I've started to get games as a back judge (normally line judge). I have a Timex watch with a countdown timer. I set it for twenty seconds. When it has counted down twenty it will start to beep. When it beeps I start my five second count. It is loud enough for me to hear but no one else can hear it.

The great thing is I never have to look at my watch. If I want to give more than a 25 second clock it's easy to reset. I also don't have to worry about rain.

There are 2 problems with the ordinary Timex Ironman watches (which I have worn forever): first, you don't want an audible beep -- particularly if you are on the line or working the 25 as R like I did yesterday (no clock; had BJ run the clock). If its late in the game or a team is way up and I don't want to flag the 25, the beep will go off and might be heard.

The second, and more serious problem, is that the start/stop button are different AND the stop button and reset are the same. Since the reset will reset the time without holding down the button for a few seconds, this is a terribly flawed design. I have lost the time before because I accidentally hit the stop/reset button twice when I only wanted to hit it once. Don't use the Timex to time the game.

You're right on the second problem. It took my a while to get used to the flaw. I reset the clock in a few little league games before I got the hang of it.

No one but me can hear the beep on my Timex when I'm at BJ so I don't really see the problem with an audible beep.