Back in 2003 when my previous watch died, I decided I wanted a watch that would really go the distance.  With my usual supreme unconcern for aesthetics, I chose the huge specimen shown on the right above, and that watch has served me very well.  Between waterproofness, shock resistance, solar battery charging, and automatically setting the time every night using something I can't recall (radio waves from Texas?), I haven't had to deal with watch issues in over a decade.

But all good things must come to an end.  The battery inside my beauty finally stopped accepting a charge a few months ago, and I decided to buy a new watch rather than a new battery.  Over the last decade, due to Mark's hard work to smooth down the edges of my type-A personality, I've stopped wearing a watch every day and instead simply use my time piece to check the hour if I wake up at night, to jerk me out of sleep once or twice a year when I can't wake at my normal pace, and to monitor how long we've been rubbing rocks when counting stream macroinvertebrates.  I do like the solar feature of my old watch since longevity is always a boon, but since I rarely take watches out in the field now, I'm willing to bypass the extreme waterproofing and shock resistance.  I'm even willing to set my watch twice a year to take care of daylight savings time the hard way.

Despite that willingness to downgrade, I put off buying a replacement watch for months.  I remember my old watch was pretty pricey (although I don't recall the exact figure), and I wasn't sure I was willing to spend so much again.  But apparently solar technology has come down considerably in the last decade.  A simple solar watch now costs under $10 even after you factor in shipping!  At that price, and with such good reviews, Mark said he wanted one too.  Here's hoping my second solar watch will last another 11 years, not just the 6 years promised by the manufacturer.