This sport has evolved and progressed over the years. Modern technology has made surfing more exciting, easier to learn, and safer thanks to various assistive tools. One of these advanced technologies is the surf watch, also known as the tide watch. ALSO READ: Best EDC Watches
Why Every Surfer Needs a Surf Watch
Today, a surf watch is almost a must-have for novice surfers and experts alike. These modern treasurable timepieces incorporate excellent tech advances, including WiFi and GPS connectivity. They are meant to feed you, the surfer, with information on wave height, water temperature, wave period as well as wind speed and direction. All this information is aimed at helping you maximize your time on the water and catch the best waves yet. An important highlight of any modern surf watch is the integration of several applications that perform a myriad of functions beyond the water surface. A good surf watch should serve you both on and beyond the ocean waters.
The 8 Best Surf Watches (Our Picks)
Unlike several other watch types, there aren’t as many makers of surf watches. It’s a relatively thin list of choices, but one that has some of the most ingeniously built products to serve you on the surfboard, in good and bad tidings. Let’s head straight to some amazing surf watch brands you can find in the market today.
1. Rip Curl Search GPS Smart Surf Watch
Check PriceBuy now Top on our list is the magnificent Rip Curl Search GPS Surf Watch. This highly technical timepiece feeds you with all manner of important data as you fight against the tides. The statistics you get from this elite tide watch include:
The distance covered on your longest waveThe distance paddedTop speedsThe number of waves you’ve caughtLocation and tide levels.Real local time and windsurf conditions
In the world of sports, metrics and data tracking is always a point of concern. Any tool that promises to provide solutions is worth the investment. The Rip Curl introduces the Rip Curl Seach app. The app allows you to track and upload your surf data on social media platforms. The App syncs to Facebook via Bluetooth and acts as your journal through every surf trip. It will also keep a record of how many times you’ve surfed over a certain period of time. You and your surfing friends can also make use of the clubs’ division available on the App to facilitate competitive surf rides. This surf watch is designed with simplicity, even though it’s supposed to serve relatively complex tasks. It only has three buttons, one large to the left and two more on the right, which allows you to make up/down adjustments. With 1,300 tide global locations available on this watch, it is a very responsive tool. You only need to do your calibration wherever you go around the world. The folks at Rip Curl understand surfing to a great extent. They also became the first company to sponsor a surfing event, with the 1973 Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia. They are masters of the game, and this is evident in their foresighted product design. TheRip Curl Search GPS surfwatch should be a collectible for surfers in any class.
2. Vestal Brig Tide and Train
Check PriceBuy now The Vestal Brig Tide and Train watch is a straightforward surf-specific timepiece that cuts out the clutter and does what it must. With its serious-looking square display, you get to make lots of important observations and keep track of your performance. This one is a data tool with lots of helpful features such as the Heat Mode, Future Tide Mode, Time Zone, and the Alarm Mode. The case and the band are all wrapped in a single unibody polyurethane material. This makes the VestaL Brig Tide a durable, waterproof watch suitable for water-based activities including snorkeling, surfing, and swimming. Measuring 44 mm wide and 14 mm in thickness, this is an acceptably comfy watch to strap around your waist at high-velocity surf speeds. With the Vestal Brigsurf watch, you can track tide and surfing conditions on more than 200 beaches around the globe. It also promises to analyze tide conditions 20 years ahead. The uncomplicated construction of this asset makes it a go-to piece offering just the most important surfing information as and when required.
3. Nixon Digital Surf Watch
Check PriceBuy now The modern world is rather fast-paced and we literary have very little time for anything beyond a well-outlined routine. For this reason, we preciously grab any extra minute we can to do an extra activity. Similarly, with so many modern gadgets appearing wherever we turn, it’s only fair that we pick that which serves our needs with precision. The Nixon High Tide is a surfer’s dream asset that combines accurate performance designs with lots of digital tools to keep you in the know. This is a basic digital watch that keeps track of time, date, and sets the alarm. But it also goes beyond these basic provisions by giving you a rundown of tides in 550 global locations. The bright, simplistic screen is high resolution and can be customized to a suitable configuration. Whereas this is an awesome feature, you will fall in love even more once you learn that you don’t need internet connectivity. The watch takes advantage of sun and tide times, which assures you that wherever you are, your data feed will continue flowing. The Nixon High Tide sheds most of the modern techy-needs and opts for a retro, seemingly laid-back nature. Regardless, it’s these bold features that make it an amazing asset to confront the angry tides of the ocean. In terms of legibility, it’s easier on the eye and pleasant enough for everyday wearing.
4. Weret C-BLK Silicone Surf Watch
Water sporting is an adventurous activity that combines the rush of adrenaline with spectacular body maneuvers and mental aptitude. It’s not easy to build a product that accurately captures such characteristics and package in a gadget as small as a wristwatch. But Weret has managed to overcome these hurdles in making the Weret C-BLK Surf watch, one of the many choices that you can pick from their stores. The design articulates its most important purpose. And the watch lives to these demands and brings about loads of other capabilities as a bonus. Weret C-BLK Surf Watches integrates innovative mechanical movements with modern smartwatch technologies to make a product that is appropriately fortified to conquer the oceans. From the design to the digital enthusiasm portrayed by this Weret Surf watch, you can’t help but fall in love with nearly everything about it. This product comes with wireless charging and a battery that can last up to six months, making it one of the top-league players of its kind. It’s a strikingly large watch measuring 42mm in diameter and 14,5mm thick. The round top completes its simplicity. The large crown positioned at 3 O’clock is inviting and conspicuous. The combination of the large and small hour and minute markers gives it just the kind of legibility you would want in a surf watch of this caliber. The engineers at Weret went out of their way to combine modern technology and vintage specs to craft a spectacular surf watch. With a connection to more than 3,000 beaches worldwide, this is an innovative, creative product that is truly sensational.
5. G-Shock GBX100-7
Check PriceBuy now A wristwatch designed for surfing should have qualities that withstand some of the most unforgiving and demanding situations of its lifetime. This kind of watch has to work against the harshness of salt water, stones, and storms. The series of GBX100-7 watches are made with these challenges in mind. The updated versions have an operating system that supports Bluetooth connectivity while avoiding the regular host of applications that comes with smartwatches today. It is simply a combination of what you would need for connectivity and consumer expectations. In building the GBX100-7, Casio aimed to keep things as simple, giving this surf watch an angular square look at the top. Under the screen is a metal bezel whose symmetrical shape helps to keep things simple and straightforward. It’s one of the watches in the market with a high water-resistance ability to 200 meters. The GBX100-7 is also an unapologetically large watch measuring 46mm-wide with a 50.9mm lug-to-lug length. It is 14.7mm-thick and weighs a comfortable 66 grams. With these specs, the G-Shock GBX100-7 is one that will sit prominently yet comfortably on your wrist as you run over and against water tides and storms. Casio promises this battery has a two-year running time, perhaps one of the reasons why the Japanese maker eliminated the current trend of incorporating a solar-powered system. The G-Shock Move App makes a good companion. It keeps most things to basic necessities, avoiding being a confusing data center. With this app, you access a series of popular beaches. With a bit of experience with this watch, you can still manually configure data on about local beach. Although it is built with a marine theme and emphasizes this point, the G-Shock GBX100 is still a suitable everyday watch.
6. Freestyle Shark Classic Tide Watch
Check PriceBuy now The Shark Classic Tide watch is a youthful, hardened, and bold surf watch. It brings along a set of admirable necessities. With the tide data, sunrise and sunset feature, and access to conditions in 150 beaches around the world, the Freestyle Shark Classic Tide watch is a tool to simply get down to the business of the day. It’s an easy-going, comfortable wear measured 38mm across its diameter. It’s water-resistant to 100 meters and takes advantage of night vision backlight display to counter low light conditions. You can also manually program beach conditions with up to 3-hour set-off capabilities. This Freestyle Shark Classic Tide watch is in the most reliable surf watch category. This is one surf watch that guarantees superb performance for fun times around the beach.
7. Quicksilver Stringer Tide Watch
Check PriceBuy now Quicksilver is no stranger to sporting apparel and they make them with a good dose of inborn passion. If you sample the Quicksliver Stinger Tide watch, you will see exactly what I am referring to. This surf watch comes with programmed tide data for 300 worldwide surf spots. Inside the 40mm case are fundamental surfing tools that include a tide indicator, chronograph, calendar and countdown function. It’s also a pocket-friendly surf watch that won’t reset you to bankruptcy. Quicksilver has also equipped this watch with its award-winning and patented DEEP tide system, 12 years of pre-programmed tide data from 300 spots around the world. With this, you can tell what the beaches are up to in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. With its water-resistant ability up to 100 meters, this one will not let you down on your swimming, scuba diving, and snorkeling escapades.
8. Garmin Instinct Surf Watch
Check PriceBuy now Garmin has delighted with several wearable technology solutions since 1989. Their ability to make products that transcend across several industries such as automotive, outdoor activities, aviation, and marine sports has placed them at a knowledgeable and competitive spot in the market. The Garmin Instinct Solar Surf Watch is ultimately one of its kind in a market that rides on precision and the need for clarity. This is one smartwatch that takes into rides beyond the shortcomings of modern technology to make an asset that creatively blends tradition and modernity. The Garmin Instinct Solar surf is a smartwatch that carries alithium-ion battery able to push you for 24 days of indoor exposure and more than 50 days with exposure to solar. You can make a selection of various solar modes to extend battery life in any given activity. An inbuilt GPS hands you the power to scan tide times everywhere around the planet. Just press the GPS button, and your current location plus the nearest tide station will analyze data for you and update accordingly. This is not only a surf watch,but also like a mini-computer laden with useful information on health such as calorie information, current heart rate, and an evaluation of your current stress levels. The market is laden with a selection of gadgets that promise to deliver pure efficiency. However, few of them give you the optimum operating level that we all desire on our daily tools. The Garmin Instinct Solar surf watch is no doubt an exception.
Final Word on Best Surf Watches
Cut out the fancy stuff promised by some gadget makers today. Go for a surf watch that is fortified to face the ocean. What you need most is a functional gadget that will still hold on to your wrist when the tides rage on. The list above serves as a good guide to start you off. If you own a different surf watch, do tell. You have the comments box below. We’d love to hear from you and to find out about your experiences.
