Where: Canal du Midi, France
Watch: Casio Classic Alarm Chrono
When: 11:40 a.m.
When I’m on the road, I try to run every day. It's a great way to explore a new city and clear your head, and it also helps battle jet lag (and the bulge from hotel room service). I also like to time my runs, which requires a stopwatch—but I hate running with a phone. It's just cumbersome and distracting. And I really don't like smart watches, because it means one more cord and one more device to worry about charging, which I already forget to do enough.
So I always use the same plastic sport watch, this little Casio I bought in a small shop in the Sicilian city of Noto when I realized I'd forgotten mine and needed a replacement. The price was right and it had a NATO strap in the colors of the Italian flag. Sold! I now never go on a trip without this watch in my dopp kit. It's part of my standard packing, right alongside toothpaste and my glasses. There the Casio sits at the bottom of the dopp, patiently waiting its use on a run to the Vatican, down the Champs-Élysées, or in this case, along the Canal du Midi in the south of France. It’s a beloved, sharp-looking little watch that never requires a charge, and I'm happy to say it has yet to fail me.
'Time and Place' is Matt Hranek's regular dispatch on the latest watches from around the globe for Condé Nast Traveler. #watchwednesdays @wmbrownproject