What is a daily watch? What does make it a daily watchedwatch? Are only sport watches considered daily watches?

For me a daily watch is one I don’t have to think about too much, not a specialist watch like a diver or anything too fancy or delicate - I can see how many vintage watches could work as you have said, for me a pilot watch is perfect. 

I love pilot watches I think it is a great everyday watch because the good readability (looking for the longines spirit 37)

I think most people would agree that a gold watch will suffer cosmetically unless one lives a very genteel life. It's all about risk acceptance. A few years ago a ~$33 Timex was my dress watch that was too nice to wear to work.  Now I toss on vintage, mechanical, whatever (except for gold) with abandon. If I need to do something risky, I can take it off and stuff it in my pocket.

You do remind me that I meant to start a thread on how people are washing hands that they are so concerned about watch damage. Maybe I'm not thorough enough, but I can wash my hands without getting water on watch or band. For several years I've had a quartz watch where I literally lost the crown and stem. There is an open hole in the case. It has not suffered any effects of water penetration despite wear in rain, normal hand washing, etc. 

My suspicion is that there is a bit of Walter Mitty-ism and/or reverse snobbery machismo in the tool watch crowd. My life is not an action movie. I live a civilized existence of typical modern comfort and safety. I'm smart enough to avoid submerging a watch or smacking it violently. It would be folly to fret about fantastical scenarios when the biggest threat to a watch is accidentally dropping it when putting it on or taking it off. 

In fact straps have suffered the most for me, with good leather straps failing prematurely from getting too wet too often, maybe I’m just clumsy! I do prefer leather to rubber or a bracelet but am trying a rubber “leather look“ strap right now. I do think, now we are travelling again, stations and airports are they highest risk areas for bumps and bashes - agreed that generally though a 300 metre, shock proof, anti-magnetic is likely way more than we might need, though in fact most of our watches are a hugely over-engineered solution, but one we love for the art and engineering.

Your last point is right on.  Ditto for those who need a Range Rover or lifted Jeep for the challenging trip to the grocery store.  You never know when the street will get washed out on the way there or home.  Many times I have looked at products and thought “I wish I lived an exciting enough life to need that”.  (Example: the multitalented G-Shock GWG2000.)

Having accidentally ripped out a crown and stem from my daily work watch, I can tell you that latex caulk works well to seal the hole.

Oscar point out an interesting point about gold, year gold is in some way difficult to use for daily life and yes  we don't live in an action movie we can easily put on our wrist everything. (Even tough we always care about the safety of our watches ahhahaha)

The 2 things I want from my watches are dependability and endurance. at work I do a lot of stuff so I appreciate a watch that I can wear while sticking my hands into a toilet tank or smacking into a dishwasher. I'm sure that my SNK807 or even Pro Diver can take what I put up with, but I like to play it safe and wear my g shocks at work usually.

I broadly agree that people worry too much about the specs, but I think you're being a bit harsh on the "tool watch crowd", and assigning malice where there is none. 

Many/most people buy things because they aspire to be more active, more refined, more outdoorsy, etc... I know people that own multiple suits they have only worn once because they wanted to have it so they could dress up more often. I also know people who own jeeps so they can go off-roading, but rarely take their Jeep down roads I wouldn't put my little car down. I own an expensive backpacking tent because I wanted to get into backpacking for fun, rather than work... Turns out the only time the tent gets used is when I pull up to a campsite in my car.  

People buy tool watches for the same reasons people buy "everyday" or dress watches, because they like them.  

Oh, I also agree with the hand washing thing... unless you're a surgeon why are you washing up your wrists constantly?

Right now, my daily is a watch that can stand up to the rigors of fatherhood. Before, I was fine with dress watches. Definitely agree that it depends on the type of person you are!

I do think some people mix-up GADA and everyday watches, though of course they do have huge overlaps.

I don't have very many watches, but those that I do have need to meet a very loose set of criteria qualifying them as appropriate for daily wear.  They have to be:

• Comfortable
• Durable (enough that if I fall off my bike, smack it on something, or wear it to the gym it won't fall apart)
• Water resistant (within reason, I'm not setting free diving records at lunch, but I don't want to worry about taking it off for the shower/pool/etc.)

A daily watch for me is something like a basic field watch or pilot watch. Something simple, legible, durable, reliable, comfortable, and doesn't attract attention. Right now, my daily watches are Seiko 5s, Sinn 556, or Hamilton Khaki Field. A simple dive watch can work too. I do like to have a timing bezel. But it really just comes down to whatever you like.

I keep a bunch of sub $5.00 watches to beat up working on stuff. Most times I wear a watch I customized.

The watch which you are most comfortable with becomes the daily driver .... In my case i rotate almost 9 watches thru the month intentionally ... That means almost all gets even wear .... That's my goal ... Wear everything that i have ... Can't keep it inside the vault and later regret not using it 😂

I rotate watches so often it’s difficult to have a true daily. Most of mine are vintage. It is what you make of it.

I think we all define our ‘everday’ a bit differently- thus our varying definitions. 
My rough and tumble daily routine would destroy most dress watches, so sporty I a-go.  
If I worked in an office and drove a car to work I’d likely only wear crocodile strapped white gold with 3 atm of WR 

Great points my friend.  

As a member of tool watch appreciation club - I have a bias in reverse - I generally assume the average person has much more of a action movie lifestyle than is realistic.

My daily habits include:

I ride bikes to commute to work and Itrain for bike races everyday.  The vibrations of the handlebar at speed make me worry for my watches, probably not good for them.

Also love swimming a few times a week.  And work is rough: I wash my hands a dozen times a day and handle heavy steel heart lung machines.

Sadly, my hobbies of kayaking and sailing destroyed one of my watches that was rated for 150m - I didn’t go that deep!  So now I don’t trust under 200m ratings.  🙄
I often worry I’m being too hard on my beloved tool watches. 

Since I tend to think I’m completely normal, it seems unbelievable anyone could get by with a leather strap or 3atm WR… but then my wife reminds me that I’m kind of a freak.  😂

Every morning I wake up, I look at my watch box with 52 watches in it and I pick up the next one in order.  I go from top to bottom, so that becomes my daily for the day.  The rule is whatever I pick at that moment, has to stay on my wrist until the next day.  I work from home, so it's really just for me and helps keep my OCD in check.  lol

52?!??  Dam 🦫!

jealous of course.  My count is at …6 functional , but only 3 practical choices.   

Gotta admire the discipline you exhibit.  I fear I’d still cycle between 5 or 6 no matter how many I accumulate!

I've done that too.  : )  To be clear they are not 52 luxury watches, but mostly Timex watches in the $200 range.  The crazy thing is I bought them all in the last 16 months.  Did I say I had OCD?  lol

I like a relatively small pilot or field with NATO strap unless I'm playing golf or doing something physical. Then I wear a G Shock.