View the Casio Pathfinder PAW1200 picture gallery.

I've been waiting for this watch for a while now, so it's a real pleasure to finally have the opportunity to review it. The Casio Pathfinder PAW1200 is what I've referred to several times as the ultimate Pathfinder, perhaps the ultimate Casio, and certainly one of the most advanced digital timepieces in the world.

What makes the Casio Pathfinder PAW1200 series special is the fact that it brings so many features together into one watch. I'll get into plenty of detail on each individual feature shortly, but most notably, the PAW1200 series is the first to bring together the triple-sensor functionality of the Pathfinder line (compass, barometer, and thermometer), atomic time calibration, and solar power. I have several solar-powered watches, several atomic watches, and a few triple-sensor watches by various manufacturers, but the PAW1200 is the only watch that I know of with all of these features. And as if that isn't enough, the PAW1200 series is what Casio calls a multi-band atomic watch, which means it will calibrated with almost every atomic clock in the world (details below).

My regular readers know that I love four features in watches: solar, atomic, countdown timers, and vibrating alarms. The first three are relatively easy to get these days, but a vibrating alarm is a far less common feature, and often means ordering a watch from Japan, and/or spending a fair amount of money.

But now Timex has three nice and inexpensive solutions: the 41731, 41701, and the 41741. All are simple, nice-looking, affordable analog watches with easy-to-set vibrating alarms.

The Timex Vibrating Alarm line actually has two types of alarms: the over 60-minute alarm, and the under 60-minute alarm. The over 60-minute alarm will vibrate twice per day, 12 hours apart, at the desired time, and the under 60-minute alarm will vibrate once per hour on the desired minute. Both can be set using the crown on the lower right-hand side of the case, or simply by rotating the bezel.

The full feature set of the Timex Vibrating Alarm watches includes:

• Two types of vibrating alarms.
• Ability to set the alarm using the alarm crown or the bezel.
• Date.
• INDIGLO illumination.
• Water resistant to 50 meters, or about 165 feet.
• 4.5 year battery.

According to this press release (translated), Seiko Instruments has developed a very interesting Bluetooth watch prototype. With the addition of software installed on your Bluetooth-enabled phone, the watch can do all of the following:

• Alert you with a sound or by vibrating when someone calls.
• Show you the name of the caller.
• Allow you to mute the phone's ring.
• Allow you to reject the call and forward to voice mail.
• Indicate that you have new mail on your phone, and display the subject of the message.
• Inform you if the Bluetooth connection between the watch and your phone is broken.
• Use the phone to calibrate the watch's time.

I think this is a hugely interesting experiment, especially considering the fact that a lot of people I know have replaced their watches with their mobile phones. And why not? In many ways, mobile phones make better timepieces than most watches. The time is always correct, they automatically adjust for daylight savings and time zone changes, they usually have built-in alarms and calendars, most of them can be configured to vibrate rather emit annoying beeps, and most of us have been trained to keep our phones charged and with us at all times. Glancing at a phone isn't quite as convenient as glancing at a watch, but for many of my friends, phones seem to be convenient enough.