We usually flew relatively short legs and I used an analogue watch with a black dial and white luminous numbers and a rotatable bezel. (Also easy to read in the middle of the night without my specs on!)
When over a turning point, it took only a few seconds to rotate the bezel to zero over the minute hand. If the next leg was, say 13 minutes, it was quick & easy to read the time off the bezel. Certainly quicker for me than to add 13 minutes to 14:49 and come up with 15:02, and then write it down....
Assuming your plot included the the time from leg to leg, all that was needed was to rotate the bezel at each turning point.
This was a few years ago, now, so I expect few PPLs today sit down with a map, draw lines on it, use the wizz-wheel and then write it all down...
Oh and yes, I did buy a digital stop watch, but rarely used it, but then I didn't go for an instrument rating - just enjoyed 'plot & bash' on nice days.
I wonder how long the 'pilot's watch thread will take to come round again?
Finally, I bought a Casio digital watch when I retired, because it had the DAY on it as well as everything else. It has a 10 year (claimed) battery life and keeps time to within better than 10 seconds a
year. Not bad for £14...
