For optimum performance, sports watches are required to be tough as well as include all the required features so that an athlete can get the most benefit. While a standard digital watch with stopwatch timer is fine for the recreational runner or occasional jogger, it won’t cut it for those striving for peak performance.

Some watches which cater to fitness and sport have a lot of features that will suit runners, cyclists, triathletes and other athletes. These features include memory storage and recall, interval timers, heart rate monitors and pace and distance alerts. Other models have navigational features allowing you to mark locations, plot courses, then navigate between waypoints in your area. Some watches will even support both.

The more advanced features to look for in a sports watch includes:

• Heart Rate Monitor
• Heart Rate Zones and Alerts
• Long Life Batteries
• Solar Power Battery Charger
• Training Measurement and Goal Tracking
• GPS Tracking
• Pedometer Tracking
• Altitude Measurement
• Pace/Distance Measurement
• Pace/Distance Zones and Alerts
• Customisable Display
• Calorie Measurement
• Cadence Foot Pod Option
• Computer Data Uplink and Software

Nike makes some of the best sports watches and heart rate monitor watches for athletes and runners. Nike’s latest products, such as the Triax S series feature a complete set of chronograph functions together with digital display, lap time memory and an alarm.

Timex offers a wide range of sports watches for both men and women and their newer products, like the Timex IronMan Heart Rate Monitor Watch, include crucial features for the athletes such as chronograph, timer and cardiac monitor.

Seiko are one of the leading manufactures of water resistant sports watches. The Seiko 5 Sports Watch series features water resistance, a stainless steel case and a transparent case back and is a must buy for underwater divers.

A GPS watch can be a powerful tool for tracking, measuring and improving the performances of runners, cyclists, hikers skiers, windsurfers and skydivers. An advanced sports GPS watch can accurately measure:

• Speed
• Distance
• Elevation above sea level

Some sports watches with GPS can plot 3D maps over a travelled route that can later be downloaded to a computer and then reviewed and analysed in a custom software package.

Combining this with advanced sports watch features like memory storage/recall, interval timers, heart rate zones and speed, pace and distance alerts, and you get a complete wristwatch training computer!