If the negative reviews of this watch on Timex’s website are any indicator, and there are many, one should expect this watch to fall to pieces around their wrist like a car in a Buster Keaton film. I will admit, when I first bought mine, the buckle fell off, not exactly an encouraging sign. However, once put back on with the spring pin, there has not been a single issue since.
At the time of this writing, nearly forty percent of the reviews at Timex.com for the Scout rate three or less stars with several complaints of watches that stop functioning or fall apart. On Amazon, that number is better, but with over 80 times as many reviews, the number of poor reviews eclipses the Timex site. These complaints mirror those on Timex with poor quality being the main issue.
That being said, the positive reviews do outnumber the poor ones. Here is my take on this watch after wearing it for a few months.
Specifics
The Timex Expedition Scout comes in a number of styles, all within a 40mm case. The case of my watch is brass with a black coating, providing a nice contrast with the cream color dial. The dial itself is fairly simple with Arabic numerals on a large outer ring for the expected 12 hours and an inner ring for hours 13 through 24. A basic cutout next to the three o’clock position provides a window on the date.
As with most inexpensive watches the Expedition Scout uses a quartz movement. In my time with it, it has lost less than a minute, proving to be a reliable time keeper.
The crystal is flat and even with the bezel. While it does not have, as far as I can tell, an antireflective coating, in most conditions the mineral glass lens allows for fine readability. It seems to be fairly tough and though it has take a couple of knocks, there are no scratches.
My watch came with a basic leather strap. Aside from the aforementioned issue with the buckle, it has been perfectly suitable to this watch. It fits comfortably on my 7.25″ (184mm) wrist. Lug-to-lug distance on this watch is 49.5mm. Lug width is 20mm.
While the Expedition Scout does have a water resistance rating of 50 meters, I was never in a position to test this. I can say it survived a drenching in a heavy rain and brief dips in a river as I did some hiking and rock hounding.
Final Thoughts
While the Timex Expedition Scout does have a lot of poor reviews, the majority of them are positive. I find myself in this camp. After a quick and simple fix of the buckle, I have had zero problems with this watch. It comes in a large number of style variations to suit a particular need and I like the simplicity of the dial. The Indiglo feature, which lights up the dial a pale green, works excellently for telling time in dark locations.
Would I recommend this watch? I don’t know. The negative reviews lead me to believe Timex may have a quality control issue. I love mine, but it sounds like a lot of people have received an inferior product. Which is a shame. Timex, much like Casio, is a watch manufacturer for the masses. There is a watch in a price range for everyone. The Expedition Scout is squarely in the affordability zone for practically anyone (though there is a lot of variation in pricing between vendors.) If it were not for the quality issues others have seen, I would be happy to recommend this watch. As it is, the best I can do is a maybe.
