My dad's birthday is coming up, I've never gotten him anything ever for his birthday, I have some money now, around 500 dollars budget. I need recommendations on what to get him. It needs to be scratch proof, he works in construction, so scratch proof band, watch head and glass, the whole watch. he likes fancy looking watches, something that goes well even with a suit and plain clothes, something nice you know. the watch head should be uh, hmm, i think like around the size of a half dollar, not an insanely massive head size but above average. also it shouldn't be thick like a brick, or thin like a coin, a decent thickness. ok after looking up different watches, the watch head preferably should look like a "Coupole Automatic" but a little smaller watch head diameter. also try to find one with similar shaped watch hands as this type of watch. go for a silver color, if you find one that you think looks really nice with gold then send it. and the watch should last a long long time in good condition. if you find a realllly nice watch but its higher than 500 then go for anything below 600
Long time construction guy, new watch guy. My 2 cents for whatever it’s worth is the two things you should be looking for is 1) sapphire crystal and 2) bracelet.
Anything with a strap looks cheap right outta the box in my opinion, but they wear fast when you’re rubbing your arms on rough shit all day and it’ll look like trash in a suite. For the crystal I’ve beaten the shit out of 2 watches and I’ve only owned them for about 4 months. I bought a “flame fusion” crystal which is supposed to be sapphire over crystal and I wish i would’ve just bought sapphire because my shits whooped already.
I know a microbrand may have a longer wait but I think clemence watches make a perfect combo of durable and classy, and that’s what I intend to buy next.
Automatic watches have a bit of a learning curve. For most that may be a turn off, for a guy that builds and tinkers for a living it may be a positive. You’d know bettter than me what gizmos your dad likes to geek out on.
An easier alternative in a similar price range you could buy fast on Amazon would be an alpina AL-240SS4E6B.
These will at least give you an idea of features and looks you can look around and compare on. Asking about types of watches is like asking guys what truck brand is the best. You’ll get lots of opinions but they’re all basically pretty equal in value, it depends on what quirks and heritage appeal to you personally
Handyman, can confirm on the crystal and bracelt, and would advise going quartz. As an older guy, you may not even need to spend that much if you take a gander at Vaer. One of theirs--one of my current three-watch collection--I got because it was a very good quartz homage to a Hamilton hand-wound at half the price.