MLB Men's Washington Nationals Schedule Series Watch #MLB-SW-WAS
From Game Time

Wear your team's schedule on your wrist with a Game Time NFL or MLB Schedule Watch! Forget about trying to read the newspaper's fine-print sports schedules! And don't sit glued to your TV waiting for your team's schedule to appear. The Game Time Schedule Watch is the only watch in the world that keeps you in touch with your favorite NFL or MLB team. Each Watch is pre-programmed with your favorite sports schedule displaying upcoming games, locations and start times. It even plays a melody at the start of each game as a reminder so you don't miss the kickoff or first pitch... how neat is that?? And there's more to shout about... you can update your Schedule Watch directly off the internet each season. All you do is hook up the custom designed USB connector and download the whole shebang in minutes... it's that easy! Be the first in your crowd to own one of these Watches, and you'll feel like a high-paid network sports commentator. Watch these fine features! Official team logo displayed; Stainless steel bracelet; Fine Citizen quartz movement; Water-resistant to 3 ATM (102 feet); Lifetime limited warranty. State Team Selection. Order your Watch today! AVAILABLE SEPARATELY: Game Time NFL Schedule Watch - word search in our Store for 'Game Time'. Game Time MLB Schedule Watch

• Size: Adult
• Color: WASHINGTON NATIONALS
• Brand: Game Time
• Model: MLB-SW-WAS
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 1.00 pounds
• Band material: Polyurethane
• Bezel material: Plastic
• Case material: Plastic
• Clasp type: Buckle
• Dial color: grey
• Dial window material: Plastic
• Movement type: Quartz
• Water-resistant to 165 feet

The GAME TIME Brand

The Leader in Licensed Sport Watches
GAME TIME is the leader in licensed sports watches with licenses for all major sports including the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, 21 top NASCAR® drivers, and over 70 colleges and universities. In 2006 GAME TIME was once again recognized by the NFL as the top selling watch licensee in its history.

In 1999 GAME TIME invented and patented the world’s first Schedule Watch, a watch that displays a sport’s season schedule and even plays the national anthem when the game starts as a reminder. The Fishkill, New York based company offers an industry leading 14 different styles of watches in all price ranges from its inexpensive digital watches to its elite Diamond Swiss Chronograph Legend Series. GAME TIME’s variety of styles include casual and dress watches, sport watches, and non-traditional versions like clip-on and pocket watches, all featuring your favorite team’s logo. Many styles are available in men’s, ladies’, and youth sizes.

Each GAME TIME watch is first and foremost a precision time piece backed by the only limited lifetime warranty available in the licensed sport watch industry. Every Analog watch is constructed of high-grade materials including most with Citizen® Quartz Movement. The General Manager Series and Owner/Alumni Series watches feature the logo etched in 23K Gold, while the Sapphire series has a Platinum logo and real Sapphire Glass crystal.

In 2006 GAME TIME introduced GTen, a new division featuring special non-sports licensed watches. GAME TIME Entertainment offers a very diverse stable of licenses including Speed Racer®, Dubble Bubble®, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE®) wrestlers, Orange County Choppers®, Victory Motorcycles®, Polaris®, and Military Mascots (a GTenTM exclusive). More licenses are on the way!

Whether you’re a fan who likes big and bold team colors, or the subtle quiet approach, GAME TIME has a watch for you. With your favorite team on your wrist, you’ll always know when it’s GAME TIME.

Only a few things keeping it from perfection
I'm not sure where I first saw this item (Game Time Men's MLB team Schedule Series watch, in my case Washington Nationals) but it looked like a really neat gadget and nearly instantly appealed to me because, well, it's a gadget and because it relates to my being a baseball fan.

I'm sure that I could find some means of getting a schedule for my favorite team or perhaps all of the teams in MLB into one of the portable devices that I carry around, be it my 'Smartphone' or my iPod Touch, but then again I don't always carry my iPod Touch and I'm too frugal to pay for a data plan to use with my Smartphone (I have a Smartphone so I can sync my contacts and schedules with my PC, but I don't carry a data plan as I don't want to shell out that much money for what really seems to be a limited network usage experience).

When I'm home I can easily check the team schedule online, or I could just check in the "old school" printed newspaper and find the daily match-up information if I want to, but then I tend to simply glance at the information when I do see it and not remember it later in the day as game time rolls around. (Some may ask why not surf for such information while at work and the answer to that question is that while it's ok to check news sites and such, the internet at work is really supposed to be used for work and not for amusement...)

Anyway, as I mentioned above, I grew intrigued with this device from pretty much the moment I first saw ads for them online. I wear a watch nearly all of the time and having the schedule information where I can look at it quickly and easily (at a glance) is really nice. Add in the melody feature that plays the "Take me out to the ballgame" tune when the game is starting and you have a pretty nifty little gadget.

I mention in the review title that a few things keep this item from perfection. What are those things? One would be that there are parts of the information on the display that are hard to read/see. The LCD font is good, but not perfect, and some parts of some letters on the display are a bit thin and not as clear as one might wish for. The team logo takes up a healthy portion of the display space and is merely stenciled and/or painted onto a small covering over the bottom third (give or take) of the display. If that logo were perhaps a bit smaller, then there might be more room to enlarge the fonts on the screen a little. That said, well, part of the appeal of this watch is having the logo for your own favorite team displayed for others to see your team spirit, so I don't expect future versions will be all that different.

One of the other things holding back perfection is the cost for future schedule downloads and the worry that such updates might not be available for some reason or another (if the leagues decide to stop doing business with the makers of the device as an example). The device ships with a special USB cable and adapter that connects the device to a PC (sorry Mac users, the device's instructions don't mention Mac at all, and simply state the operating systems supported as "Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP". That said, it appears that Windows Vista wouldn't be a problem at all...) and users are instructed to visit the manufacturer's website at www.schedulewatch.com Once you connect to that website you'll find that the manufacturer charges a nominal fee ($9.95 at the time this review is written) for schedule updates. The process appears to be fairly straight forward and simple enough and is documented nicely in the simple and clear instructions that come with the device.

I mention that the instructions are simple and clear and they are just that, though I note at least one part of the instructions that was wrong -- the procedure that tells how to turn off the melody shows the wrong button. It was easy enough to experiment and find the proper button, but it could be frustrating trying to follow the instructions only to find that you just can't turn off the melody (which seems to be defaulted to being 'on' when you purchase the device).

On the plus side the battery for the device is user replacable in what seems to be a very easy process. The back of the device offers a cover that can easily be opened by using the edge of a penny or similar coin. Turn the battery cover clockwise and it should pop off easily enough and allow quick access to replacing the CR2032 battery.

Possibly related to that plus is another slight negative, the device is NOT really water resistant. The instructions note Water/splash resistant only -- do not submerge. It would be nice to be more assured that the device would be more water resistant so owners/users wouldn't need to worry about keeping it from getting soaked, but I expect that the device would be just fine if you don't try to swim with it on.

That about covers things for this review. If you're looking for a buy it or not recommendation, I'd say this is easily something that is worth spending your money on, even if the price seems a little high compared to budget priced watches that can be found so easily. The Game Time Men's MLB Schedule Series watch seems to be constructed to be relatively durable, with a bezel that helps protect the LCD display and should help prevent scratching and other damage.