This watch -- Timex T411819 -- has many pluses -- but sadly, a minus or two as well..... This is a very nicely-sized watch. It can be worn by anyone, of course -- but is of the size which (used to be? is?) called a "boy's watch". The diameter is approximately an inch across, and the numers are nicely-sized and readable, without over-powering the face of the watch. Around the outer-most part of the face, are tinier numbers. These numbers, "13 - 24", make it a watch to tell 24-hour, or military, time, as well, should the need ever arise. (And it sort of puts the old joke to rest. To wit: "What time is it when the clock says 13:00?" "It's time to get the clock fixed!" : ) Of course, this joke is about clocks, not watches....but it's still quite funny, so I include it here!) Many "sports" watches, (including Timex Expediton watches, of which this is one), have, (or used to have), these HUGE bezels around the face of the watch, usually with numbers "5 - 60" printed, or engraved, just above the usual "1-12" intervals on the watch-face. Sometimes this "extra ring around the watch-face" even swiveled! There seemed no reason for this... No stop-watch function was usually included with such analogue watches, and, anyway, most people are familiar with the "4" number indicating 20 seconds, and the "9" number indicating 45 seconds, etc. All these extra rings did was to make these "sport" watches even chunkier and more inelegant than ever. Even today, most quartz analogue watches stil have remnants of this practice, even if it only amounts to an extra bit of bezel, raising up and high-lighting the winding knob. NOT SO ON THE TIMEX T411819! No extra, inelegant "trimming" around the bezel on this watch! Stylish and as slender as any sports watch can be, it looks just about exactly like the old, wonderful-wind-up analogue watches used to look! (Sigh..........!) As pretty and elegant a quartz sports-watch as anyone could ask for! This watch comes equipped with BOTH glow-in-the-dark hands, AND Timex's trademark "indiglow" feature. With "indiglo", one just presses the winding knob, (or, I guess, it's more proper to now call it a "setting knob"), inwards -- and the entire face of the watch lights up! I owned another Timex Indiglo watch previous to this, (one without glow-in-the-dark hands), and can attest to the fact that, though producing a pleasant, glowing watch-face, too much use of this feature definitely shortens battery life! Also, Indiglo -- used mainly in the darkest of rooms -- if used too frequently -- can really hurt the eyes of someone on the verge of, or someone who actually has, cataracts. With my other Timex Indiglo watch, I would close my eyes as I pressed the setting-knob, to produce the glow, then opened them directly afterwards, so that I would only get the slighter "after-glow", and not the full-lit "indiglo". This present watch, however, seems to have a far less strong, and less lasting "after-glow" than my previous Timex watch with indiglo. Why, one would wonder, would Timex now put BOTH glow-in-the-dark hands, AND an "indiglo" lit up watch face, in the same watch? The answer, sadly, (in this case anyway), is because, if there is any light in the room at all, the "glow-in-the-dark" hands on this model are kind of hard to see! This is because the hands themselves do NOT have ENOUGH "black outlining" around the glowing part of the hand, to help distinguish the hand from the rest of the watch! For the watch-face here is NOT white: it is the palest, palest, PALEST "powder green" colour. The glow-in-the-dark watch hands are a somewhat brighter, "glow green" colour....but there just isn't enough contrast between the two greens -- especially as there is far too thin a black outline around each hand -- to easily see what time it is at first glance. If only the outline around each hand had been just the tiniest bit thicker! Now, this watch-face is VERY easy to read, at SECOND glance, even in the brightest room....but being able to instantly see, at very FIRST glance, what time it is, would have been deeply appreciated! Wind-up watches -- even the cheapest ones -- used to have a RAISED crystal, set ON TOP of the bezel. In this watch, it is the bezel that is raised, and the crystal, (made happily of glass!), fitted and set into it. This makes for a neater looking watch, and most probably a more water-proof one....but I do miss the look and feel of a RAISED crystal. Many people use the reflected image in a watch face, or the numberical window of a calculator, to look at a TV, whilst lying in bed. I know I do. Using most of these watch-faces or calculator windows, I've found that taking my glasses off makes them work best. But when using this Timex Expedition T41181 watch, I find it's better to wear my glasses. Perhaps it's the glass crystal of this watch that makes the difference.... Many people do not know that to prolong the life of ANY battery-powered watch, all one must do is pull out the stem. This stops the watch from working....but you do save on the battery. Keep in mind, too, that, as this watch contains a (tiny) date-window, one must realize the advancing of the date will also be effected. But one can always glance at one's calendar, (or computer!), to realize, if in doubt, what day it is! On the back of this watch, the letters "PR" can be found. As I no longer have the accompnaying literature, I THINK this means the watch was made in Puerto Rico. If so, GOOD! Puerto Rico is a U.S. Protectorate, (and I THINK this means they can apply for state-hood any time they want!) To me, buying ANYTHING made ANYWHERE but in (Communist) China, (and/or totalitarian North Korea), is a good thing. To buy anything made in the U.S.A., its protectorates, or our allies, (Mexico, Canada, Japan, the UK, France, etc., etc.,), is a good thing...a VERY good thing,....and is sadly beginning to become too rare an experience! So, if this watch is made in Puerto Rico....this sure is another plus for it! Do I miss wind-up watches? More than almost anything!!!!! (:_( However, this little Timex Expedition watch sure LOOKS more like a wind-up watch than any quartz watch I have ever seen. Automatic, self-winding watchee have now, almost totally, taken over the "non-quartz" market...but they are often heavy, and usually, very VERY expensive. For my money, this is a Timex Expedition T411819 watch gives just about anything one could ask for, in a non-winding, non-automatic watch. With good care, and battery replacement when necessary, it can last and last. P.S.: It ticks! Not 5 or more times a second, like a mechanical watch -- but just once every second. A good, loud tick, too! Good ol' Timex watches....as John Cameron Swayze used to say, "they take a licking, and keep on ticking!" Happily, this watch not only looks like a mechanical watch -- in many ways, it acts like one too! (Double sigh.........)
