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Serious Watches Without The Serious Price Tag – 7 Mid-Priced Watches That Will Blow Your Mind
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I can’t say that I’ve ever made a huge mistake when buying a watch. The truth is, I own a select few favourites. My first watch as a child, however, was a quartz-powered “Princess and the Frog” watch with a shiny red faux leather strap. With each tick of the second hand, the frog would rock forward and backward. It was my pride and joy, so you can imagine my disbelief when my big brother came home one evening with a Swiss watch strapped to his wrist that he had paid a small fortune for.
“It’s not just a watch, it’s a timeless piece of art!” he said. “…an heirloom”. It had the cool back story – the talking point he planned to charm all the ladies with. The seller had used all the right buzz words like “patina” and “icon”. With a triumphant glee, he pledged to wear the watch every day, including the following morning when he was helping my dad out with a broken exhaust.
Whilst handing my dad a multitude of tools he had no idea how to use, he someone managed to subject the watch to a fleeting moment of impact and the crystal popped out of the case and cracked. “My heirloom!!” he shouted in horror. My dad, a proud owner of a £50 Casio at the time, picked the crystal off the floor. “That’s not glass”, he uttered, tossing it in the palm of his hand. “That’s plastic”. Turns out my brother had been sold a very convincing knock-off watch with a flimsy plastic lid that was hanging on by a prayer, but that’s not my point here.
My point is that if you know what to look for and you take watch-collecting seriously, you don’t need an expensive watch to show you know a thing or two about Haute Horlogerie. Sometimes, a mid-priced watch is worth its weight in gold.
You don’t need a flashy watch if quality materials and performance are essential to you. Look in all the right places and you can get yourself a timepiece that looks like it costs the Earth but actually costs less than £10k and can survive a whole weekend of “handyman” jobs. That’s not to say there aren’t some incredibly beautiful horological masterpieces out there. Moreover, details matter, and mid-range watches are a significant jump up from budget watches, superseding replica watches by a country mile, and, at the end of the day, they won’t cost an arm and a leg.
Many would also argue that the quality-to-price ratio of the mid-range watch is the best in the industry. A watch costing around the £4-5000 mark, for example, is likely to offer the materials, movement quality, and finishing of a watch that costs upwards of £10,000. Remember, the upper echelons of the luxury watch industry, though steeped in grandeur and heritage, are often priced high due to prestige and brand provenance. As with many high-end luxury products, you pay for a name.
Though they’re often the lesser-known brands, mid-range watch manufacturers require less of a financial commitment but have just as much finesse. Mid-priced watches are excellent daily drivers and can handle the rigors of daily life like a breeze. And while a Rolex or Patek Philippe may garner attention for its symbolic status and prestige, the investment needed for a premium timepiece could easily equal the price of two or more mid-range watches, giving you the freedom and versatility you would otherwise struggle to obtain with a single high-end timepiece.
All this said, the market for mid-range watches is absolutely massive. To help give you an idea of the sheer amount of styles, features, and brands within this category, we’ve rounded some up in various price brackets, all of which sit under the mid-range umbrella.
The Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon AeroGMT II Meteorite. Price range: $3000
Ball upholds a remarkable reputation for crafting quality watches that are built to stand the test of time. Just look at its Engineer watch collection, for example. The models from this range incorporate high anti-magnetic resistance (up to 4,800 A/m) and shock resistance (up to 7,500 Gs).
The Engineer Hydrocarbon AeroGMT II Meteorite seems to carry everything you need in a daily beater within its 42mm steel design. It’s a limited Edition of just 1000 pieces worldwide with a dial that is equally as rare. Crafted from a meteorite that has fallen in Namibia. Every single watch within this limited production run is unique from the next.
Of course, being a Ball Watch, it also uses the brand’s signature technology, which sees the display adorned with 44 micro gas tubes that glow consistently and constantly, producing bright hands and hour markers that make timekeeping in dark conditions an absolute cinch. As well as this unmatched legibility, the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon is a GMT watch with a 24-hour “Pepsi bezel” for keeping on track of an additional time zone and a COSC-certified movement that keeps this tool ticking over perfectly for 42 hours using the energy stored in its barrel.
Bell & Ross BR-05 Grey Steel – $4,300
Bell and Ross have always been renowned for creating bold instrument-inspired timepieces that pack a punch on the wrist. The BR-05 is the brand’s sportier take on the iconic circle-within-a-square profile and is built for the city. Its graphic lines soften at the corners to give way to a range of dial colours, making them cool and sophisticated enough for formal and urban settings.
Good news for those with smaller wrists, too. Bell & Ross recently released a slew of dial colours in the 36mm size, making them perfect for those with smaller wrists. Take the Grey Steel model, for example. With an 8.5mm thickness, this smaller and more manageable-sized sports watch features a satin-brushed and polished case, a strong sapphire crystal glass front, and an integrated bracelet for uncompromised comfort.
The 100 M water-resistant case features a sunray grey dial that provides a beautiful and dynamic play of light as it shifts in tone, the hands of which are propelled by the Calibre BR-CAL.329, complete with an impressive 54-hour power reserve. Overall, the BR 05 Grey Steel is the perfect balance of size and comfort, blending a powerful design with dependable mechanics.
Bremont Terra Nova turquoise. Price $3,450
Any Bremont watch is an investment. The British brand’s values are deeply rooted in quality craftsmanship, with a strong focus on reviving the British watchmaking craft. But the turquoise version of the Terra Nova watch evokes the charm and allure of the covetable and iconic Tiffany Blue dials of the past.
This model is the perfect storm of historical nods, compact proportions, and clever marketing by Bremont, who subtly taps into the desirable dial colour as part of its relatively new field watch range. Similar in colour to the Tiffany Blue dial associated with Patek Philippe Nautilus (the absolute pinnacle of the turquoise dial craze with a custom Pantone colour), this Terra Nova watch is a departure from the norm and is sure to turn a few heads with its refreshing dial colour.
The model is a limited edition of 1000 pieces, so if you can get your hands on one of these, you’ve already secured a cool and intriguing investment proposition. Similar to the Bell and Ross selection, this specially chosen 38mm field watch design is a good choice for wrists measuring around 6-7 inches, and features a steel bodywork in the distinctive cushion-shaped profile, with a domed sapphire crystal glass, 100-meter water resistance, and green emission Super-LumiNova Arabic numerals and hands.
Lastly, adding even more interest in this layered and full-of-character watch is an engraved caseback denoting a map of the world.
DOXA SUB 300T Professional. Price $1,990
Most collectors looking for a bona fide dive need not look any further than a DOXA watch. The brand is an expert in crafting dive tools that have an unequivocally stylish 1960s retro aesthetic. The market, however, is vast, with options at every price category. DOXA dive watches, however, are arguably some of the best bang-for-buck watches in the industry.
The DOXA SUB 300T Professional is clad in the iconic orange colour that saw Jacques Cousteau sport when embarking upon his conservation endeavours, promoting the brand as a trailblazer in the dive tool category from the very start. Paying homage to DOXA’s earliest general public dive watch, released in 1968, the SUB 300T Professional keeps the genes of the SUB 300T Conquistador alive with the iconic orange dial colour and a robust stainless steel bracelet.
The USP of the watch is its left-hand design, complete with the crown located at 9 o’clock instead of 3. The aluminium bezel insert pays homage to a 1980s model designed by Aubry Frères and features an integrated no-decompression dive time calculator with unidirectional rotation.
Of course, being a DOXA watch, the SUB 300T Professional offers exceptional water resistance of up to 1,200 meters, making this watch an obvious choice for anyone who tends to push the limits when taking to their water pursuits. Add to that its nice beefy 42.5mm proportions for adding some serious wrist presence, and you have an all-round perfect mid-priced watch with plenty of retro dive appeal, quality craftsmanship, and mechanical finesse.
Hamilton Khaki Field Watch. Price $745
We did mention that a mid-priced watch tends to sit in between the $1k and $10k category, but then there is always an exception. It’s hard to talk about Hamilton watches without mentioning the Khaki Field in the same sentence. Its classic designs are a cornerstone of the brand’s reputation and voice. It’s not just a watch with a field “look”. Hamilton’s legacy is infused into this design, harking back to a point in its history when the manufacturer was supplying the US Armed Forces with its rugged tools for the war efforts.
The modern Khaki Field line, however, is a descendant of these watches but incorporates lots of features that make it a great companion for everyday use. And for its price point of under $1000, it packs in a load of practical features and rugged field watch charm into its design.
This is a nice compact 38mm steel model powered by an automatic winding movement (yes, an automatic for under $1k!). It embodies all the core features the Khaki Field line is known for – legibility, large Arabic numerals, a 24-hour inner ring, and a go-anywhere-do-anything utilitarian design that seems to work well whether you pair it with casual attire on the weekend, or something smarter by night.
Not many field watches can adapt to as many environments as the Khaki Field. It kind of sits in a category of its own. Because of its appealing price, it also makes for a great entry-level model for those who are just joining the watch-collecting world. This model is paired with a dark brown leather strap. Still, a simple switch of the strap and a NATO band instantly allows the watch to metamorphose into an unmistakably bold and handsome tool without the prohibitive cost of a luxury brand.
Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M. Price $7,300
If your budget sits somewhere between $7 and $10,000, you can definitely afford an Omega. It’s a brand that people tend to mistake for sitting in the top echelons of the watchmaking ladder. Though these watches are on par with the excellence and grandeur associated with Rolex, some models are surprisingly reasonable in price. The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M watch, for example, is an affordable model that bucks the trend when it comes to dive tools.
It doesn’t instantly convey the character and aesthetics of a dive watch. It looks far more classic than the clunky, overbearing watches that often saturate the dive watch category, making it an excellent option for wearing with more elegant attire. Part of this allure can be owed to its green-black gradient dial.
The Seamaster Aqua Terra has a fascinating history in itself. Its origins stem back to 2002, when the Aqua Terra was introduced as a new line, appealing to endeavours both in the “water and on earth”. The first release was simple and clean with triangular markers and was offered on a leather strap or steel bracelet. Much of that is still true for the range. The Teak dials then arrived in 2007-2008, with models bearing the striped dial echoing the deck of a boat. Even so, this degrade dial is just as appealing.
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Though the dial is an unconventional smoked fume effect, hints of the Aqua Terra are still present, such as the shard-shaped indexes around the hour track and the arrow-tipped minute hands – both of which have been treated with lashings of luminous material by Omega experts. These features assist with legibility, whether you’re enjoying wearing the watch throughout an evening or putting its dive features to good use.
If you’re doing the latter, you’ll find its 150-meter water-resistant capability to be particularly useful. Add to that a strong sapphire crystal glass front and a stunning dark grey PVD-coated 41mm bezel, and you have what can only be described as a very modern-looking take on the classic Aqua Terra, and one with multi-faceted appeal.
TUDOR Black Bay Chrono. Price $6050
TUDOR watches were once nicknamed poor men’s Rolexes. But that couldn’t be further from the truth today. TUDOR has well and truly stepped out of the shadows of its bigger brother over the years and now stands as an entity of its own. But, of course, it doesn’t hurt that when you buy a TUDOR watch, you know it has been fortified by the expertise, materials, and technology of one of the world’s biggest brands.
The TUDOR Black Bay is without a doubt the most popular of all the brand’s creations, and it’s also very affordable. It’s a neo-vintage dive watch with tons of retro appeal and character. The chronographs are a little sportier and just as alluring, like this panda version – the TUDOR Black Bay Chrono, equipped with a legible white dial and black-filled chronograph sub-counters at 3 and 9 o’clock.
This watch relies on a chronometer-certified automatic movement and is designed to withstand 200-meter water depths. The watch is made from steel and measures a diameter of 41mm – sweet spot dimensions for the average-sized male wrist. TUDOR experts complete the chronograph version of the Black Bay on a stainless steel bracelet, but if this watch is a little too classic, there’s a whole load of other designs to explore, including models that measure a more true-to-form size to the brand’s first dive watch (39mm).
More sumptuous models like the S&G (steel and gold) also offer something a little more luxurious for those who don’t intend to use their watch primarily as a dive tool.
Conclusion
Mid-priced luxury is accessible. The journey in finding the right watch is not just about a brand name. There are so many affordable gateways into the world of luxury timekeeping. Even the brands that you’d least expect to offer an affordable option do so somewhere in their catalogue. As you embark on this exciting chapter, whether you’re looking to move away from frivolous impulse buys or are investing in a watch for the first time on a budget, remember that the best value-for-money investment is one that makes you happy every time you look at it. And that can look different for everyone.
Now that you’ve explored a world where exceptional quality doesn’t have to bleed your wallet dry, you can discover what style, features, and materials really appeal to you most, regardless of whether that brand has the same provenance and heritage as some of the oldest names in the industry or not. Collecting watches is the type of hobby you never really move away from. Pick a watch that you feel is money well spent, and you’re guaranteed a lifetime of happiness with it.
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