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Help me find a watch!

Oh,
Now that we got specific I have one automatic decent movement pilot style inexpensive and gets good reviews. Only issue is it may be a little big. Here is the aviator and GMT from Praesto.
http://www.praestowatch.com/home/
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Aaron
 
Have you looked at Victorinox watches? Not to be confused with Swiss Military, Victorinox are actually Swiss made and are very good quality. Their designs tend to be quite conservative (a little too much so for me), but again, very good quality. They do have models for under $200, and they will probably last a lifetime. I have friends who have had theirs for 20 years and have seen much abuse, but are still ticking. They're like the Timex of watches. Oh, wait a minute...
 
I would really recommend against trying to get the Maratac shipped to you in Sweden. I tried ordering one a while ago, and it was the most horrible customer service I've ever received from a vendor, had to resort to a paypal claim.
 
Oh,
Now that we got specific I have one automatic decent movement pilot style inexpensive and gets good reviews. Only issue is it may be a little big. Here is the aviator and GMT from Praesto.
http://www.praestowatch.com/home/

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Aaron
Looks pretty nice but sliiiightly out of budget but I will keep it in consideration.
Have you looked at Victorinox watches? Not to be confused with Swiss Military, Victorinox are actually Swiss made and are very good quality. Their designs tend to be quite conservative (a little too much so for me), but again, very good quality. They do have models for under $200, and they will probably last a lifetime. I have friends who have had theirs for 20 years and have seen much abuse, but are still ticking. They're like the Timex of watches. Oh, wait a minute...
Well, regarding Timex, how is the quality on those? I saw one that I really liked in the "Watch Ya Wearing" thread and messaged the user if he knew what model it was and so. They seem to be pretty cheap too so I have no idea if they're just a good value or bad quality.

I would really recommend against trying to get the Maratac shipped to you in Sweden. I tried ordering one a while ago, and it was the most horrible customer service I've ever received from a vendor, had to resort to a paypal claim.
Oh that is sad to hear! It is a beautiful watch but I hate having to deal with bad customer service and I don't think I am patient enough to wait for it to go in stock again.
 
The quality on Timex is excellent. The fact is, they make watches that are $20 that are near indestructible. I used to work a lot with my hands, and I put my watches through the paces. I found that Timex, Guess, and Nautica watches (both made by Timex) were extremely durable. Actually, the Timex were the best of the three, as they were built to take a beating, whereas the the Guess and Nautica were still just design oriented watches. However, having said that, I was really just joking about Timex, since you're probably looking for something a little more sophisticated and a little less pedestrian. Since you're on a budget, I thought the Victorinox might be the way to go, since you would still have a quality Swiss made watch, but for the price of a Chinese made watch.
 
Dunhill Bobby Finder. Nice and clean. Black or Brown leather strap. 3 option (basic, calendar, chronograph). Can run anywhere between $1k-3k. I got the middle option that has 2 bezels for different looks. Easily my favorite watch.
 
The quality on Timex is excellent. The fact is, they make watches that are $20 that are near indestructible. I used to work a lot with my hands, and I put my watches through the paces. I found that Timex, Guess, and Nautica watches (both made by Timex) were extremely durable. Actually, the Timex were the best of the three, as they were built to take a beating, whereas the the Guess and Nautica were still just design oriented watches. However, having said that, I was really just joking about Timex, since you're probably looking for something a little more sophisticated and a little less pedestrian. Since you're on a budget, I thought the Victorinox might be the way to go, since you would still have a quality Swiss made watch, but for the price of a Chinese made watch.

Well, I found a victorinox I liked but no domestic vendor and the others here had inflated prices so it will turn out more expensive than it needs to be. I liked them though! I am considering getting a Timex as I saw one very simple that I liked and I got an answer from the B&B member that had the same watch and it wasn't expensive at all, just 38$ but Amazon decided to charge 61$ for shipping which is just ridiculous. I might get a friend in the states to get one for me and send it here though since the amazon listing had free shipping in the US.
This is the watch by the way, I like how it is clean and simple and probably great for casual wear. Might be able to make it look a bit fancier with a brown leather wristband but I don't mind the strap style at all for casual wear.
 
Whats your budget? If you bump it up to around $500 you can get find an Omega Seamaster like I did. I ended up selling it for about $550 to fuel my fund for a Submariner.

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Maybe, just maybe, if one's budget is $500 one can get an older, used Omega that may or may not be mechanical and might very well be quartz (which Omega has stopped making recently). I guess that's fine if you REALLY want an Omega and you tailor your requirements just so you can get one for below-market value. That's getting rarer nowadays unless you luck out on Ebay or negotiate a sale on a watch forum. Omega used to be on the "value" end of the luxury brands, but have steadily climbed in price over the last 7-8 years and on July 1st will raise their prices again. They're getting a bit ridiculous like Rolex.

So unless the OP really wants an Omega, there are countless other options for the around $500 level, and even more if you go lower. $500 puts you in the realm of the Seiko 6R15's or the nicer Orients, or even several nice German, Dutch, or Polish brands. G. Gerlach has some VERY nice offerings for a good price (around $300). But gain, there's absolutely no reason you can't get a nice watch for around $100-$200. Any Swiss chronometer that sells for a couple grand will never be as accurate as a $25 Timex quartz. When you get into high prices, it's all jewelry, not cost of materials/manufacture.

And to the OP, remember: you can always (except in rare circumstances) change a watch's strap. If you get a watch with a metal bracelet, it's a cinch to change to leather as long as you know the lug size (a 40mm watch typically has 20mm lugs).
 
There's also a watch I was looking at last year, the Riki Watanabe (made by Seiko). Minimalist, sterile dial, mineral crystal, leather strap, around $280. It comes in several dial colors. Brown, olive drab, silver, and white I believe. Picture taken from Watchuseek. They're available on Ebay from Japan and ships worldwide.
 

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It's really the Sapphire crystal that's getting in your way. There are lots and lots of decent military-styled watches under $500, but they usually have mineral glass. If you decide that you can live with mineral glass, try Olech and Wass, CWC, MWC and Seiko. Also the G-Shock MT-G models are very popular, though this is something different again

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Maybe, just maybe, if one's budget is $500 one can get an older, used Omega that may or may not be mechanical and might very well be quartz (which Omega has stopped making recently). I guess that's fine if you REALLY want an Omega and you tailor your requirements just so you can get one for below-market value. That's getting rarer nowadays unless you luck out on Ebay or negotiate a sale on a watch forum. Omega used to be on the "value" end of the luxury brands, but have steadily climbed in price over the last 7-8 years and on July 1st will raise their prices again. They're getting a bit ridiculous like Rolex.

So unless the OP really wants an Omega, there are countless other options for the around $500 level, and even more if you go lower. $500 puts you in the realm of the Seiko 6R15's or the nicer Orients, or even several nice German, Dutch, or Polish brands. G. Gerlach has some VERY nice offerings for a good price (around $300). But gain, there's absolutely no reason you can't get a nice watch for around $100-$200. Any Swiss chronometer that sells for a couple grand will never be as accurate as a $25 Timex quartz. When you get into high prices, it's all jewelry, not cost of materials/manufacture.

And to the OP, remember: you can always (except in rare circumstances) change a watch's strap. If you get a watch with a metal bracelet, it's a cinch to change to leather as long as you know the lug size (a 40mm watch typically has 20mm lugs).


Just checked the Omega site and Omega still makes a quartz version of the Seamaster 300 meter dive watch.
 
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