Timex TW4B34400 Expedition Ridge Digital Black Silicone Band

Timex TW4B34400: The Expedition Ridge Goes Digital

Timex has been putting INDIGLO behind a digital display since the early nineties, and the Expedition Ridge is the current version of that idea. The TW4B34400 is a matte black 43mm resin case, a negative LCD, and a black silicone strap. No hands, no hedging about what it is.

A Negative Display You Can Actually Read

Negative LCDs, light characters on a dark field, usually trade legibility for looks. Timex kept the character height generous here: day and date across the top, hours and minutes in a wide main row, running seconds tucked into the right corner. In daylight it reads at arm’s length. In anything dimmer, the INDIGLO button at six floods the entire face at once instead of lighting one lamp at the edge, which is still the reason people buy Timex digitals.

Fifty-Three Grams of Resin

The case is PC+GF, polycarbonate reinforced with glass fiber, molded as a single piece, with grey guards standing proud of the flanks to shield the four buttons. It measures 43mm across and 13mm tall, and the finished watch weighs 53 grams. That is roughly a third of what a steel sports watch this size would put on your wrist, and it is the whole argument for resin on a watch you plan to sweat in.

What You Give Up

The crystal is acrylic rather than mineral or sapphire. It picks up scuffs faster than glass, though it also shrugs off knocks that would chip something harder, and light scratches buff out with a dab of plastic polish. Behind it sits a snap-on stainless steel caseback over a CR2016 cell, so a battery swap is a five-minute job for anyone who owns a case knife.

Who It Suits

Anyone who wants 100 meters of water resistance, a chronograph, an alarm and a countdown timer on a 22mm silicone strap that fits wrists from 150 to 205mm, with nothing to charge and nothing to sync. A beater, in the best sense of the word.