Quote:
Originally Posted by all_mota
Since you guys seem to be some watch gurus, do you guys have any suggestions for a decent durable watch under $400. I'm not too big on watches aside from a few g-shocks(I'm young.lol) and a vintage Seiko from Saudi Arabia from my father. I'm basically looking for something I can wear to the beach then wear to dinner afterwards and not feel stupid about having a plastic watch looking on my wrist.
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Here's the problem with that price point. Most watch brands (that advertise) are not going to sell you a movement (the heart of the watch) that is anything more than $5-$20 produced by the tens of hundreds of thousands unless you spend over a grand or so.
Yes, for $400, all the way up to $~1,000 like in the case of names like Tag Heuer, the big watch brands are selling you a 'throw away' quartz engine. Throw away meaning the cost to repair is easily greater than the cost to simply swap in a new battery powered movement. And no matter who makes the movement, the Swiss, Japan or China, it will never cost more than ~$20 make a quartz movement. Actually way less when you factor in mass production. Which means you are paying an insane mark up for the case, cheap glass, and bracelet. So don't spend a lot on these you're not getting much value. You're just paying for a ton of advertising and celebrity spokes models. But don't feel too bad, once you get into the higher end automatic movements (doesn't require a battery) then the mark ups become obscene. Take for instance the automatic chronograph seen on many $1,500 to $3,000 watches by nearly every mid to high end brand. That's probably $50-$150 "off the shelf" movement, meaning it wasn't produced in-house. They simpy ordered it from a supplier, put their own brand on it, made a few very minor decorative changes and presto.... $2,000 - $3,000 watch. That's the watch industry in a nutshell.
So if you're okay with wearing a quartz watch (the $5 movement) then I would simply suggest looking on the discount websites like Overstock and WorldofWatches (they have their own cable channel I think in Florida markets) and pick a watch with a decent warranty, typically the watches that say Swiss Made on the dial, that means that as a % of parts and labor a majority (but not all) was manufactured/assembled in Switzerland. If no country is listed on the dial then it means its made in China so be careful about overpaying more than you already are. Especially the quartz chronographs, even if Swiss Made it's most likely an ETA G10 movement which costs about $10-$20 to make which the brands use as justification to double, or triple the price of the watch yet they're not really using any better materials for the rest of watch like the case or glass.
Some of these Luminox (Swiss Made) are as cheap as
$200-$300 and seem to fit an active person.
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