Ask many military and law enforcement personnel what watch they wear and many will say, “Ironman.” Timex Ironman Watches are tough and versatile, able to withstand plenty of punishment and continue to function admirably.

The Ironman is Timex’s best selling watch and is visually recognizable the world over. The first Ironman was developed by Timex in cooperation with officials from the Iron Man Triathlon. It wasn’t called the Ironman until 1986 when Timex purchased the rights to the Ironman name. The watch included alarm, timer and stopwatch functions and an easy to read digital display as well as a sturdy rubber strap watchband.

There have been many updates to the watch since then. Various color schemes have been added. Water resistance has doubled to 100 meters. Indiglo backlighting, increased alarms, longer countdown abilities, smaller watch faces and different band sizes and materials have also been added. Wireless data transfer was also added in 1997.

The newest version of the Ironman is the Datalink. This watch was designed to replace many of the PDA’s used by businessmen. Timex worked in collaboration with Microsoft to build a watch that could sync with one’s computer thereby eliminating the inevitable data loss that would occur during battery replacement in other brands of data watches.

The Ironman Datalink is now certified by NASA for Space Travel. Astronauts and cosmonauts alike use the watch for its durability and dependability as well as the many alarm functions which help them to maintain their hectic and precise time schedules. When referring to the Iron man Datalink Stephanie Walker of The Johnson Space Center says, “Astronauts have a choice of four watches.

The certification process assures that they can perform and not self-destruct in the vacuum of space.” She goes on to state that these watches come “off the shelf” from the store and cost less than $100. They come close to serving as a wrist computer.” (Courtesy of NASA’s Space Operations Directorate: May2, 2002)

Timex Ironman Watches with their rugged and functional design have proven themselves as workhorses that can survive the in the rigors of battle, stand up to the demands of law enforcement personnel and endure the trials and tribulations of space travel. The Timex Ironman has won awards from many distinguished sources including popular Science Magazine, Byte Magazine and R & D Magazine. It’s also an Innovations award winner.

The Ironman is a great fitness watch and I like mine even if it’s never been in a battle, made an arrest or travelled in space.