This article explores the world of affordable watch brands, defining 'affordable' as offering at least two quality watches for under £1,000. From Japanese innovators to Swiss stalwarts, the piece highlights brands like Seiko, Swatch, Timex, Hamilton, Tissot, Citizen and Casio, showcasing their unique offerings and highlighting specific watch models.
Want more watch coverage? Get About Time, Esquire’s free newsletter devoted to the watch world, in your inbox every Sunday. 'Affordable' is a mutable term in the watch world. For Mark Zuckerberg, net worth $260bn and counting, a million-dollar Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is essentially sofa-cushion money. For a student eking out their loan, a £300 Seiko 5 – perhaps the best bang-for-buck watch in the world – is an indulgence that means eating instant noodles for a month.
Not knowing precisely where you sit on the oligarchic-ordinary spectrum, we're defining “affordable” as “offers at least two great watches for less than £1,000”. Not some buy-it-for-the-badge ticker, but considered pieces of watchmaking where affordability meets quality, rather than precludes it.Most of these brands specialize in great cheap watches; others have a handful of options that can act as a gateway to the world of high-end horology (consider yourself warned). But they all share one thing in common: whether you're a collector or a neophyte, they've earned a place on every wrist. You'll find a lot of Japanese brands on this list. The country that gave us the quartz crisis has an aptly democratic approach to watches, with Seiko the epitome. Its Seiko 5 line, which includes too many models to count, has been many a watch obsessive's 'first proper watch', thanks to an unbeatable combination of in-house automatic guts, bombproof build and an unbelievable price. Every watch collection needs one. Our pick: Seiko 5 Sports Bi-Colour GMTSwatch. Obviously. The brand that saved Swiss watchmaking, affordability has been Swatch's MO since the Quartz Crisis. In the last two years, its all-conquering MoonSwatch collaboration, with stablemate Omega, has reignited interest in a brand that, despite its ubiquity, hadn't set pulses racing in a while. But in the interests of avoiding ubiquity, we prefer its for-the-heads hook-up with Blancpain. Our pick: Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms Blue Lagoon. After dominating American watchmaking for most of the 20th century, Timex spent some time in the wilderness, burned by its pile-em-high-sell-em-cheap approach. But recently, the love's come back. As well as smart collabs with folks like Nigel Cabourn and seconde/seconde/, the brand's dipped into its sprawling archive and found gems like the disco-era Q, done up in some extremely disco colourways. Groovy. Our pick: Q Timex. Hamilton looks and feels like an American brand, but is actually Swiss, having shifted across the Atlantic in the 1960s after a decade of misjudged MA activity. It's probably best-known as the movie watch – Hamiltons have played plot-contingent roles in a bunch of Christopher Nolan films, and one recently made a rather jarring appearance in Dune II. But the brand's cinematic bona fides stretch across 500 films, back to 1961's Blue Hawaii, in which Elvis wore the triangle-cased Ventura. Not that you should let all the silver screen sizzle distract from the fact that Hamilton makes proper watches. Inside the Khaki Field Auto, you'll find its H-50 movement – a tweaked ETA 2801 – which offers an 80-hour power reserve. Astonishing in a watch at this price point. And, yes, it was worn by Captain America in The Avengers. Our pick: Hamilton Khaki Field Auto. Even before the all-conquering PRX, Tissot was a go-to for your first Swiss-made watch. Granted, it could feel a bit naff at times, but amid all the gaudy MotoGP collabs you could always get something well-made without missing a mortgage payment. Now, you just get a PRX. The reissue of a model from 1978 has become the de facto entry-level steel sports watch, and offers a surprisingly satisfying itch-scratch for anyone who'll never get hold of an actual Nautilus. Our pick: Tissot PRX Powermatic 80. More Japanese watchmaking. Citizen is an innovator, with innovations including atomic watches (accurate to within a second every hundred-thousand years), and Eco-Drive, which is charged by solar power. Where other brands strive for ever-more accurate mechanical watches, Citizen's jam is actual accuracy, be it through breakthroughs in quartz, radio technology, or the resonance of atoms. Our pick: Citizen Tsuki-yomi Moonphase. Casio (and G-Shock) They say that you're never more than six feet away from a Casio F-91W. The brand's made more than 100 million of its £15 icon since 1989, but its watchmaking is more nuanced than just cheap digital beaters. For one, it owns G-Shock, whose watches are admittedly beaters in the sense that they can withstand any beating you could throw at them. However much you've got to spend, there's a Casio-made watch for you. Our pick: G-Shock Silver. There's a lot of overlap between Orient and its more famous sister company, Seiko. Specializing in wallet-friendly mechanicals, it's less innovation-minded, but pretty unbeatable if you're after, say, a dependable automatic diver that costs as much as a pair of sneakers
Affordable Watches Watch Brands Seiko Swatch Timex Hamilton Tissot Citizen Casio G-Shock Orient
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Tommy Hilfiger Watch Deals and Other Affordable Christmas Gift IdeasLooking for the perfect Christmas gift? This article highlights some great deals on Tommy Hilfiger watches available on Amazon, as well as other affordable watch options from retailers like Debenhams and Argos.
Read more »
Citizen Zenshin: An Affordable Watch That's Winning Over ExpertsThe Citizen Zenshin, a quartz watch with a day-and-date display, has been gaining attention from watch authorities like Andrew Morgan and Rob Corder for its impressive features and affordability. The £399 price point makes it a compelling option for watch enthusiasts seeking value.
Read more »
The best 2024 TV to watch over ChristmasFrom ‘Slow Horses’ to ‘Pachinko’ and ‘Baby Reindeer’, our critic picks the series to catch up on
Read more »
15 Christmas films to watch on Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime VideoChristmas movie guide 2024 - all the best films to watch up until Boxing Day
Read more »
The 10 best TV shows you didn't watch this yearFrom Netflix’s hilarious Black Plague comedy to a BBC sitcom about autism, here's the best TV that flew under the radar in 2024
Read more »
Best Christmas Films to Watch This YearDiscover the top Christmas movies to enjoy this holiday season, including Elf and Die Hard, available on various streaming platforms and TV bundles.
Read more »