Watches

First it was $50 Vostoks. Then $200 Seikos. Then I bought a Hamilton for $400. Then I bought a Sinn for $1000. Then I bought a Tudor for $2700. Then a ln Omega for $3200. Then I bought a Tudor for $4200. Then I bought a Grand Seiko for $4800.

Direct correlation to my income.

At some point I'll buy a GO PML for $7k. Then I'll probably buy a Rolex for $10k.

Then in 40 years, I'll die and a nephew will inherit all my watches and post them here to legit check before pawning them.

In my experience, being "into" watches doesn't mean I have many watches. In fact it's the opposite. When I first got into the watch world I bought entry level seikos, skx013, ect.

All fine.

But then I tried a BB58 on and it ruined me.

It was my grail.

I made a mistake by buying a Lorier Neptune. Not because it's a bad watch. It's actually fantastic. But I was trying to fill the gap of the BB58.

Long story short. During the time when BB58's were hard to come by at AD's.

I happened to stumble into one and walked out with it.

Now I only have 3 watches in my rotation.

BB58 for nearly every day.

Seiko SKX013 for more "active" days. Sports and such.

Seiko Cocktail Time Presage (bought it for my grandfather and he recently passed so now it's a part of my rotation)

Moral of this long post is.. if you have a grail watch in mind.

Save.

Buy it.

Be done.

Unless it's some ridiculous Richard Mille. Then I would say correct your taste first hahaha. (they are mechanically impressive. But the pricing is repulsive)

I have a 30 watch collect with some valuable pieces but the watch I wear the most is a $149 Garmin Vivosmart healthier monitor that’s on my right write all day/night. (It’s tiny like one of those yellow rubber livestrong bracelets). I wear a nice watch on my left wrist sometimes

Watches have a weird relationship between price and functionality because watches are almost completely unnecessary for anyone to own, full stop. So you end up with the weird curve where the more functionality you want, the less you probably want a watch at all, or if you do, you probably want a relatively affordable one because you're either buying a smart watch that does a zillion things or something with a quartz movement which tend to be vastly more affordable than mechanical watches.

So it's a bit of a bimodal system. You either ignore 99% of the available watches because you're purely a pragmatic buyer, or you accept that you're buying an inherently impractical luxury product and then you have your own curve where you do get more for spending more, and some of that "more" is functionality, but it ignores the fact that most vastly cheaper watches are more accurate and robust.

So if you're not a watch person, or at least, not a mechanical watch person, you're probably spending at most... however much an Apple Watch Ultra costs. What is that, $800? If you're a "dumb" watch person but you still only care about practicality, you probably are spending no more than a couple hundred bucks, and most likely you own a sub $100 Casio of some sort. Then there's the mechanical watch buyers, where suddenly the market gets huge and the prices go up insanely high.

Within this market, the labels and prices associated with them are flexible, but there's still some fairly ubiquitous information:

"Entry level" means the most affordable mechanical watches, generally somewhere below $500. "Affordable" generally means below $1k but has been creeping up to maybe $1,500. "Mid range" tends to mean anything up to around $5k. "Luxury" means > $5k, and then there's a fairly vague notion of the highest end watches where the sky is the limit, but at lot of people tend to start that around the $10k mark.

i only make 12k a year as an apprentice but as im 16 i have legit no expenses so im in like the 200-500 but the CH ward im looking at is 800 but i really really like that and im going halves with my dads on christmas for that

3k to 5k range

Depends on the watch. On a whim, it's $200. If I'm willing to save up and make it a goal, I'll save up whatever it takes. Currently the most expensive watch in my collection was $4300

I think it largely changes for where you are in life and what you can afford.

I started with an $80 invicta when I was in college and I loved. After I got decent job and saved up I bought a Sinn 104 for about $1500. Got a promotion and sold the Sinn to buy a Breitling for $3000. This year I got a generous bonus for closing a big job and bought a Zenith defy skyline for $5800. I never really set a limit for myself its always had to do with what I like and what I can afford. I'm currently looking at a Mido multifort big date right now thats $1200, despite being less than my other watches its still on my list, price doesn't always mean better. Watches are very personal so just get what you like and don't worry if you can afford APs and Rolexs, there are very good watches for cheap out there and your seiko is one of them.

I’ll bite—I‘ll spend up $500 without thinking much about it, up to $1k 1X or 2X a year or so, above $2k and I’m in sell to buy mode.. my current inventory (hate the word collection) includes everything from a Timex Snoopy through Panerai and Rolex.. with a growing collection of Seiko at all price points.. At a dozen watches right now and definitely need to sell before I buy anything else.. but I really like every thing I have so… 🤔🤔🤔

Quality over quantity for me. I'd be okay to drop 6-10k on a watch every couple of years whenever I have enough disposable money saved up and the perfect deal comes by.

I'm such a child but always laugh so hard whenever someone calls him "Bulbasaur."

Most I've paid was like 350 or 400. Wouldn't go past 1k even with a low six figure income.

My real hobby is cars and now my house.

I started collecting only a year ago, I only have 2 pieces but they average about 14k each. That is quite expensive, and I am very lucky to be in the position I am in. I am looking at possibly an Aqua Terra next, I would be fine with second hand - trying to get it for 4-5k.

Only 7 years ago, I was quite heavily in debt and it was my now wife who motivated me to get out of my rut - very thankful for her, and now we're expecting our first child.

10 of my 12 watches are $60-$500 range, the other 2 are $900 and $1700. I would say $200-$500 is affordable to me, $1,000-$2,000 for something special.

I have a couple of more expensive watches. Not crazy, but still more than anyone should pay. These are kind of the anchors to my collection. I won't add more without rotating one out.

Then I have a couple of less expensive, but still pricey ones, in the $800-$1600 range. These tend to be watches that are hard to find, so naturally more expensive, like discontinued or JDM models. I love these because they are so hard to find and are basically unique, since I'll never run into another one in person.

And then I have a few cheap ones that I like for the variety, use as beaters, got a long time ago, or just wanted to try out. Some of these are among my favourites. This is the category that it's hardest to resist getting more!

I haven't ever spent more than $200 on a watch, and my current daily (40-year old vintage Poljot Stadion) was around $109 with shipping. I might buy a Sternglas in the near future, but I don't think I could ever spend more than $350ish unless I somehow ended up loaded with cash...I feel like at that price point, there's other things I could better spend the money on.

My most expensive watch as of now is $2300, I took my (2002) graduation college gift money and bought myself an Omega Speedmaster would I ever buy another expensive watch like that NO. Most right now are all under $500 and most are used. I only have 7....old Gshock is my all time favorite ;)

Quality over quantity. The last watch I bought was two years ago, and I have no plans to purchase another any time soon.

Anything under $2K is "affordable " but I am old, kids are all grown and nearing retirement age

When I was in my late 20s, $300 was "expensive."

The current top price I would spend is about 400 Canadian but I'm a fan of vintage so it goes farther, I run my own business so my passion for watches often has to come second to my business, every now and then I'll break my little rule when I'm celebrating a milestone. But other than that 400 is my max Canadian. Often most of the watches I buy are below that like my last watch that I purchased was a French dress watch from the '80s and I think I spent about $100 on it. Most of my more expensive watches were gifts🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Depends on the watch.

If my dream watch went on sale for 1-2K, I'd probably buy it but otherwise usually 250$ ish max.

I once read somewhere that after $300 or so, you’re not paying for a watch, you’re paying for jewelry. That really hit home for me how much I should care about the cost verses the materials and labor that went into producing them. I’ve used that as a calibration point ever since.

I have a $1k (Oris Artlier (sp)), a $60 (Casio Duro), and $1750 (Oak and Oscar Humboldt 12hr). I could see myself buying a watch up to about $3k for the hobby/fun of it, but if it were something like a retirement watch, I could see going up to like $8k.

If we’re speaking “affordable”, my metric is like within 50-100 of an Apple Watch, whatever that is.

Orient Kamasu is amazing. I was gonna buy that as my first watch, bought a Tissot PRX quartz instead. I’d still love a Kamasu at some point in the future.

For around $300 ish, you get a sapphire crystal, in house mechanical movement that’s reasonably accurate (+- 15-25 seconds per day), and 200 meters of water resistant. Obviously, the finishing and bracelet aren’t spectacular, but it’s more than acceptable for the price.

I'm a well established professional with two kids in college. I've given myself a budget of $100/wk for 'fun stuff' just for me. So the answer to your question is, how long am I willing to go without fancy coffees, upgrading my suit game, picking up something on steam, etc.? My current watch probably costs about $500 (self-assembled, so literally $100 at a time!)

Make a budget for yourself. Figure out your discretionary funds. If you're spending on a watch, cut somewhere else to keep yourself balanced. Easy :)

Depends on what you are going for. Imo a watch should be below 300 or above 5000. The in between is almost always not here not there. Orient, Bulova, Chinese AliExpress brands etc. Can make a sub 300 watch that feels the same as a 1-2k watch in a high street store...

But then you get to 5-10k and thats where you start getting luxury brand recognition and feel.