[heyyou]

I hate wearing watches. If I leave my watch in my pack in, say, sub zero temps, will it effect it's function?

[climbhoser]

yes
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"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Dr. Johnson-

[mtn_chick]

Yeah, batteries seem to hate the cold for some reason. Not very convenient I know!

[grayson]

the short answer: yes. cold will not only affect your watch's battery, but it'll also affect its crystal oscillator, which is what allows it to keep accurate time.

the long answer: watches almost universally use cheap "watch crystal" type crystals, which have pretty good performance in the room-temp to body-temp kind of range, but have terrible performance outside that range. your watch will not keep good time for very long at sub-zero temperatures. if you really need to know how much it might be off after a given number of hours at some particular temperature, pm me and i can dig up a generic watch crystal datasheet and do a little math based on its temperature drift specifications. however, watch batteries too will degrade at low temperatures, and eventually fail to deliver enough power to the watch circuitry to keep it running accurately, or even running at all. again pm me if you'd like me to dig into the actual likely failure temperature of a typical watch battery.

[bluuu]

lots of altimeters have clocks. get a digital altimeter. then, you not only know the time, you also know the elevation. extra bonus. and, because it's an altimeter and designed for the weather, it should always work in ski-temperatures.

[aqua_toque]

It's hard to say. Depends on your height, weight and body temperature.

[jcpoczatek]

[OnBendedKnee]

The LCD on most watches also seems to be sensitive to low temps. I've had them blank out when carrying a watch on my belt, then revive after a while in my pocket--of course, this could be a battery issue.

OTOH, my GPS units with lithium batteries never flinch at sub-zero. Battery life is lower, but keeping a spare set in my pocket and changing frequently helps.
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If gravity is my friend going down, is levity my friend going up?

[The New Guy]

why don't you put your watch in an inside pocket of your jacket? stays warmer, not on your wrist, problem solved?
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"Those who look outward dream; those who look inward awaken..." - Carl Jung

Fat Boy Mountaineering Club. Take nothing but whippers, leave nothing but craters.

[Snowman]

It depends on the type of battery.

I've used rechargeables in a digital camera and they definitely don't like the cold.

Alkaline seem to do ok.

Lithium are best.

I don't know if watch batteries come in all these various kinds.

I had a watch that would act up in the cold, I think it reset itself or something. But when it warmed up it was ok, so the cold effects may be reversible to at least some degree. If you don't mind resetting the watch!

[heyyou]