Fashion

Men’s Watch Buying Guide

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Today, purchasing a watch has two purposes, first, for telling the time and second, a fashion statement. Nonetheless, it is not necessary that these purposes are served in the order as mentioned. There are various watches that fall under a budget and serve the purpose required by the buyer. Given below is a buying guide for men’s watches.

1. Functions of a Watch


Watches can perform a number of functions and have a number of features commonly referred to as complications. A date indicator, for example, is a complication. Watches are built for certain functions such as for diving, dress, sports, chronographs, navigational, aviation, fashion/style, etc.

2. Buying a Watch under $500

Look for certain characteristics that are likely to affect your watch preference like function, cost and style. Other than the occasional battery replacement, these kinds of watches are generally not serviceable. Therefore, the main thing that you should look for in such a watch is aesthetics. Furthermore, you can look for watches that offer various functions like alarm, stopwatch, sizes, colours, water resistance, etc.

Most of these watches will have a mineral crystal and if the watch is a mechanical automatic the movement is likely made in Asia, perhaps a Citizen Miyota variant.

Watchshopping.com offers a variety of watches under $500 that have various functions.

3. Buying a Luxury over $500

Such kinds of watches are likely to perform similar functions like watches with lower costs. You might now be wondering that if the functions are same, why is there a difference in the price range? Following are the key criteria behind a luxury, quality watch:

  • Sapphire Crystal – the glass
  • The movement – usually mechanical automatic self-winding while more advanced pieces using tourbillons
  • Quality of the craftsmanship
  • Precious metals and stones
  • Brand heritage and history
  • Exclusivity (number of pieces made)

The crystal of any high-end watch is generally of Sapphire. This is the second in strength after diamond.

Movements in these watches can be in-house meaning that it is made by the brand itself such as Rolex. Other brands like Tag Heuer, Tissot, Hamilton, etc. use 3rd party movements such as the ETA’s Valjoux 7750 which is considered to be the workhorse of the industry.

So, which attributes make extremely expensive watches so expensive? These are:

  1. Complications and innovations
  2. Craftsmanship and attention to detail
  3. Precious metals such as gold, platinum and diamonds
  4. Exclusivity – uniqueness and scarcity

Refining on characteristics of Luxury watches, distinguished watchmakers will use precious materials in hand-made unique or rare complex watches that approach an art form resulting in astronomically priced horological marvels.

Conclusion

While a meaningful purchase of a watch will include a mechanical automatic movement and sapphire crystal, you must buy a watch that does not bite your pocket. With the refinement and craftsmanship, the prices of the watches continue to rise. It is, therefore, always up to you to which watch should you buy.