible approach to the wearables trend, by hiding away all the clever activity tracking tech in a traditional-looking body. The Activité Pop can track you when you’re running, walking, swimming and sleeping (and auto-detects each activity), and will send all the data to your phone via Bluetooth. Clever and pretty. withings.com
When Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Everest in 1953, he was wearing a watch – a Rolex Oyster Perpetual, if we’re going to be specific. Point being: even in one of the most harsh and remote landscapes on Earth, knowing the time mattered, and it still does in 2015.
Wherever you go in the world and whatever you’re doing, there’s a watch for that – here are a few of our favourites…
