This Ultra-Affordable Daily Field Watch Gets a User-Friendly Update

If there is one style of watch that makes the most sense to have a solar quartz movement, it’s a field watch.

So, Dryden went ahead and updated its Heartlander field watch with solar power and, in the process, created one of the best sub-$300 daily-wearing options on the market.

Dryden Watch Co.

Dryden is a young American watch brand located in Kansas City, Missouri, where it assembles and regulates every watch. The brand’s catalog is limited, but all the bases are covered with a diver, a chronograph and a field watch — all priced well under $1,000.

Introduced in 2022, the Heartlander field watch is a tribute to the beautiful landscapes of Kansas, where the company’s founder, Jerry Wang, grew up. It debuted as a 38mm automatic time-only with a dial strongly influenced by the Tudor Ranger, placed on a President-style steel bracelet.

Dryden Watch Co.

While the Heartlander collection has seen a dozen dial variations, including a fully lumed option and a few with date complications, it has always used automatic Miyota movements and the same Ranger-inspired hand set.

That all changes with the release of the Heartlander Solar, a time-and-date field watch powered by an Epson caliber VS42 solar quartz movement — a wholesale version of solar movements used by Orient.

Dryden Watch Co.

Along with the new movement comes a more traditional set of field watch hands and a quick-release FKM rubber strap with a pin-buckle clasp.

However, the Heartlander Solar’s most significant update is the price. The SRP of the already affordable Highlander automatic is nearly cut in half to $279.

Keep on the sunny side

The Heartlander Solar comes with a completely new dial design. Starting from the outside, it blends the ruler-style seconds track found on the time-only Heartlander with printed numeral hour makers, similar to those on the time-and-date dial.

Dryden Watch Co.

Dryden’s logo is still printed at 12 o’clock, but is now underlined with “solar,” and the script “Heartlander” is replaced with an all-caps sans-serif font.

A date window, positioned at six o’clock on the automatic, is now at three o’clock, featuring a simple line frame.

The printed hour marker numerals and adjacent dots, along with all three hands, are coated with blue-glowing Super-LumiNova.

Dryden Watch Co.

The Heartlander Solar debuts with four dial colors: green, blue, black and gray. All four dials are decorated entirely with white, except for the “Heartlander” marking, which is yellow on the green and gray dials.

New field hands

The Heartlander Solar features the same 38mm elliptical brushed steel case as the original version, which includes a smaller signed crown updated for later references. A black PVD coating is applied to the black dial reference.

The most striking visual change for the new solar update is an entirely new set of hands. The Ranger-inspired hands are replaced with beveled syringe hour and minute hands, and an arrow-shaped seconds hand.

Dryden Watch Co.

All four colors feature a brushed steel texture on the hands. However, the seconds hand on the gray dial is tipped with yellow, and on the blue dial, it’s tipped with red.

Availability and price

Dryden’s light-powered update to the Heartlander field watch is a win all around. It has the same respectable specs for a sub-$600 watch — like AR-coated sapphire crystal, a brushed steel 38mm case and Super-LumiNova lume— and cuts the retail price of the automatic in half.

For anyone who isn’t a mechanical movement purist, Epson’s solar quartz movement is a reliable, user-friendly upgrade that is both easier and more affordable to own than a Miyota automatic.

The Heartlander Solar will be available from Dryden on November 7. The blue, green and gray dials cost $279, and the black dial with a PVD-coated case costs $289.

For anyone missing the Heartlander’s steel bracelet, it will be available on the solar version in December, and Dryden has an entire catalog of straps for sale.

Dryden Watch Co.

Dryden Heartlander Solar

Specs

Case Size	38mm
Movement	Epson caliber VS42 solar quartz
Water Resistance	100m

• $279 at Dryden Watch Co.

Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases? Add Gear Patrol as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.

Related Topics