I) Introduction
Whether you are refereeing youth league soccer games, intramural sports, or reffing as a career in professional or college athletics, you need to make sure that you have all the right tools to do the best job that you can. You need the uniform, a whistle, the right pair of cleats, a microphone if you are in the big leagues, and of course the knowledge and game experience to know how to successfully referee a game or match.
One of the most important aspects of being a soccer referee is keeping track of time. Time is what starts, stops, and ends a game, and it is your job to make sure that you don’t lose track of it. Since keeping an eye on the time is one of the most critical pieces of making sure that each game runs smoothly and to regulation. If you have been reffing for a while now, you know how important watches and stopwatches are to your role.
We want to make sure that you are fully equipped for handling the next game and the next hundred games after that, which is why we put this little review together of some of the best soccer referee watch that you can find. It can be tough navigating through the sea of companies and watches that are on the market, so we have done the hard work and research for you. We are going to cover a variety of features, styles, and price ranges so that you can surely find something that meets your needs and budgetary goals.
II) Soccer Referee Watch Summaries
To kick this off, let’s give you a little overview of the watches that we are going to be reviewing and covering. Just from a brief overview of each of the products, one or two of them may stick out more to you than the others.
The Champion Sports Sports and Referee Watch is the most affordable of the watches that we are going to cover in this review. It has a basic display that looks more like your normal digital watch, and has a rugged sports band for holding up during fast-paced games.
The Casio Phys Timers 11 Watch RFT-100 is definitely a step up from The Champion Sports Watch in terms of pricing and features. What’s nice about this particular model is that it has a vibration feature to notify you when your timer is up, so if you aren’t able to hear a stopwatch in the middle of a loud or heated game, the watch will still be able to notify you that the timer is up.
The Ultrak Soccer and Referee’s Watch is another basic referee watch that will meet all of your needs on the field. At has an three integrated timers on the main display, one that serves as a count up timer for the game, one as a stoppage timer, and the last as a programmable countdown timer. Otherwise, it is a water resistant referee watch with your basic LED light up display.
Finally, the Spintso Soccer Referee Watch is the top tier of our price range in this review, running between $100-$200. This watch shows four different referee timers on the same display for multiple time trackings during a game that include a count up timer, a countdown timer, a stoppage/injury timer, and a half-time interval timer. It also has simplified single button press and hold time tracking operations, which is to prevent any time tracking errors that you may have during a game.
Now that you have a good idea of some of the best soccer referee watches that we are going to be covering, let’s jump into the details of what each of these watches offer and how they stack up against the rest of the field.
III) Watch Reviews
What makes this watch stand out?
What makes the Champion Sports and Referee Watch stand out is definitely the low price point at which you are able to get a durable, functional referee’s watch. This watch is the least expensive of the watches that we are covering and appears to meet all of your basic needs as a soccer referee.
Benefits
The benefits of this watch is that it has a simple, one clock display so that you don’t get lost in a cacophony of different clocks running on the same screen at the same time. It’s very much at entry level pricing, so if you don’t want to spend a ton of money on a soccer referee watch right out of the gate, this might be the choice for you.
Reviews
Overall, customers appeared to be pretty happy with what this watch has to offer. The big display is nice for keeping things simple, and everyone seems to really enjoy the vibration feature on the watch, as opposed to just beeping, so that it doesn’t call attention to the referee while out on the field. The directions are a little vague and hard to understand, but the setup to get the watch running out of the box seems fairly straight forward. Due to the lower price and quality of the watch though, it appears that the buttons wear out pretty quickly.
- Rugged design
- Simple and large watch display
- Vibrating feature to indicate when time is up
- Not a ton of timer features on the watch
- Lacks durability
- Buttons seem to fray and lose functionality quickly.
What makes the watch stand out?
The Casio Phys Timers 11 Watch RFT-100-1JF Japan Import is significantly more expensive than the Champion Sports and Referee Watch, and seems like it has decently more to offer. It is a rugged watch with multiple timers on the main display to cover all of your referee needs.
Benefits?
This watch also offers a vibration feature to alert you on the field for when time is up, so that you don’t miss a quiet beeping on a noisy soccer field. You can also set up to 9 different timers on this watch and set them either to reset and keep running when they get to the end, or to stop after the countdown is up.
Reviews
Overall, customers seemed fairly happy with this watch. It seems that what makes this watch really worth it is the multiple timers that you can have running at once, along with the handy vibration feature on the watch.
How to use it
- Vibration notification feature
- Can run 9 timers at once
- More durable than the Champion Watch
- The instructions are in Japanese, because this product is imported from Tokyo
- You can find watches that do what this watch does for cheaper
What makes the product stand out?
The Ultrak Soccer and Referee’s Watch is more in the price range of the Champion Watch, which makes it great if you don’t want to spend a ton of money on a functional soccer ref’s watch. This watch has three different programmable displays on the main screen, and also has a normal watch feature that includes the day, time, and date so that it can double as your day to day digital watch.
Benefits?
The benefits of this watch is that it has three different programmable timers on the same display, so that you can track everything that you need to on the same screen. It is water resistant and has a powerful battery.
Reviews
Overall, customers liked this watch, but were fairly lukewarm about it. It offers a ton of features, but the ref’s out there were citing that you were never going to need to use all of them at once, so what is the point of making the watch more complicated than it needs to be with three displays on the same screen? Especially if you aren’t going to use that feature in a game. Positive notes were that the watch is durable and versatile.
How to use it
- Three separate timers on the main display
- Durable, water resistant design
- LED light for night games
- Some of the timers are a little bit finicky and difficult to program the way that you want to
- The battery can actually die pretty quickly, according to customers
- Multiple different beeps when counting down, which is a bit overkill.
What makes the product stand out?
The Spintso Soccer Referee Watch is the most expensive watch by far that we are reviewing, and in turn appears to have the most to offer.
Benefits
Tons of features and multiple displays to track everything that you could possibly need in the middle of a soccer game. This definitely appears to be a watch for the pros and seasoned refs, or those with a healthy budget.
Reviews
Overall, customers seemed very pleased with the professional quality and grade of this watch. The only complaint was the the start/stop button, which is the button that is used most frequently, wears out kind of quickly. Occasionally, you will have to open up the watch and readjust and clean the start/stop button.
How to use It
- Professional design
- Four timers on the main display
- Large watch display that is easy to read
- Higher price
- This watch does need a little maintenance with the start/stop buttons
- The instructions aren’t the easiest to understand.
IV) Values and Choosing the Right Watch
How to Choose the Best Soccer Referee Watch for you
Choosing the right referee watch for you more or less comes down to
- What context you are using it in (pro or recreational)
- How long you have been refereeing
- What your personal budget is for your watch
Those three components are the guidelines that you should use when purchasing the right soccer referee watch.
Advantages of Referee Watches
The advantage of referee specific watches vs. normal digital watches are that they have features that are specifically suited and customized for timekeeping during soccer games. You just can’t do the same things with a standard digital watch
Things to Look For in Your Football Referee Watch
You want to make sure that you have a large display and the ability to customize multiple timers when running a game. At very least you are going to need count up, count down timers, and stoppage time timers so that you don’t lose track of the game. Make sure that your watch is durable and that you don’t have any problems with the buttons, or if your watch may, make sure that you have a warranty.
The Best Way to Use Your Watch
The best way to use these products is to keep them for reffing games, and to not wear them around when you’re off of the soccer field. That will make them last longer and hold up better.
V) Who did We Rank as Best?
At the end, there was one clear winner that stood out to us. The Spintso Soccer Referee Watch was without a doubt, the winner in our minds. Though it is pricey, Spintso is the top dog when it comes to consistently producing the best soccer referee watch. It has a large display, tons of features and settings, and virtually meets all of your needs whether you are a new rec league ref or you are refereeing for the pros.
