Budget Dress Watches

[KaiserBill]

And budget I actually mean 'budget' unlike some other threads here.


I am looking for a dress watch somewhere in the $100-200 CDN range that is basically just a nice, traditional, durable watch that will tell me the time and not look of place with a suit.

I also strongly desire for it to have all of the numerals though whether they are Arabic or Roman does not matter. I think I could live just fine with a quartz.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to look? I have been trying to find watches at local stores for some time but haven't had much luck finding anything nice, let alone something that fits.

 

[12345Michael54321]

If the requirements call for "a nice, traditional, durable watch that will tell me the time and not look of place with a suit," there are many thousands of contenders in your price range. You could go to amazon.com and spend a few hours looking at what's available there.

Your desire that it have all the numerals cuts the field down a lot. For various stylistic reasons, only a small percentage of watches will feature the numbers 1 thru 12 on the dial - and an even smaller percentage of dress watches. Still, I'm certain you could find at least a couple of hundred without any significant effort.

Any particular reason for your "all the numerals" requirement? Like I say, it's not generally regarded as a favorable design element. Mind you, if that's just what you like, so be it; there's nothing inherently offensive about it.

Because of the extremely broad selection, I see no point in arbitrarily giving two or three specific makes/models. Better that you narrow it down to a few watches you like, then post pictures of them here and ask for comments. Despite this, I'd wager money someone will offer a specific recommendation. Probably for a Seiko 5. (Not necessarily a bad choice.) Or maybe some dive watch the better part of an inch thick, with at least 3 sub-dials. (Not a particularly appropriate choice in this case.)

In general, so long as the watch has an uncomplicated dial in white, black, or perhaps some sort of silver/grey, and it isn't overly large, there's a good chance it'd look okay with a suit. Particularly if it's on a leather strap, as opposed to a metal bracelet. (Not saying that a watch on a metal bracelet can never work with a suit, just that traditionally such wristwatches are more typically for sport than for dress.)

(pictured above - the very popular Seiko 5 - SNKL41 - on a black Hadley Roma strap) (not my picture, and used simply to illustrate a durable, widely available wristwatch which looks right with a suit)

 

[Andy57]

Look at Orient.

 

[Dirt]

Not sure if you saw this thread but it's been very helpful to me in deciding a good starting point. Tons of options, pics and a helpful bunch of guys

http://www.styleforum.net/t/223261/poor-mans-watch-thread

 

[KaiserBill]

If the requirements call for "a nice, traditional, durable watch that will tell me the time and not look of place with a suit," there are many thousands of contenders in your price range. You could go to amazon.com and spend a few hours looking at what's available there.

Your desire that it have all the numerals cuts the field down a lot. For various stylistic reasons, only a small percentage of watches will feature the numbers 1 thru 12 on the dial - and an even smaller percentage of dress watches. Still, I'm certain you could find at least a couple of hundred without any significant effort.


Any particular reason for your "all the numerals" requirement? Like I say, it's not generally regarded as a favorable design element. Mind you, if that's just what you like, so be it; there's nothing inherently offensive about it.

Because of the extremely broad selection, I see no point in arbitrarily giving two or three specific makes/models. Better that you narrow it down to a few watches you like, then post pictures of them here and ask for comments. Despite this, I'd wager money someone will offer a specific recommendation. Probably for a Seiko 5. (Not necessarily a bad choice.) Or maybe some dive watch the better part of an inch thick, with at least 3 sub-dials. (Not a particularly appropriate choice in this case.)

In general, so long as the watch has an uncomplicated dial in white, black, or perhaps some sort of silver/grey, and it isn't overly large, there's a good chance it'd look okay with a suit. Particularly if it's on a leather strap, as opposed to a metal bracelet. (Not saying that a watch on a metal bracelet can never work with a suit, just that traditionally such wristwatches are more typically for sport than for dress.)




(pictured above - the very popular Seiko 5 - SNKL41 - on a black Hadley Roma strap) (not my picture, and used simply to illustrate a durable, widely available wristwatch which looks right with a suit)

My preference for all of the numerals is primarily practical, I simply have a hard time reading watches or clocks that omit numerals and including the numerals will save me some annoyance. I also think they look better with the numerals.


Thanks for the suggestion for Amazon, I recall browsing about some time ago and not having much luck, but I was also very suspicious about quality.

Not sure if you saw this thread but it's been very helpful to me in deciding a good starting point. Tons of options, pics and a helpful bunch of guys

http://www.styleforum.net/t/223261/poor-mans-watch-thread

I had seen that thread before, but I felt that an Omega was not my definition of a 'poor man's watch' - I'll look into it again.

 

[Dirt]

Yeah, the first post is a bit misleading because the guy is talking about an Omega but it quickly changes pace to a real "poor man's watch" discussion. Good luck!

 

[RogerP]

Seiko 5 and you're done.

 

[KaiserBill]

Seiko 5 and you're done.

Do you mean these?

They look more like a diver's watch to me, rather sporty and thick looking which isn't quite the look I was going for with a dress watch. I was thinking that something a little less noticeable would be ideal.

The lack of numerals would also probably drive me nuts, though I do notice that a couple of them have little 24 hour times on which would be useful.




I've been thinking about Stauer as I've read some good reviews of them (though also some rather negative ones) I do like the general style of Stauer watches, and as this watch is strictly intended as a very cheap basic 'starter' watch - the idea is that I will hopefully be able to upgrade to something really good inside 4-5 years, I think Chinese manufacture shouldn't be a deal breaker.

What do people think? Are they relatively durable?

These were a few Stauer watches I was thinking of:
http://www.stauer.com/item/stauer-vendage-watch-29722/29722

http://www.stauer.com/item/stauer-magnificat-ii-mens-timepiece-20194/20194

And some quartz

http://www.stauer.com/item/stauer-metropolitan-watch-17961/17961

http://www.stauer.com/item/stauer-ultimate-slim-timepiece-18903/18903 (ultra thin)

http://www.stauer.com/item/stauer-octagon-mens-watch-28348/28348


Orient has a couple of watches that I like the look of as well.
http://www.orient-watch.com/products/category/item/?category_id=218

 

[12345Michael54321]



Do you mean these?

No, those are Seiko 5 Sports watches. You've indicated you're interested in a dress watch, not a sports watch.

 

[DapperDriver]

I've got one of these on a nice plain black leather strap:

http://www.jomashop.com/tissot-classic-t033-410-16-013-01.html

It's a quartz movement, but a sapphire crystal at that price point seemed nice. It sees maybe two dozen wears a year, but it fits the bill for weddings and similar events.

 

[RogerP]

Do you mean these?

No.. See post 2 for an example of what I meant.

 

[Megakurth]

I recommend taking a look at Seagull/Rodina. They make some great watches at the price point you are looking for.

http://www.seagullwatchstore.com/ is the best place to buy them as it's directly from the manufacturers USA store and comes with the warranty, etc. However, you can find their watches on Amazon, Ebay, even some OEM unbranded versions online.

http://www.seagullwatchstore.com/Cl...st-Bauhaus-Watch-p/r005-arabic-white-dial.htm - this is a classic bauhaus style with a mechanical movement.

I have http://good-stuffs.com/Sea-Gull-D819612-hand-winding-wrist-watch-thin-design_p_256.html and couldn't be happier.

 

[Twotone]

I own several Seiko 5's and this Rodina. Both are great choices. The Rodina get more wrist time than the Seikos. The Rodina is $120 and Seiko $60. Lots of after market leather and nylon strap choices to dress them up or down.

 

[youtubs]

Nice spam.

 

[jiredell]

It sounds like keeping accurate time is important to you, hence wanting to be able to read said time with ease (the numerals), so I think you’re right to want a quartz movement. That’s going to be consistently more accurate than and automatic or a hand-winding movement. If you were interested in hand-winding (which, honestly, I think you’d only want because you think that old school technology is kinda cool), I’d suggest a vintage Soviet model. They’re cheap and look cool. The watch on the top (w/ the gold dial) is a Raketa. It cost me $40. I like the way it looks and I’m into the hand-winding movement. It doesn’t keep perfect time. I usually lose about 3 minutes by the end of the day. I will get it serviced at some point. But I’ve also got an iPhone, where all the alerts for meetings and whatnot are anyway. The watch is more just for me, cuz I like it. Everything I’ve just said prob won’t help you; I don’t know. But at least that model about does have all the numerals. Cheers.