THE BEST Watches

We often hear grandiose durability claims for watches, but Swiss Military puts its money where its dial is: the 20000FEET watch gets drowned and dynamited yet keeps on tickin’.

Worn by astronaut Scott Carpenter in 1962, Breitling is offering 1,000 Navitimer Cosmonaute watches for its 125th birthday; it features 24 hour divisions and a flyback function.

“Chiseled luxury” comes to mind with NOOKA’s new ZEM watch (available November); it features a gem-cut case and mineral crystal with leather or high-gauge stainless steel strap.

Plastered with art from four street/urban artists on the dial, strap and buckle, Vannen Watches’ Series 1 looks good without breaking the bank; each watch is limited to 500 pieces.

In honor of the Hawker Hunter jet, Oris’ Swiss Hunter Team watch resembles a cockpit flight gauge and even features a tiny jet on the calendar hand; it’s limited to 1,958 pieces.

Diving with Jules Verne gets a bit easier with Blancpain’s 500 Fathoms watch; it sports a 48 mm titanium case, 1000 meter water resistant, and a helium decompression valve.

Good luck resisting Nixon’s The Regent Watch; it slickly blends a pure, minimalist design and sophisticated details with a stainless steel case, sapphire crystal and croc leather strap.

Inspired by a Swiss sci-fi film of the same name, Space-themed watchmaker Fortis’ CARGO Spacematic features an asymmetric 40 mm high-grade steel case and sapphire crystal.

With a stunning 3-4 month power reserve, Christian Bedat’s RED8 line of watches is the ultimate in premium customization: pick from 39 colors for the bezel, case, and more.

White and black and (mostly) ceramic all over, Nixon’x giant Ceramic 51-30 watch sports a stainless steel skeleton, sapphire crystal with solid ceramic 300m case, bezel and band.

Simple and bold, Steel Blaze’s 45 mm watches look classy without breaking the bank with four alrge cardinal numerals and your choice of 1, 3 or 5 rivet straps.

Based on the legendary Benrus Type I used by special forces, MKII’s MMT Blackwater is an automatic self-winding watch with shock protection, SuperLumiNova and 200m dive rating.

Tag Heuer’s race-inspired Carrera Caliber 5 is an austere two-toned black or brown affair; it features a central Clous de Paris guilloche pattern, luminescent markers and steel bracelet.

Sneaker Freaker has a complete look at G-Shock’s 2009 line of watches; included is the G-Aviation for pilots, fashion-oriented DW6900 series and G7900 for search and rescue teams.

They didn’t name it after Godzilla for nothing: LUM-TEC’s LUMzilla Watch is a monster with giant luminescent numerals, a giant 50mm 316L stainless steel case and sapphire crystal.

Seiko’s SAGG017 is their latest Brightz Kinetic Drive watch; clad in black with sapphire crystal, tach-like power meter and day/date display, it’s Japan only, but you can buy older ones here.

Made for powerboat racers, Edox’s Class-1 Ice Shark watch features bright white and orange luminiscent markers-necessary, considering that it’s also water resistant down to 1,000 m.

Hamilton’s Khaki X-Mach lets pilots measure their Mach number by setting pressure altitude and air speed; it’s finished with carbon fiber, sapphire crystal and a flight-jacket styled bracelet.

The Ernst Benz by John Varvatos Limited Edition ChronoScope oozes mid-century style with a patina on the dial, unique hands, and exotic skin straps. Each is limited to 250 pieces.

Botta-Design’s less-is-more approach reaches its zenith with the UNO Automatic: it uses just one hand, an ultra-precise Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement, and angled dial to eliminate parallax.

Consider Nixon’s Outsider Tide watch future proof: it has tide info for 200 beaches for the next 15 years, a digital dual time display, stopwatch, countdown timer, and wave counter.

Praesto’s first watch, the Modern Fliegeruhr is hard to say but easy on the eyes with SuperLuminova markings, 44 mm stainless steel case, Miyota movement and sapphire crystal.

Lexon hits the sweet spot for stylish austerity with its Black Watch (LM 102); it features an IP black steel case, Miyota movement, and phosphorescent white or orange indices.

Named after a trendy Barcelona street, Adidas’ Avinyo Watch gets a refresh with a silver on black colorway; it’s actually a polycarbonate case with perfed PU leather strap.

Diesel’s Bad Ass watches are our kind of timepieces: the largest packs a giant, 65 mm finely-etched case, quadruple displays (including a digital readout) and 5 ATM of water resistance.

Part of Nixon’s Fall 2009 line-up, the minimalist Newton gets a digital facelift with a simple two-line display; the pixels are actually a better fit for the square case than the original analog.