View the Special Ops Watch photo gallery.

The MTM Special Ops watch is a nice-looking, rugged, functional timepiece. Apparently having previously only been available to the military and to law enforcement agencies (the Secret Service, Navy Seals, Air Force, Delta Force, Army Rangers, Special Forces, Swat Teams, FBI, DEA, Police Officers, SAS, and Special Forces worldwide), Multi Time Machine, Inc. is now making the Special Ops watch available to the general public.

The fist thing you will notice about the MTM Special Ops watch is its weight. If you prefer light-weight, inconspicuous timepieces, the Special Ops is not for you. If you like your watches substantial and solid, keep reading. The watch isn't so heavy that you will eventually lose the use of your left arm, but the Special Ops is a dense and solid piece of stainless steel.

The next thing you will notice, after removing the watch from its packaging, is that the MTM Special Ops is a pretty nice-looking watch. It's not Rolex or Breitling good-looking, but it's unique and handsome. All three hands are easy to see against the black dial, and the Arabic numeral hour markers are large and clear. The 12, 4, and 8 are interrupted by the watch's lighting system (more on this topic below), but if you don't know where the 12, 4, and 8 are on your watch, you should probably just be wearing a digital, anyway.

Not to be outdone by the new Seiko Brightz worldwide atomic watch, Casio has recently released their own triple-region atomic watch. What makes the new Casio Waveceptor special is that it will calibrate with atomic time signals anywhere in the world, or at least anywhere where there is an atomic clock transmitting a time signal, which is Japan, Europe (England and Germany), and North America (a 3,000 mile radius around Fort Collins, Colorado). Features of the new Casio triple-region Waveceptor include:

• Worldwide time calibration (at least in the regions of the world where there are atomic clocks).
• Support for displaying the day of the week in 5 different languages.
• Preprogrammed calendar up to the year 2098.
• Water-resistant to 50 meters, or about 165 feet.
• Stainless steel case and bracelet.
• Mineral glass crystal.
• Three-year battery.

The new Casio Waveceptor (ref. WVQ-200HDE-2BVER) is available starting this month in Europe, and seems to go for €100, or about $122. The Seiko Brightz worldwide atomic watch is a higher-end timepiece (I'm expecting it to go for around $850), but if all you need is worldwide time calibration, and you don't have a lot of money to spend, the Casio might be the way to go.

View the Tissot Navigator 3000 photo album.

The Tissot Navigator 3000 is the newest in Tissot's line of "Touch Screen" watches. The Touch Screen collection is comprised of four watches (the T-Touch, the High-T, the Silen-T, and the Navigator 3000) which are primarily operated by touching the sapphire crystal in various locations as opposed to pushing buttons.

All four of the Touch Screen watches are dramatically different. The High-T is an MSN Direct SPOT watch, the Silen-T is a more formal timepiece, and the T-Touch is made for hiking and other outdoor activities. The Navigator 3000, in contrast, is primarily a travel watch. The origins of the Navigator 3000 go all the way back to 1853 when Tissot created a pocket watch capable of displaying multiple time zones. 100 years later came the original Tissot Navigator multiple time zone watch, and most recently, the Tissot Navigator 3000 with several new and very advanced features:

American watchmaker Michael Kobold, along with one of my favorite actors, James Gandolfini, are auctioning an incredible one-of-a-kind Soarway Diver SEAL package for the benefit of Hurricane Katrina victims. Since the American Red Cross is endorsing the auction, I'm assuming the proceeds will go to them, which I believe is the worthiest cause that exists right now.

The Kobold Soarway SEAL Avantgarde is one of the most robust watches I have seen. It is waterproof to 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), and is engineered to resist just about anything you can throw at it. The Avantgarde contains a second interior case constructed of thick, soft iron which shields the watch from magnetic forces, and no fewer than two separate shock-resistance systems. It contains a helium escape valve to allow divers to use the Avantgarde for saturation diving, and is constructed primarily of titanium which keeps the watch at a relatively light 111 grams.

This particular auction contains more than just an amazing timepiece. The full package includes:

• The Kobold SEAL Avantgarde with both a canvas NATO strap and a hand-stitched alligator strap.
• A wooden collector's box, signed by James Gandolfini and Michael Kobold.
• "Gandolfini thinks Kobold is No.1" poster, signed by James Gandolfini.
• DVD-set of HBO's hit TV series "The Sopranos," signed by James Gandolfini.

You can find out more about the Avantgarde, and about the auction, on Kobold's site. If you can manage to place a bid, this is really a remarkable package (at least to me as I'm both a huge Kobold and Sopranos fan). And if you can't place a bid, please consider donating what you can directly to the American Red Cross. I know to watch fanatics like us, it sometimes seems like there are few things in life as important as our hobby, but at times like these, we really need to realign our priorities.