Versatile Carabiner Compass Watch — Traditional Quartz

The time and a bearing, clipped to your pack.

A watch on the wrist is usually the first thing to go. On site it catches on machinery or it is banned outright. On the ward it comes off at every hand wash. In the bush it cops a rock the first time you scramble, and half the time you are in gloves anyway. So it ends up in the glovebox and you spend the day guessing the time off the sun.

Guessing is fine until it is not. You misjudge how much daylight is left, you push on for one more ridge, and you walk the last hour back to camp in the dark over ground you have not seen. Same story on the water — lose track of the tide and the run home takes twice as long as it should.

This one clips to a pack strap, a belt loop, a vest, a swag or a scrub pocket and sits where you can see it. Quartz analog movement, large black numerals on a luminous desert-camouflage dial, a liquid-filled button compass set into the frame, a degree bezel around the glass and a bottle opener cut into the carabiner. It measures 88 mm long by 46 mm wide. Two colourways: sand body with a black gate, or black body with an orange gate.

Be straight about what it is, though. The carabiner is a clip for hanging the watch off your gear — it carries no load rating and it must never take a person's weight. The compass gives you a rough bearing, not a navigation fix. And the supplier states it is water-resistant without ever giving a rating figure, and says plainly it is not for bathing, swimming or diving. Read the Limits tab before you order.

What It Does

• Time you can see: clipped to a pack strap or a shoulder D-ring it sits in your eyeline, so you are not digging a phone out with wet or gloved hands.
• Keeps you honest about daylight: a glance every so often tells you whether you have time to push on to the next camp or whether you are setting up right here.
• A bearing before you commit: enough to work out roughly which way is north before you take a side track, rather than after.
• Works as a fob watch: nurses, carers and anyone who washes their hands twenty times a shift can clip it to a pocket or a lanyard instead of wearing it.
• Opens a bottle at the end of it: the opener is cut into the carabiner frame, so it is one less thing rattling round the camp box.

Key Features

• Quartz analog movement: battery driven, with a crown at three o'clock for setting the time. Nothing to wind and no charging cable to remember.
• Liquid-filled button compass: a real one, set into the carabiner spine, with green cardinal and intercardinal markings. Rough bearing only — accuracy not specified by supplier.
• Degree bezel: marked in 30-degree steps from 30 to 330, with N, E, S and W cardinal letters and an index triangle at N. Whether it rotates is not specified by supplier.
• Luminous dial: charges off daylight and glows in low light, so you can read the time without hunting up a torch.
• Desert camouflage face: tan and brown pattern behind large black numerals, with a minute track inside the hour numbers.
• Bottle opener built in: cut into the carabiner frame, not an add-on that can drop off.
• Spring-gate carabiner clip: goes on one-handed to a pack strap, belt loop, vest, swag or pocket.
• Alloy body: one-piece, with the clip and the opener formed into it. No strap and no lugs to snap off.
• 88 mm by 46 mm: supplier's own measured drawing, so you can judge whether it earns the space before you order.
• Two colourways: DSB-001 is a sand body with a black gate, DSB-002 is a black body with an orange gate. Same watch either way.

Limits

Here is what this watch will not do. None of it is a reason to skip it — it is a reason to use it for what it is.

• The clip is not climbing gear: it is there to hang the watch off a pack or a belt loop, and nothing else. It carries no load rating and it must never hold a person's weight. It is not rated, not certified and not tested for climbing, rigging, towing or fall arrest, and it should not carry anything you cannot afford to drop. If you want a carabiner you can trust with a load, buy one built for it — the XINDA rock climbing carabiner rated to 22 kN is the right tool for that job.
• Not for bathing, swimming or diving: the supplier states only that it is water-resistant and gives no rating figure — no ATM, no metre depth. Their own wording is that it is not recommended for bathing, swimming or diving, and we are not going to upgrade that for them. Treat it as rain and splash. Take it off before you shower, wash up, wade a river, get in the surf or go anywhere near a dive. Water at real pressure gets past a seal like this, and once it is in the movement it is finished.
• A rough bearing, not navigation: a button compass this size is pulled about by nearby steel, magnets, a vehicle body, the bonnet you are leaning on, your own belt buckle and the watch swinging on its clip. It gets you pointed the right way. It does not replace a proper baseplate compass, a map or a GPS, and it must not be the only thing you are relying on in country you do not know.
• The bezel is a scale, not an instrument: the degree markings around the glass only mean something once you have set them against the compass, and they are as rough as the compass is. Read them as a rough heading you can hold to, not as a survey figure.
• Not a smart watch: it is an analog quartz watch. No GPS, no Bluetooth, no wireless, no step count, no phone connection and no notifications.
• The glow fades: luminous paint has to be charged by light and it dims through the night. It is enough to read the time by. It is not a substitute for a head torch.
• The battery will need replacing: a quartz movement runs on a cell. The type and the expected life are not specified by supplier — any watch repairer can identify it and fit a new one.
• Not a certified instrument: there is no timekeeping accuracy figure, no compass accuracy figure, no shock rating and no dust rating from the supplier. Treat it as a practical everyday watch, not as test equipment.

Q & A

Can I swim, shower or wash up with it on?

No. The supplier calls it water-resistant but never states a rating — no ATM figure and no depth in metres — and their own line is that it is not recommended for bathing, swimming or diving. So take it off first. Rain and splash is the honest limit, and without a stated rating we are not going to imply anything more than that.

Can I clip it to a harness or use it as a real carabiner?

No, and this is the important one. The clip carries no load rating whatsoever and it is not climbing hardware. It hangs a watch off a pack strap or a belt loop. It must never take a person's weight, and it should not carry anything you would be upset to lose. If you need a carabiner that takes a load, buy a rated one — the XINDA rock climbing carabiner rated to 22 kN is built for it.

Is there a real compass on it, and can I navigate with it?

There is a real one — a liquid-filled button compass set into the carabiner spine, with green cardinal and intercardinal markings, and you can see it clearly in the photos. It is good enough to tell you roughly which way you are facing, which genuinely helps when you step off a track and want to know which way you came in. It is not good enough to navigate on. Steel, magnets, a vehicle body and the watch swinging on its clip all pull it around, and the supplier states no accuracy figure. Carry a proper compass and a map, or a GPS.

What is the difference between DSB-001 and DSB-002?

Colour, going by the supplier's own variant photos. DSB-001 is the sand body with a black gate, DSB-002 is the black body with an orange gate. Both carry the same desert camouflage dial, the same compass and the same bottle opener. The supplier does not spell out what the codes stand for beyond that, so we are not going to invent a meaning for them.

How big is it and what does it weigh?

The supplier's dimension drawing gives it as 88 mm long by 46 mm wide overall. The case diameter on its own and the weight are not specified by supplier. It is a clip-on fob watch sized to hang off a pack strap or a pocket, not a wrist watch.

What battery does it take?

Not specified by supplier. It is a standard quartz watch cell, and any watch repairer or jeweller can identify it and fit a replacement in a couple of minutes.

How long is delivery and what does it cost?

Ten to fourteen days from the day you order — allow up to three weeks, and longer again if you are regional or remote. Shipping is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs