The Complete Buying Guide to the Q Timex | Gear Patrol (2024)

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Q is for “quartz.” In the Timex universe it is, anyway. And while the modern Q Timex offers fashionably vintage aesthetics at very accessible prices, the collection is also much more than that: it represents a minor cultural and conceptual coup within the world of watch enthusiasm.

The Q Timex (or Timex Q, if you prefer) is an unlikely hype phenomenon that took the once derided or bashfully glossed over technology of quartz timekeeping and helped make it cool again. With new models that often sell out, the collection just keeps growing, rocking more variants and an evolving concept.

Where Did the Q Timex Come From?

In the 1970s, battery-powered quartz watches began taking over the watch industry that had been using clockwork of springs and gears for centuries. It was a monumental shift known as the Quartz Crisis or Quartz Revolution, depending on your perspective, and it seemed that every watch company faced the choice of adaptation or demise. Indeed, many historic watchmakers didn’t make it.

But they were the casualties, and as other companies soldiered on, quartz was celebrated and emphasized as the latest, cutting-edge tech for your wrist. The Q Timex was just one such example. This was before cheap mass-production would later give quartz watches a lowly rep among future collectors who value mechanical watches for their history, craftsmanship, nifty clockwork and luxury status.

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How Has the Q Timex Been Modernized?

The Q Timex watches of the 1970s emphasized their quartz nature as a selling point. Some of them featured a “Q” as the 12 o’clock marker and others proudly emblazoned “QUARTZ” on their dials the way modern watches will advertise “Automatic.” When Timex brought the Q back in 2019, however, it entered a world where if you saw a watch that didn’t mention the movement’s nature on its dial it could simply be assumed to be quartz. Most companies preferred to gloss over a quartz watch’s movement altogether.

Timex’s Q series began with a reissue of a certain model from the 1970s featuring a look very much inspired by the Rolex GMT Master with a bicolor red-and-blue 12-hour bezel (though not with GMT functionality). The word “QUARTZ” proudly adorned its dial above 6 o’clock. It stayed true to the original model aesthetically, even maintaining smaller diameters, but of course incorporating more modern elements like current materials, quartz tech and production.

That model, however, was only the beginning. The line has since expanded to house all manner of vintage reissues, creative riffs upon them — and it even includes a small number of automatic watches with an “M” designation (as in the M79) for mechanical.

What Makes the Timex Q So Popular?

The reason it all works so well? Being highly affordable is a big part of it; channeling and bringing back popular retro styles and turning the quartz angle into storytelling has proven to be a clever and winning combination.

But it should also be noted that the approach of “embracing quartz” not only recalled the brand’s and the technology’s history but it gave the Q a sharp, slightly contrarian edge. Timex wasn’t the first brand in the modern era to reframe quartz as something cool and interesting, but it is quite possibly the most successful. The Q doesn’t take itself too seriously, and the many options and casual prices keep it fun. Here’s a basic breakdown of the different styles the Timex Q collection offers.

Q Timex Reissue

Timex

Q Timex Reissue

• $179.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 38mm
• Color Variants: 7

Here it is: the OG. This is the first iteration of the modern Q that was introduced in 2019 and was known to sell out quickly. Since then, however, it’s become just one among many iterations featuring the same underlying model and specs but offered in myriad colors, some of which come and go with time.

Q Timex GMT

Timex

Timex Q Timex GMT

• $219.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 38mm
• Color Variants: 1

With its bicolor bezel, the original Q Timex was stylistically based on the Rolex GMT Master. In 2022, Timex finally offered what fans were asking for and added the GMT function.

Q Timex M79

Timex

Timex M79

• $279.00 at Timex

See Also

Q Timex Chronograph 40mm Leather Strap Watch

• Diameter: 40mm
• Color Variants: 4

With its Miyota 8205 movement inside, is it odd that the M-for-mechanical series of automatic watches seems to live in the Q-for-quartz collection? You’re overthinking it! If you want the kind of style and designs generally offered in the Q collection but tend to prefer mechanical watches, as many of us do, that’s what the M79 delivers.

Q Timex Chronograph

Timex

Q Timex Chronograph

• $199.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 40mm
• Color Variants: 2

Want a chronograph with that retro Q look? Here it is. And in keeping with the vintage aesthetics and incorporating the kind of traits watch enthusiasts are known to appreciate, it’s offered in “panda” and “reverse-panda” (shown here) variants.

Q Timex Three Time Zone Chronograph

Timex

Q Timex Three Time Zone Chronograph

• $219.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 40mm
• Color Variants: 3

We were rather surprised to see the Q collection get more “complicated.” The Q is supposed to be simple and fun, but this model offers a combination of not only the time and chronograph but also a second time zone displayed on a GMT-like hand in 12-hour format but linked to a 24-hour subdial at 12 o’clock. The third time zone in the name is tracked by the rotating bezel. We also think it looks quite cool.

Q Timex Malibu

Timex

Q Timex Malibu

• $189.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 36mm
• Color Variants: 5

Timex took the basic design of its core Q watches (see above) and gave them a bit of a makeover. They join a line of 36mm versions but feature colors that look ripped from 1980s California (or the Barbie movie) which continue right onto their expansion bracelets. A similarly colorful sub-line of two Q Timex Rainbow watches are essentially offshoots of the Malibu.

Q Timex 1978 Reissue Day Date

Timex

Q Timex 1978 Reissue Day Date

• $169.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 36mm
• Color Variants: 5

The Q collection isn’t just about the dive-style watches it’s most associated with — it also is where great reissues like this dress watch live. You’ll have a hard time finding a watch with the same level of vintage style and details in the same price range as Timex offers in this surprisingly pleasing dress watch package.

Read our full review of the Timex Q 1978 Reissue Day-Date.

Q Timex 1972 Reissue

Timex

Q Timex 1972 Reissue

• $169.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 43mm
• Color Variants: 1

Like the 1978 Reissue above, this 1972 Reissue is another example of Timex just being able to offer really cool, one-off remakes of vintage styles that would otherwise cost you much more. It’s got all the funky ’70s style you could want and suits those who prefer bigger watches with its 43mm diameter.

Timex World Time 1972 Reissue

Timex

Timex World Time 1972 Reissue

• $179.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 39mm
• Color Variants: 1

Also hailing from 1972, this Reissue offers a sportier style with interesting case and bezel shapes. Note that despite its name and the names of cities on its bezel, there’s no functionality for tracking other time zones as in true world time watches.

Q Timex Reissue Digital LCA

Timex

Q Timex Reissue Digital LCA

• $149.00 at Timex

• Diameter: 32.5mm
• Color Variants: 2

While most Q watches take their design inspiration from the 1960s and 70s, this digital design recalls the ’80s — and nostalgia is still the name of the game. Don’t let the 32.5mm diameter put you off, though, as square watches such as this one typically wear larger than their diameter would suggest.

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