watches....

[NCBankrolla]

So, looking at getting watches for my wife and I for our 5th anniversary, we've been looking at Tag Heuer,Citizen and so forth...any recommendations. Would love to get a rolex, just can't afford them at the moment.

 

Thanks

[highergr0und]

Does it have to be exclusive/expensive or just sentimental? I recall a story that I heard from a great speaker at a conference. He was riding in a limo with a founder of a major hotel chain, a Hilton I believe, and this hotel magnate was getting very upset that his watch wasn't working. The speaker asked to take a look and see if he could fix it and saw it was a cheap watch, like a Timex or something. Upon inquiring why the billionaire was fretting over a very cheap watch he learned that it had been given to him by his grandkids and he loved it not for what it was but for who gave it to him.

 

Doesn't need to be a Rolex to be special.

[SUITS]

I have two Eco drives that have not had a hiccup in years

[mrmacwvu1]

If you give her a watch then she will always know when you are late

[mshills]

Grand Seiko has a broad range of prices -- some very fine quartz watches as well as automatics and the very cool Spring Drive.

 

All of them are (IMO) orders of magnitude superior quality to anything from TAG, though admittedly not as easy to find.

[SilverBullets]

Victorinox makes watches which look great and are absolutely bullet proof. My first watch was a Victorinox, I got it in 6th grade and at 29 years old I am actually wearing right now as I type this. I have 3 Victorinox watches now and none of them have needed anything other than a battery every couple years. I am pretty hard on watches. I wear them while doing basically everything. Each of the Victorinox watches I own have been golfed in, worn while wrenching on cars, racing cars, worn at bars in college till 4 am and just are generally beat up. While the band and casing is scratched and scuffed, the face and internals of the watches are working like new. You can get some really good looking, high quality Victorinox watches for in the $400-$600 range.

 

If you want something 'higher end' but not quite up there in the $5k+ territory, I would start with some of the Quartz Tag models. If you want automatic, I would look at Baume and Mercier. Very elegant watches which can be dressed up or down. They are very reliable for a higher end automatic watch. You can get a great looking, quality piece for $3k - $5k. I have a Baume and Mercier Capeland Chronograph which I received as my high school graduation gift. I wear it a lot (though less now because a Victorinox my wife got me has become my favorite at the moment) and it has been pretty dependable. I've sent it back for service once ($600) and it's due to go back soon. The watch still works great and keeps great time, but, it's not keeping it's wind as well as it did when it was new. Automatic watches, like high end cars, require regular maintenance to stay healthy. They are supposed to be serviced every 5 or so years. Mine hasn't been serviced in about 7 and it's still working well (though it needs to go back).

 

Raymond Weil also makes nice pieces. For the most part they are in between a Victorinox and Baume in terms of pricing. The Freelancer is really cool looking piece and it runs just south of $2k. I don't know a ton about their models as I don't own one, but, I view them as the entry level to high end watches.

 

Looking deeper into the sub $1k watches, I would also look at Tissot. Very sporty/athletic looking watches which are also high quality. I would put these in the same class as Victorinox. You can get a great Tissot for $500ish.

 

There are a ton of watch brands out there which span all price ranges. When looking for a watch which cost under $4k or so, these are the brands I trust. I'm sure others have had good and bad experiences with these brands. A rule of thumb I typically live by is when I set a price for a watch I want to buy, I make sure that price is in the middle of the brand's price range. If I want to spend $500 on a watch, I don't want that to be the most expensive watch that brand sells (like a Fossil for example). Conversely, I don't want that to be the cheapest model they sell. I want that $500 to be kind of a mid point for the brand. I'm not sure this rule really holds any weight but mentally it makes me feel like I am still buying a quality piece and not trying to overpay for a inferior product or underpay for a cheaply made product by a higher end company.

 

Those are just my thoughts and places where I would look if I were in your shoes.