NavList:

I have been tracking several quartz and mechanical watches for two years.  Forget about any mechanical (have not tested Swiss mechanical) for cel nav, too much drift and variation depending on season and conditions. Any decent quartz watch once rated will work fine and be accurate enough for sight taking.  If you are looking for precision with the smallest amount of drift possible the Bulova Precionist models seem to do the better than most.  I have an original model that is getting pretty old and gains .33 seconds per day and has not varied in years.  I have a newer Bulova with the 262 khz marketing that is 2 years old and loses .01 second per day.  They both seem pretty indifferent to normal tempurature changes.  I have not put them in the freezer or anything.  Someone else did a workup on some watches they tracked for an extended period of time a few years ago and could be found in the NavList archives.  If under way I would still try to copy a time broadcast (or compare against the dreaded GPS) as often as practical to ensure your watch is operating normally.  Stuff happens. 

db

44.30 N

88.00 W