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For anyone interested in purchasing a mechanical watch, there are plenty of brands making affordable mechanical timepieces today. Hamilton, Seiko, Tissot, Swatc

For anyone interested in purchasing a mechanical watch, there are plenty of brands making affordable mechanical timepieces today. Hamilton, Seiko, Tissot, Swatch, Orient, and Timex are a few that come to mind for the sub-$1000 category. It's a fun hobby with a nice community of enthusiasts. Some advice: * If possible, wear the watch before buying it. Seeing a watch on your wrist is different from seeing photos of it. * Avoid the "grey market" and buy from an Authorized Dealer. Grey market watches won't have the manufacturer warranty. * Avoid replicas and fakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U) Some links: * The Urban Gentry (https://www.youtube.com/user/theurbangentry https://www.youtube.com/user/theurbangentry) is a YouTube channel run by a horology enthusiast with a positive attitude who does lots of watch reviews. * The r/Watches subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/watches/ https://www.reddit.com/r/watches/) has lots of photos of watches contributed by the community. * A video on how mechanical watches work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1XBb7kJJWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1XBb7kJJWg * S-Town podcast (https://stownpodcast.org/ https://stownpodcast.org/) is an intriguing story about a man who repaired antique clocks. * Affordable Wrist Time (https://www.instagram.com/affordablewristtime/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/affordablewristtime/?hl=en) the tagline is "Promoting watches under $1000." Some terminology: * A quartz watch is usually powered by a battery. They tend to be cheaper and more accurate than mechanical watches. * A mechanical watch is powered by a mainspring. * An automatic watch has a semicircular rotor inside which automatically spins when the watch moves, winding the mainspring. * Hacking is a feature that stops the second hand from moving when the crown is pulled out.

KyleBrandt 8y ago
One other common terminology, any additional features are often called "complications". In particular others like me might enjoy the UTC/GMT complication, which often has a hand that goes around the watch once every 24 hours and can be set to another timezone like UTC. On another pro-watch note, I've discovered that a non-smartwatch has an pretty amazing feature: the ability to check the time without seeing any sort of notification.
- Abishek_Muthian 8y ago
  Now I know why Apple watch features are called 'complications', thank you.
  - andyjohnson0 8y ago
    I didn't know that. Seems like quite a brave decision to name them that way, as "complication" is likely to have a pejorative meaning for many users. Imagine if web apps were called complications.
    - Abishek_Muthian 8y ago
      Yes, a brave decision indeed; I was wondering how it was approved till I read the connection today.
ryanlol 8y ago
>* Avoid replicas and fakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U) Why? These days chinese factories are pushing superb 4130 clones for the price of a decent seiko. This guy in the video seems to know nothing at all about the chinese watch industry.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  Because that's immoral. You can get a non-replica Chinese watch.
  - ryanlol 8y ago
    Unless you try to sell the watch as real, why would it be immoral?
    - SamReidHughes 8y ago
      Tricking people into buying fake watches is their business model, and it's a violation of copyright and trademark.
      - ryanlol 8y ago
        >Tricking people into buying fake watches is their business model You know nothing about the business and are just coming up with things >and it’s a violation of copyright and trademark I’m not sure that this would make it immoral, and how does this affect the customer anyway? As far as immoral things businesses do this one seems extraordinarily mild, hardly any cause for boycott. I rather doubt this has anything to do with morals.
        SamReidHughes 8y ago
        It's a fact that when buying watches, you have to watch out for fakes, because people pass fake watches off as the real thing. > I’m not sure that this would make it immoral, and how does this affect the buyer anyway? It doesn't just affect the buyer. It affects the company being faked. And it's illegal, so you're helping a criminal enterprise.
SamReidHughes 8y ago
I'd say, don't avoid the gray market. You'll get lower prices, and you probably won't need to use the warranty. It's a net win, if the price drop is good enough. Many popular watches (e.g. JDM or non-USA-market Seikos) are only available gray-market in the USA.
- twblalock 8y ago
  That's fine for cheap watches, but once you get into the $500+ price range you are taking a big risk. If the watch has problems you'll need to pay out of pocket for repairs, and parts and service can be difficult to obtain for a watch not normally sold in your country.
  - SamReidHughes 8y ago
    That's right, you are -- but with these watches usually the movement is a basic standard one, and a movement swap is a cheap fix. You're already signing yourself up for that sort of cost, after a few years of wearing.
  - halbritt 8y ago
    Warranties cover defects which are few. A $500+ watch will need servicing after a few years, which is not covered and will generally run a few hundred dollars. Not really a "big risk".
    - coldtea 8y ago
      Not sure what your definition of gray market is, but there wont be any warranties usually...
      - emptyfile 8y ago
        He's saying warranties are mostly useless on watches.
        8y ago
twblalock 8y ago
Ironically there has never been a better time to buy an affordable mechanical watch than now. Quartz won because the mechanical watches that most people could afford in the 1970s were very inaccurate. A cheap quartz watch was more accurate than any mechanical watch and anybody could afford one by the late 1970s -- although they were very expensive at first. Affordable mechanical watches on the market today are much more accurate than they used to be, and they are perfectly good for everyday use.
- vernie 8y ago
  They're still nowhere near as accurate as quartz, even on the high end, and accuracy also varies depending on the orientation of the watch.
  - twblalock 8y ago
    That will always be true, but they are accurate enough for daily use. A 1970s mechanical Timex could gain or lose a few minutes a day. If you go a week without setting it the watch would be way off.
  - SamReidHughes 8y ago
    The Zenith Defy Lab watch has accuracy of -0.5/+0.5 seconds per day, which matches and/or beats quartz watches (that aren't thermocompensated). Rolexes, which have a classical movement design, are pretty close, promising -2/+2 spd. Quartz watches' accuracy also varies depending on orientation, for what it's worth. (It has an effect on the order of 1-2 seconds per year.) Related EEVBlog link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zILwgQhjC_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zILwgQhjC_Q
  - Tepix 8y ago
    I like Seiko's spring drive. It's an ingenious mix of mechanical and electric drive and it's quite accurate. My favourite part is the continuous motion of the seconds hand. They're not very cheap, unfortunately.
    - m_mueller 8y ago
ywnner_0001 8y ago
If you really want a mechanical watch, and you want to have it mean / be worth something, I'd suggest saving up for a Rolex. Mechanical watches have (and this has been said before) the Rolex problem. On the lower end of the scale, a lot of mechanical watches will borrow design cues from Rolex (e.g., most dive watches will share similarities with the Submariner) and will fall far short of the quality of one. On the higher end, you quickly end up at multiples of the cost of an entry-level Rolex with very questionable additional value, quality or longevity. Rolex is really in a sweet spot in terms of value. They're virtually indestructible, tend to keep their (or even grow in) value and make a number of elegant, understated watches that are iconic. For example, if you want a dive watch, buy a Sub (no date). While you might argue that Blancpain beat Rolex by a year for the quintessential dive watch, Rolex is the one that popularized it. You're not buying a dive watch, you're buying the dive watch as it has stood since the early 50s. They're not cheap, but they will undoubtedly last two generations, possibly more. Compared to the other luxury watch makers, they're downright cheap. JLC is another value-oriented brand and you're lucky to get into a watch for 2X what you'll pay for a Rolex. Patek and AP are much more expensive. The problem with the affordable brands is they cut a lot of corners with manufacturing (vs Rolex), use outsourced, less reliable movements and -- with the exception of some Seikos, have none of the cachet of Rolex. You can go a bit higher to say an Omega, but you're already ballpark Rolex, so is it worth it? The downside to buying a Rolex is it will probably kill your watch hobby. I used to collect watches and when I decided I did in fact like the story of Rolex, I bought one, strapped it on basically forgot about watches. The only watches I'm interested in now are so expensive I'll probably never bother to buy one. I will get to gift my Sub to my son in another decade or so at which time I'll get to go shopping again. So that's something to look forward to, but I'll mostly likely buy another Rolex.
- gambiting 8y ago
  So funny you should recommend Rolex, because I actually know a few people who own them(and they all bought them brand new) and the prevailing opinion is that they are absolute crap at actually being a watch - they just drift a lot in short amount of time - one of my friends says his is can be as much as 10 minutes out every month(!!!!!) and that's a 5k watch!!! I'm personally saving up for an Omega, you can get a timeless design for 2-3k, and those watches are truly indestructible and actually keep time accurately.
Balgair 8y ago
My recent employment upgrade has been nice and I am in the market for a good watch as a result (no longer a junior so I can wear something nicer now). That said, I'm looking for something that is more useful than anything. I mean, heck, if I'm going to drop this much on what is essentially jewelry, I might as well get all the use out if it that I can. Can you point me to any good communities that may be of assistance? I've tried r/watches before, but reddit's search algo is just terrible. Specifically, I'm looking for: - Waterproof up to ~30m, more is fine. - Complications of: Chronograph, Date, Tachymeter, Moon Phases (I surf when I have the time, so it's nice to know the tides and to wear the watch while surfing). - Sapphire/hardened glass for scratch resistance. - Bezel, as they are really cool. - Quartz is fine, accuracy is really nice, though mechanical is ok. - Standard 12 hour clock face, things like a Casio F-91W aren't the best ;) - I'm a fairly large person, so I can withstand a large/bulky face on the arm, if that helps at all. Thank you for any and all advice or recommendations, I appreciate it.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  If you mean a rotatable (dive) bezel, you’re looking for something very very specific. Also, if you take it surfing, you’d want screw down pushers if the watch is expensive. Even if you find a watch matching these specs, it probably won’t be what you want in terms of quality, looks, fit, or price. You should broaden your search.
  - Balgair 8y ago
    Thanks for the tips!
- spreiti 8y ago
  If you want to take it to the water it is usually recommended that the watch has 10bar (100m) water resistance. The Breitling Navitimer 01 would tick many of your boxes (Chronograph, (Logscale)Bezel, Date) and is an iconic watch. However you can't swim with it. Another iconic chronograph is the Zenith El Primero with the tri color dial. It is also WR to 100m. Then there is the Omega Speedmaster "Man on the Moon" Chronograph. Tudor also has a few nice watches: Black Bay Chrono, Black Bay Heritage, Black Bay 58, Black Bay GMT, Pelagos. If you want a fine Quartz watch have a look at Grand Seiko and Citizen Chronomaster. These are High Accuracy Quartz (HAQ) watches which means +/- 5-10 seconds a year depending on the model. For more classic looking watches have a look at Jaeger LeCoultre. I especially like their Masters collection.

KyleBrandt 8y ago

One other common terminology, any additional features are often called "complications". In particular others like me might enjoy the UTC/GMT complication, which often has a hand that goes around the watch once every 24 hours and can be set to another timezone like UTC. On another pro-watch note, I've discovered that a non-smartwatch has an pretty amazing feature: the ability to check the time without seeing any sort of notification.

Abishek_Muthian 8y ago
Now I know why Apple watch features are called 'complications', thank you.
- andyjohnson0 8y ago
  I didn't know that. Seems like quite a brave decision to name them that way, as "complication" is likely to have a pejorative meaning for many users. Imagine if web apps were called complications.
  - Abishek_Muthian 8y ago
    Yes, a brave decision indeed; I was wondering how it was approved till I read the connection today.

ryanlol 8y ago

>* Avoid replicas and fakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U) Why? These days chinese factories are pushing superb 4130 clones for the price of a decent seiko. This guy in the video seems to know nothing at all about the chinese watch industry.

SamReidHughes 8y ago
Because that's immoral. You can get a non-replica Chinese watch.
- ryanlol 8y ago
  Unless you try to sell the watch as real, why would it be immoral?
  - SamReidHughes 8y ago
    Tricking people into buying fake watches is their business model, and it's a violation of copyright and trademark.
    - ryanlol 8y ago
      >Tricking people into buying fake watches is their business model You know nothing about the business and are just coming up with things >and it’s a violation of copyright and trademark I’m not sure that this would make it immoral, and how does this affect the customer anyway? As far as immoral things businesses do this one seems extraordinarily mild, hardly any cause for boycott. I rather doubt this has anything to do with morals.
      - SamReidHughes 8y ago
        It's a fact that when buying watches, you have to watch out for fakes, because people pass fake watches off as the real thing. > I’m not sure that this would make it immoral, and how does this affect the buyer anyway? It doesn't just affect the buyer. It affects the company being faked. And it's illegal, so you're helping a criminal enterprise.

SamReidHughes 8y ago

I'd say, don't avoid the gray market. You'll get lower prices, and you probably won't need to use the warranty. It's a net win, if the price drop is good enough. Many popular watches (e.g. JDM or non-USA-market Seikos) are only available gray-market in the USA.

twblalock 8y ago
That's fine for cheap watches, but once you get into the $500+ price range you are taking a big risk. If the watch has problems you'll need to pay out of pocket for repairs, and parts and service can be difficult to obtain for a watch not normally sold in your country.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  That's right, you are -- but with these watches usually the movement is a basic standard one, and a movement swap is a cheap fix. You're already signing yourself up for that sort of cost, after a few years of wearing.
- halbritt 8y ago
  Warranties cover defects which are few. A $500+ watch will need servicing after a few years, which is not covered and will generally run a few hundred dollars. Not really a "big risk".
  - coldtea 8y ago
    Not sure what your definition of gray market is, but there wont be any warranties usually...
    - emptyfile 8y ago
      He's saying warranties are mostly useless on watches.
      - 8y ago

twblalock 8y ago

Ironically there has never been a better time to buy an affordable mechanical watch than now. Quartz won because the mechanical watches that most people could afford in the 1970s were very inaccurate. A cheap quartz watch was more accurate than any mechanical watch and anybody could afford one by the late 1970s -- although they were very expensive at first. Affordable mechanical watches on the market today are much more accurate than they used to be, and they are perfectly good for everyday use.

vernie 8y ago
They're still nowhere near as accurate as quartz, even on the high end, and accuracy also varies depending on the orientation of the watch.
- twblalock 8y ago
  That will always be true, but they are accurate enough for daily use. A 1970s mechanical Timex could gain or lose a few minutes a day. If you go a week without setting it the watch would be way off.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  The Zenith Defy Lab watch has accuracy of -0.5/+0.5 seconds per day, which matches and/or beats quartz watches (that aren't thermocompensated). Rolexes, which have a classical movement design, are pretty close, promising -2/+2 spd. Quartz watches' accuracy also varies depending on orientation, for what it's worth. (It has an effect on the order of 1-2 seconds per year.) Related EEVBlog link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zILwgQhjC_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zILwgQhjC_Q
- Tepix 8y ago
  I like Seiko's spring drive. It's an ingenious mix of mechanical and electric drive and it's quite accurate. My favourite part is the continuous motion of the seconds hand. They're not very cheap, unfortunately.
  - m_mueller 8y ago

ywnner_0001 8y ago

If you really want a mechanical watch, and you want to have it mean / be worth something, I'd suggest saving up for a Rolex. Mechanical watches have (and this has been said before) the Rolex problem. On the lower end of the scale, a lot of mechanical watches will borrow design cues from Rolex (e.g., most dive watches will share similarities with the Submariner) and will fall far short of the quality of one. On the higher end, you quickly end up at multiples of the cost of an entry-level Rolex with very questionable additional value, quality or longevity. Rolex is really in a sweet spot in terms of value. They're virtually indestructible, tend to keep their (or even grow in) value and make a number of elegant, understated watches that are iconic. For example, if you want a dive watch, buy a Sub (no date). While you might argue that Blancpain beat Rolex by a year for the quintessential dive watch, Rolex is the one that popularized it. You're not buying a dive watch, you're buying the dive watch as it has stood since the early 50s. They're not cheap, but they will undoubtedly last two generations, possibly more. Compared to the other luxury watch makers, they're downright cheap. JLC is another value-oriented brand and you're lucky to get into a watch for 2X what you'll pay for a Rolex. Patek and AP are much more expensive. The problem with the affordable brands is they cut a lot of corners with manufacturing (vs Rolex), use outsourced, less reliable movements and -- with the exception of some Seikos, have none of the cachet of Rolex. You can go a bit higher to say an Omega, but you're already ballpark Rolex, so is it worth it? The downside to buying a Rolex is it will probably kill your watch hobby. I used to collect watches and when I decided I did in fact like the story of Rolex, I bought one, strapped it on basically forgot about watches. The only watches I'm interested in now are so expensive I'll probably never bother to buy one. I will get to gift my Sub to my son in another decade or so at which time I'll get to go shopping again. So that's something to look forward to, but I'll mostly likely buy another Rolex.

gambiting 8y ago
So funny you should recommend Rolex, because I actually know a few people who own them(and they all bought them brand new) and the prevailing opinion is that they are absolute crap at actually being a watch - they just drift a lot in short amount of time - one of my friends says his is can be as much as 10 minutes out every month(!!!!!) and that's a 5k watch!!! I'm personally saving up for an Omega, you can get a timeless design for 2-3k, and those watches are truly indestructible and actually keep time accurately.

Balgair 8y ago

My recent employment upgrade has been nice and I am in the market for a good watch as a result (no longer a junior so I can wear something nicer now). That said, I'm looking for something that is more useful than anything. I mean, heck, if I'm going to drop this much on what is essentially jewelry, I might as well get all the use out if it that I can. Can you point me to any good communities that may be of assistance? I've tried r/watches before, but reddit's search algo is just terrible. Specifically, I'm looking for: - Waterproof up to ~30m, more is fine. - Complications of: Chronograph, Date, Tachymeter, Moon Phases (I surf when I have the time, so it's nice to know the tides and to wear the watch while surfing). - Sapphire/hardened glass for scratch resistance. - Bezel, as they are really cool. - Quartz is fine, accuracy is really nice, though mechanical is ok. - Standard 12 hour clock face, things like a Casio F-91W aren't the best ;) - I'm a fairly large person, so I can withstand a large/bulky face on the arm, if that helps at all. Thank you for any and all advice or recommendations, I appreciate it.

SamReidHughes 8y ago
If you mean a rotatable (dive) bezel, you’re looking for something very very specific. Also, if you take it surfing, you’d want screw down pushers if the watch is expensive. Even if you find a watch matching these specs, it probably won’t be what you want in terms of quality, looks, fit, or price. You should broaden your search.
- Balgair 8y ago
  Thanks for the tips!
spreiti 8y ago
If you want to take it to the water it is usually recommended that the watch has 10bar (100m) water resistance. The Breitling Navitimer 01 would tick many of your boxes (Chronograph, (Logscale)Bezel, Date) and is an iconic watch. However you can't swim with it. Another iconic chronograph is the Zenith El Primero with the tri color dial. It is also WR to 100m. Then there is the Omega Speedmaster "Man on the Moon" Chronograph. Tudor also has a few nice watches: Black Bay Chrono, Black Bay Heritage, Black Bay 58, Black Bay GMT, Pelagos. If you want a fine Quartz watch have a look at Grand Seiko and Citizen Chronomaster. These are High Accuracy Quartz (HAQ) watches which means +/- 5-10 seconds a year depending on the model. For more classic looking watches have a look at Jaeger LeCoultre. I especially like their Masters collection.