Unleashing The Timekeeping Power The Greg Gutfeld Wrist Watch Revolution

What You're Actually Looking At

The Greg Gutfeld wrist watch line isn't doing anything that a $40 Casio can't do. It's a fashion accessory built around a television personality's name, produced by a licensing company, and finished with materials that look fine until you actually wear them for more than a week. The appeal is entirely cultural, not horological. People buy them because they recognize the face on the dial or the logo on the strap, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're shopping for the timekeeping alone, you're paying a 300% markup for a quartz movement you can source from a drawer full of old electronics. I picked one up at a department store about three years ago. It was cheap, it looked decent on my wrist, and I figured I'd try it for a few months. The first problem showed up within two weeks. The second hand would occasionally skip backward two seconds at random intervals, usually around 3:00 or 11:47. I thought I was going crazy at first. Then I noticed it always happened when the watch was still, like if I set it down on a nightstand. Moving my arm would shake it back into alignment. The workaround was simple. I took it to a local watch repair shop and had them replace the movement. Not the whole watch, just the internal engine. They swapped in a Miyota 2035, a Japanese quartz module that costs about eight dollars wholesale. It runs clean, keeps better time, and hasn't skipped a beat since. Total cost including labor was around forty-two dollars. That was the most practical thing I could have done with the entire purchase.

If you're reading this hoping for a tutorial on how to unleash the secret timekeeping power of this watch, the answer is that there is no secret. It's a standard quartz timepiece with a licensed dial. The movement inside is likely a Seiko Epson or a Ronda, both of which are reliable but nothing special. You can open the case back with a simple case knife or a coin depending on the model. Most of them use screw-down backs that come off with three notches that align with standard tools. Remove the back, note how the crown stem sits, slide out the old movement, and drop in whatever replacement you choose. The hands usually pop off with a small hand-remover tool or a flat piece of plastic. Be careful with the dial. It's printed paper glued to the movement plate and it tears if you breathe on it wrong. Here's something most people don't realize about these licensing watches. The battery compartment is often designed poorly on purpose. The company that produces them doesn't expect you to open the case. The gasket seal is thin, the battery holder is press-fit plastic, and once you break it open for the first time, the water resistance drops to about zero. That means if you wear it in the shower or wash your hands with it on, water gets in and the movement corrodes within a month. I learned this after losing a second unit to condensation under the crystal. Now I treat every one of these watches like it was never rated for water in the first place. I avoid anything beyond rain and I replace the gasket with a silicone O-ring every six months if I'm being serious about longevity. Another thing nobody mentions is the crystal. Most of these come with mineral glass, not sapphire. That means scratch resistance is about as good as a plastic lens on a pair of sunglasses. Within a year you'll have micro-scratches all over the face unless you keep it out of your pocket where it rubs against keys and coins. A cheap workaround is apply a nano-coating product like Ceraguard. It adds a hydrophobic layer and reduces visible scratching for about six months before you need to reapply. It won't stop deep scratches but it helps with the surface haze that makes the dial look cloudy over time.

The strap is where these watches actually shine. They come with silicone or leather bands that are comfortable enough for daily wear. The silicone version in particular holds up well against sweat and doesn't degrade like cheaper rubber straps do. If the original strap wears out, look for a 20mm or 22mm generic replacement. Both sizes are common and you can pick up a decent leather band for six dollars on Amazon. Just measure the lug width first. The specs are usually stamped on the case back near the battery door, though sometimes they're not. In that case, measure with a caliper or a ruler between the two bars where the strap attaches. I should be honest about the downsides because nobody else will. The resale value is near zero. If you try to sell it on eBay or Chrono24, you'll get maybe twenty dollars and even that requires the buyer to care about Greg Gutfeld enough to want the watch as a novelty. The accuracy is typical for budget quartz, somewhere between fifteen and twenty seconds per month gain or loss. That's fine for casual use but if you need precision, get a Seiko Astron or a Casio Pro Trek instead. And the licensing fee is baked into the price. A comparable unbranded watch with the same movement and case quality runs about a third of what this costs. If you already own one and want to keep it running longer, here's what I do. I take the movement out once a year and clean the pallet fork with a tiny drop of watch oil. I also check the stem seal for wear and replace it if it looks flattened. These steps take about twenty minutes and they extend the life of the movement significantly. The battery alone lasts two to three years on average, so you're not changing that often either. Just use a proper SR920SW or equivalent silver oxide cell. Don't cheap out on the battery. A leaking alkaline will ruin the movement in hours.

The whole thing really comes down to whether you value the branding or the mechanics. They're completely separate considerations. If you want the watch as a conversation piece and don't mind treating it gently, it works fine for casual daily wear. If you want something that will survive actual use without constant maintenance, spend the same money on a Timex Marlin or a Citizen Eco-Drive and skip the novelty factor entirely. I've kept the Gutfeld watch on my shelf now. It tells time accurately enough, but I reach for something else most days.