When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Home < Real Spy Gear Gadgets < Reviews and Buying Guides < Best Spy Watch
The Best Spy Watch: Our Top Choices
Using a spy watch to covertly record some incriminating evidence of dirty deeds at work, or of a cheating spouse, can help build your case. Just slip the spy camera watch over your wrist and off you go. Record what you need at a touch of a button without arousing suspicion.
Spy watches are used in undercover work by private investigators, journalists, legal professionals, and surveillance operatives, as well as the public, and have been known to record some very extreme evidence. But is there such a thing as the best spy watch in the world? That’s impossible to say, but we’ve got some great choices of what we consider to be the best spy camera watches we’ve found so far. Check out our list below.
How We Chose The Best Spy Watches
The spy watches listed below have been selectively chosen by a former security specialist and private investigator with many years experience and understanding of real spy gadgets, and what is needed to meet a professional spy watch. The following watches were chosen among many based on their covert look, ease of use, technical functions, and value for money. Our list of the best spy watches is not in any particular order but simply a list of those we would personally buy and use.
Quick Guide: How to Choose The Best Spy Camera Watch
Here is a quick buying guide with some important aspects you should consider when buying a spy watch. We cover these technical specifications later in our in-depth buying guide, but for starters, here's what to look for:
- Covert and looks like a normal wrist watch.
- Durability of the watch strap.
- Position of the built-in watch camera.
- Simple to operate on/off and record buttons.
- Good audio and video quality.
- Adequate internal data storage for your images and video.
- Long battery life.
- Date and time stamp on your images / video recordings.
As we said, this is a brief look at the specifications you will want in a quality spy watch and you will find out more later on. In the mean-time, check out our top spy watches below:
Our List of The Best Spy Watches
Hidden camera smart watch with 64GB memory card. 1080p 30fps HD video with audio recording. Takes photos. Time stamp. Easy function.
Buying Guide: How to Choose The Best Spy Watch
Having seen an increased interest in buying spy watches we thought it appropriate to give out some sound guidelines and tips for choosing the best quality spy camera watch to buy. We cover the most fundamental technical aspects that make a covert spy watch a good choice. Here they are:
Covert Look
As with any great spy camera, the best spy watch will always be the one that looks and works like a normal wrist watch, and not one that looks like something from out of an old spy movie. The watch will be one that goes unnoticed on the wrist and just appears to be a normal watch. When buying a spy watch, be mindful of anything that looks odd such as an overly visible camera lens or blinking lights when recording.
Durability of The Watch Strap
When choosing to buy a good quality covert watch make sure the watch strap is strong and can be replaced easily. Not all spy watches have removable straps and if not robust enough can break over time. If the watch strap or buckle breaks, you will be left with a spy watch camera you can't use as intended - to be placed on your wrist.
Position of The Watch's Built-in Spy Camera
Spy watches have a built-in spy camera positioned usually in one of two places - on the face (built into the clock dial or digital display) or on the uppermost side. Neither position is wrong, but you will want to choose which camera position you think would suit you best.
Ease of Use
This is by far one of the most important aspects of a good spy watch. The best spy camera watch (once sitting on your wrist) needs to be simple to operate in order to avoid any suspicious behavior. The record on-off switch needs to be a simple one-touch on-off function, to avoid mistakes and failing to get that crucial undercover recording needed as evidence.
Quality of Recording
No spy watch is of any use if the video and audio recording is of poor quality. The watch's secret recording should playback in good quality with the function to download onto other media, such as computer or SD card. Ideally, recordings will be in HD (high definition), but remember, the higher the quality (as in high definition) the bigger the file and storage space needed.
A warning on analog spy watches: if your watch has audio or sound record (not all do) you may get a recorded ticking sound in the background of the audio recording. Check with the manufacturer or seller to find out if this is the case.
Recording Time
The amount of recording time boils down to the hidden camera watch's internal storage. A good quality spy watch will have plenty of storage space for longer recordings; but remember, this is a watch and space is limited. Some watches will have built-in storage and some can be fitted with a removable SD card. Preferably, choose a watch that has an SD card (rather than built-in) storage function, as you can always keep spare SD cards in your pocket. This way, if on long surveillance tasks, you can make excuses to go to the toilet and swap SD cards over. You can't do that with in-built storage.
Battery Power
Battery power is vitally important as you don’t want the watch to stop recording at that crucial moment. Obviously, a spy watch is a body worn piece of spy gear, so you can't connect it to the mains while you're spying on someone, so it is important to buy a spy watch that has long battery life.
Date and Time Stamp
Having the date and time recorded on the video, or image - taken by your watch - is important when considering using it as evidence in court. Having date and time not only corroborates when an incident has taken place, but also allows you to easily pinpoint specific moments on the surveillance recordings.