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The Best Spy Watch: Our Top 3 Choices

Best Spy WatchUsing 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 reviews below.
Quick List: Our Top 3 Best Spy Watches
Spy camera watch supports video in 1920 x1080p resolution. Records audio. Takes single photos. 32GB memory card. Built-in IR lights. Time-stamp.
Hidden camera smart watch with 64GB memory card. 1080p 30fps HD video with audio recording. Takes photos. Time stamp. Easy function.
Hidden camera watch with time display. 32GB memory card with 1080P HD video and audio. Time-stamp. Loop-recording.

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:

A Complete Review of The Best Spy Watches We Like

by a former security specialist and private investigator

This spy watch review has been conducted by a former security specialist and private investigator, who has many years of 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.

ATTIUDE Spy Watch with Camera


ATTIUDE Best Spy Watch with Camera

Covert Look: The Attiude spy watch has the traditional analog clock-face look. It is very stylish and can be used and worn as a normal watch. Overall, it is very difficult to distinguish this spy camera watch from an ordinary one, which is why we chose it for our best spy watch list.

Watch Strap Durability: The strap on the Attiude watch is one that can be replaced easily if broken, as it is not made of genuine leather, so there is no worry about the watch becoming obsolete if the strap snaps.

Camera Position: The watch's camera lens in the Attiude is at the 6 O'clock position on the dial and points out at a 90-degree angle from the watch face. So, you will need to point the face of this spy watch at your target. Next to the camera are 2 small infra-red lights at the 5 and 7 O'clock positions for night-vision.

Ease of Use: It's very easy to use the Attiude spy camera watch in the field with a simple push of only one button. Press the power button in for 2 seconds to turn the camera on, then click once to record, and click again to stop recording.

Quality of Recording: The watch records video at a resolution of 1920x1080P in HD and produces quality video. In low light, it switches automatically to black and white night vision mode and uses its in-built IR lights - in this mode, the recording quality is suitable at short range but not perfect. Being that this is an analogue spy watch, a subtle ticking noise can be heard in the recording; this is not ideal but it isn't a major problem.

Recording Time: The Attiude camera watch comes with a 32GB memory card which gives plenty of recording space to play with.

Battery Power: For a one-charge battery power you will get about 90 minutes of usage before you need to recharge it. The watch comes with a USB cable for charging.

Date and Time Stamp: Yes. The video is also date and time stamped which is always a plus point.

Other Data: It is not waterproof. For a good spy watch that it is, the instructions are poorly written.

BINRRIO Spy Camera Watch


BINRRIO Best Spy Camera Watch

Covert Look: The BINRRIO is one of the best smart watch spy cameras we chose. It has a nice sleek modern look that is similar in design to ordinary smart watches. It displays date, time, and available battery charge, nothing more. There are no red visible recording lights, but it does have a small discreet icon display on the screen once you press the record button. After which, the icon and screen goes completely blank, so it doesn't cause suspicion in those being recorded.

Watch Strap Durability: We found the watch strap to be strong, but it's unfortunate that it's crafted together with the main watch piece. And, although there are no reports on this strap breaking, if it did, the watch would be obsolete as a spy watch. The fact that the strap is relatively good helped to get it into our best spy watch review list.

Camera Position: The hidden camera in the BINRRIO smart watch sits out of sight near the bottom, behind the glass-looking face. To capture video, or take photos, you will need to point the watch face directly at the target.

Ease of Use: There are two buttons on the side: a joint power / photo shooting button, and video record button. Pushing the power button puts the camera watch into standby, you can then push either the power button again to take a photo or the upper button to record video. It is a very simple process.

Quality of Recording: The BINRRIO spy camera watch can record video with audio, as well as take photos. The recording quality is very good in normal light conditions, but in low light it is a bit of a problem, so we recommend using this product primarily in well-lit locations. With the watch's 1080P HD video at 30fps, recording in light conditions, your video playback quality will be very good.

Recording Time: This watch has a built-in 64 GB memory (approximately 180 minutes of recording time). You cannot remove or add other memory.

Battery Power: The watch has a data/charging port on the side and comes with its own cable. One battery charge can last well over a week, once fully charged, when used in watch mode only. The battery will last 2-3 hours while recording with camera.

Date and Time Stamp: Yes.

Other Data: Does not connect to WIFI.

YVOER Spy Watch Camera


YVOER Best Spy Watch Camera

Covert Look: The YVOER spy watch wasn't favorite in terms of general look and style: this was a personal viewpoint and not a practical fault of the watch itself. It does have the ability to be covert and blends in very well with other smart watches on the market. This is an actual watch that will keep time, but it has a sneaky sliding lock-screen button on the side that helps lock the time display in view while the camera is recording. This means, whoever is being recorded, won't know.

Watch Strap Durability: The watch strap is pretty strong and if it breaks, from continued usage of the watch, you can easily replace it because it is detachable.

Camera Position: As with most smart spy watches, the hidden camera in the YVOER is behind the watch screen. So, the usual practice of pointing the screen in the direction of the target, to be recorded, is standard procedure.

Ease of Use: The functions of this watch are easy to learn. It has a power on/off button, and a + and - button that allows the user to enter record, video playback, and photo modes.

Quality of Recording: It records 30fps in 1080P video, which seems to be the standard for most of these hidden camera watches, so the quality of video will be good. It also takes photos.

Recording Time: The YVOER spy watch has an in-built 32 GB storage card that will record about 2 hours' worth of continual video surveillance.

Battery Power: The battery power lasts about 30 days in normal watch standby mode.

Date and Time Stamp: Yes.

Other Data: This watch has loop recording, so any surveillance video taken by the watch needs to be saved, or it will get recorded over.

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.
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