~$1K watch for a business casual work environment

mistmaker · May 13, 2014

Hi, I've been out of school for a couple of years now and I work in finance on the west coast, so we have a relatively laid back office environment in terms of dress code. I've finally decided its time to purchase my first real watch. I'm looking for something under/around $1,000. Ideally, I would like something that I could wear with business casual, on weekends, and occasionally with suits (no tie). Do the good folks of SF have any suggestions? Just as a starting point, here's the watch I like the most from the research I've done up to this point:

gotitwenineed · May 13, 2014

go to the poor mans watch thread... Plenty of advice there

mistmaker · May 13, 2014

Thanks, I'll check it out. Do you have any personal favorites that you think might be suitable for me?

TradThrifter · May 13, 2014

If I only had around 1000 bucks to spend on a watch I'd probably get an Oris Pointer Date. Now that's a cool piece. Or you can just spend half the amount and go for a nice Hamilton Jazzmaster.

Cant kill da Rooster · May 13, 2014

Based on your pic, it looks like you are looking for a diver, black dial, black rotating bezel, steel case, bracelet.

If that's right, then I would probably recommmend a Longines Hydro Conquest. New they are too much but you can find them slightly used at your price point ranging in size from 39mm and 41mm.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/fs...t-41-mm-blue-ref-l3-642-4-96-6-a-1020435.html

http://www.longines.com/watches/longines-hydroconquest

Also, Steinhart Ocean or Seiko.

Wayward · May 13, 2014

Fok literally had started a poll for this 2 weeks ago:

http://www.styleforum.net/t/387821/top-5-sports-watches-under-1000-a-contest

Lots of great choices highlighted by SF members.

gotitwenineed · May 14, 2014

Hamilton Jazzmaster

johng70 · May 14, 2014

Some things to keep in mind:
1. If you choose an automatic you should/do have to have it serviced periodically. That could be several hundred dollars.

2. When you start looking into dive type watches that you might want to wear with a suit: make sure they fit under shirt sleeves. I have a Oris Diver Date watch and it doesn't fit under buttoned cuffs on a lot of my shirts. Whereas an Omega Speedmaster does. You can't tell just on the spec sizes.

3. Stainless bracelets looks nice and go with a lot of attire, but if you're wearing it all the time - especially with short sleeves, expect it to get dinged up a bit. I prefer wearing my Oris (with rubber bracelet) for most of my down time. I put on my Hamilton or Omega if going out but bottom line I really scratched the heck out of an old Tag watch and OEM steel bracelets are EXPENSIVE to replace.

4. Especially when selecting more "interesting" faces, make sure you can still use the watch for the purpose of telling time. Some watches, Like my Jazzmaster Chrono - which has silver hands, and silver faces for stop watch and silver tick marks is tough to read. Every other watch I have (4 others) is much easier to read the time on. It probably wouldn't be so bad if it weren't a chrono but the hands get a bit "lost" in the 2 chrono faces.

5. I would advise trying a watch on to see how it looks on your wrist. Sometimes a small watch on big wrist can look bad and vice versa. Not a big deal when spending $100. But much bigger when spending $1000

6. Consider using places like jomashop.com and authenticwatches.com - you're buying grey market so not covered by manufacturer's warranty (they have their own) but they still have serial numbers so you can get them serviced. You can get watches at about 40% off that way. Of course this goes against point 5 above. Sorry, can't help on that dichotomy

mistmaker · May 15, 2014

Thanks, both those watches look great. I see a lot of different Jazzmaster models though, do you like the whole line or any models in particular?
Quote:

mistmaker · May 15, 2014

Cant kill da Rooster said:
Based on your pic, it looks like you are looking for a diver, black dial, black rotating bezel, steel case, bracelet.

If that's right, then I would probably recommmend a Longines Hydro Conquest. New they are too much but you can find them slightly used at your price point ranging in size from 39mm and 41mm.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/fs...t-41-mm-blue-ref-l3-642-4-96-6-a-1020435.html

http://www.longines.com/watches/longines-hydroconquest

Also, Steinhart Ocean or Seiko.

I really like the Longines Hydro Conquest. Looks like they're available for ~$1,200 on amazon, does that sound right to you? Or should I be worried about authenticity?

mistmaker · May 15, 2014

gotitwenineed said:
Hamilton Jazzmaster

Thanks, looks like they have a lot of different models - do you have a preference for any particular model?

mistmaker · May 15, 2014

Wayward said:
Fok literally had started a poll for this 2 weeks ago:

http://www.styleforum.net/t/387821/top-5-sports-watches-under-1000-a-contest

Lots of great choices highlighted by SF members.

Yeah, people had some great watches on there, but I also wanted to include dress watches or really any watch that would go with business casual and not limit myself to sports watches.

jeffd · May 15, 2014

There's this, too...

http://www.styleforum.net/t/387822/best-5-dress-watches-under-1k-a-contest/0_40

Out of that group, probably the Stowa and the Daniel Wellington are the only ones that appeal to me. Neither do so enough for me to buy them though. The only watches that are remotely affordable to me, and which truly speak to me are the NOMOS line. Of course, those are about twice your budget, more or less; but they may be worth your look regardless.

A few others that look nice...

Danish Design 975 - $225

Ole Mathiesen Classic - $990

Any of the Braun/Dieter Rams Series - $300

Jacob Jensen 601 - $400

mistmaker · May 16, 2014

johng70 said:
Some things to keep in mind:
1. If you choose an automatic you should/do have to have it serviced periodically. That could be several hundred dollars.

2. When you start looking into dive type watches that you might want to wear with a suit: make sure they fit under shirt sleeves. I have a Oris Diver Date watch and it doesn't fit under buttoned cuffs on a lot of my shirts. Whereas an Omega Speedmaster does. You can't tell just on the spec sizes.

3. Stainless bracelets looks nice and go with a lot of attire, but if you're wearing it all the time - especially with short sleeves, expect it to get dinged up a bit. I prefer wearing my Oris (with rubber bracelet) for most of my down time. I put on my Hamilton or Omega if going out but bottom line I really scratched the heck out of an old Tag watch and OEM steel bracelets are EXPENSIVE to replace.

4. Especially when selecting more "interesting" faces, make sure you can still use the watch for the purpose of telling time. Some watches, Like my Jazzmaster Chrono - which has silver hands, and silver faces for stop watch and silver tick marks is tough to read. Every other watch I have (4 others) is much easier to read the time on. It probably wouldn't be so bad if it weren't a chrono but the hands get a bit "lost" in the 2 chrono faces.

5. I would advise trying a watch on to see how it looks on your wrist. Sometimes a small watch on big wrist can look bad and vice versa. Not a big deal when spending $100. But much bigger when spending $1000

6. Consider using places like jomashop.com and authenticwatches.com - you're buying grey market so not covered by manufacturer's warranty (they have their own) but they still have serial numbers so you can get them serviced. You can get watches at about 40% off that way. Of course this goes against point 5 above. Sorry, can't help on that dichotomy

David Reeves · May 16, 2014

gotitwenineed said:
go to the poor mans watch thread... Plenty of advice there

Reeves suit as an Avatar, have you got one yet?

~$1K watch for a business casual work environment

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