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| www.gillna.com |
| Although the compass feature on Gill's RegattaMaster may never replace your onboard instruments, it could come in handy the next time you emerge from a subway station. |
When you call a product the RegattaMaster, you're setting it up for some intense scrutiny. So I didn't take my test drive of Gill's RegattaMaster watch lightly.
While its square shape was initially slightly off putting--maybe this is stylish somewhere, but I didn't quite get it--I've come to respect this watch. It does just about everything a racing sailor could want and does it well.
The key for any sailor is the countdown. When I look at any sailing watch, this is where I start. The Gill offers an easy-to-access countdown that can be quickly keyed through a series of pre-set times (1 min., 3 min., 5 min., 10 min., etc.). If you'd like a different time, there is also the option to set the countdown to a specific time--minutes, hours, and seconds. A useful beep accompanies each minute from 10 to 1, every 10 seconds from 50 to 10, and every second from 10 to the start
One of my favorite features of sailing-specific watches is when the countdown automatically switches to the chronograph after countdown expires. For anyone competing under a time-on-time handicap rule, like IRC or time-on-time PHRF, this is an invaluable feature as no one ever remembers to start a stopwatch in the final few moments of a starting sequence.
For sailors, the final feature of interest is the compass, which is quickly accessed via a specific button, click to activate the compass, click again to return to the previous function. While I've never found a wrist-top compass to be particularly useful on a boat--it's hard to get it lined up with the centerline of the boat to take any kind of readings--it's a nice feature and one that could certainly come in useful in a pinch on the water. I've also found a compass quite helpful when trying to determine which way to go when exiting a NYC subway station.
In addition to all these sailing specific features, the RegattaMaster has an alarm, a dual-time function, and a chronograph. The numbers are large enough to read under most any circumstances and the light works well in low light situations. The strap is low-tech, and therefore less likely to break. The RegattaMaster retails for $140 and is waterproof to 30 meters.
www.gillna.com
