Our Recommended Merchants To Buy Swiss Made Sailing Watches

As with most Swiss watches, sailing watches offer their owners a wealth of functions and features to explore and admire. This timepiece, used traditionally for sailors and yachtsmen, is a great addition to any collector’s assortment of watches.

When looking for a good Swiss sailing watch, one should bear certain things in mind. If you are a sailor (or a collector with particular tastes for authenticity) then you would be wise to pick a watch that has a digital compass, a tide graph, and a barometer. These items are essential for all sailors and yachtsmen. You should also look out for watches that have thermometers as well.

For the yachting enthusiast, a sailing racing watch complete with a timer is ideal for recording race times and tide function. However, there are many other aspects that you might want to consider when purchasing a Swiss sailing watch.

A good sailing watch will have an easy to read dial, as this is essential in yachting, especially if you need to read the dial through sea water or river spray. In addition to this, you may want a watch with a moon data function, a long battery life (some of the better watches can last up to 18 months), and a backlight function (which will enable you to read the watch in dark conditions).

But which of the many Swiss brands are the best when it comes to buying a sailing watch? Well, as always, Breitling, Rolex, and Tag Heuer sweep the board in terms of quality and intelligent design. In terms of functionality, Tissot T watches will give you the best value for your money.

Best Swiss Sailing Watches

Rolex
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master is my top choice when it comes to buying a sailing watch. This self-winding timepiece has a Cyclops lens, a sapphire crystal, and is sporty but elegant. However, they come in pricey at around $20,000. The Rolex brand is now so popular that the company’s ambassadors include top yachtsman Paul Cayard.

Breitling
Breitling do a great sailing watch as well, which is called the Colt Oceane. However, it should be noted that this is a ladies sailing competition watch. Waterproof up to 1,650 feet and glare-proofed on both sides, the Colt Oceane is an ideal choice for those who enjoy boating.

For the male buyer, Breitling do a very nice sailing watch in the form of the Chrono Superocean (which is also used as a dive watch. This well-made chronograph is renowned for its impermeable structure and is equipped with safety push-pieces, which ensure enhanced water resistance and give effective protection against shocks.

Tag Heuer
My third choice would be the Tag Heuer Yacht watch (Link Searacer). This attractive watch retails for around $3,000 and is a testament to functional design and solid craftsmanship.

The watch has been developed by Tag Heuer in conjunction with such great names in sailing as Chris Dickson and Pierre Fehlmann. Amongst other things, it has the unique feature of being able to recalibrate the countdown 1 minute before departure.

This function, which is exclusive to Tag Heuer, allows the skipper to re-adjust the watch once more in line with the official procedure, which is announced by the committee boat. This helps the boat to get off to the best possible start.

Tack & Gybe
This Swiss brand TNG (Tack and Gybe) is infamous for making one of the best regatta watches in the world - the Tornado Mk II. This fantastic watch features a count-down function - with both visual and acoustic function. In addition to this, they have faultless precision and are very durable. You can pick one up for around $800.

Tissot
Finally, I would like to urge you to look at what Tissot T-Touch has to offer too in their T-series. It is equipped with a digital compass, a tide graph, and a barometer etc.

There are many reasons to buy a sailing watch, but only one reason to buy a Swiss one: if you want top quality. Swiss sailing watches are intelligently designed, robust, yet handsome in appearance. In fact, they are an all-round great buy.