For someone who isn‘t into luxury things, I’d say Rolex is a good go-to because it’s so recognizable by anyone as ‘the‘ luxury watch brand. 

But I agree with some other commenters that given that he’s not into luxury goods, a $20k-$25k watch might not be the best fit, and you might better off taking him on a trip (or two or three) to spend some quality time with him and give him some experiences he’ll appreciate. 

Not knowing anything about watches at all, my dad’s mind was blown when he asked what the little red hand on my Explorer II does. He said he wanted a GMT and when I told him I’d get him an Explorer II or GMT Master II, he said he didn’t need a Rolex because he doesn’t understand why they’re so ‘luxury’. I then told him I’d get him a Black Bay GMT, which he agreed to, but after finding out about the price and the concept of a mechanical watch’s power reserve, he refused; even though Tudor is a solid value play for enthusiasts like us, he still thinks spending $4k on a watch (and an additional $200 on a winder) is nuts. 

So I ended up buying him a cheap quartz GMT that has already failed and has been replaced by another quartz GMT that I absolutely hate but he enjoys. The latter is what matters to me.

My father-in-law is extremely hard on his watches (walking the border of negligence; I feel like every few months he’s asking me to take one of his watches in for repair due to dropping them on his tile floors). But for all the wear/damage he’s put on his Radiomir, he’s never come close to damaging the lugs. Given the thick case shape and raised crystal, as well as the fact that the lugs usually have a strap attached to them, there’s almost no way the lugs would take a direct enough hit to cause significant damage. Also, since they’re steel and not, say, ceramic, they‘d be more likely to bend than snap anyway. 

Congrats!  I’m really impressed with this watch, from design to execution. I never would have figured Cartier would try for a solar-powered watch, and when I saw the headlines I thought, “what are they thinking?!”.  But when I dug into the details, I appreciated that it wasn‘t just faithful to the Cartier aesthetic, it looks indistinguishable from any ‘normal‘ release from the brand. It’s at once completely at home with the rest of the brand’s history and also a very interesting new direction. I happen to think it doesn’t look great on my own wrist, but I still love the watch and look forward to what Cartier might do next along these lines. 

I don’t have a regret, but I do have a major near miss. 

When I made my decision on my first ’high horology‘ dress watch, I decided on the Lange 1815 Up/Down in white gold. Beautiful, well-finished, under-the-radar; a connoisseur’s piece that I fell in love with at first sight. I went to the boutique to make my purchase. But as I inspected it under a loupe, I saw a tiny nick at 6 o’clock. The salesperson saw what I saw and apologized, and said he’d have one express shipped from another location in the next day.

But as I was walking home, I thought about what happened and something occurred to me. I had never worn precious metal of any kind for any reason—do I really have the lifestyle to wear gold?  As with anything I buy, I intended to get frequent use out of whatever watch I bought without worrying about keeping it pristine.  But I live in Manhattan, so I ride the subway to work, pass hundreds of people on the sidewalk, etc., and all with rolled-up sleeves in the sweltering summers.  I definitely don’t baby any of my watches and I expect wear and tear on any of them.  But on a dress watch in particular, there’s a fine line between patina and inviting a horror show by selecting something that simply doesn’t suit my lifestyle.

So I went with the FP Journe Chronometre Bleu, cased in tantalum. Even after six years of frequent wear, it still looks great. It certainly has some wear, but it looks like normal patina rather than out-of-character dents and bruises.

I still love the ALS and lust after it, but after many desk dives and the addition of two very destructive kids, I’m happy (and relieved) that I didn’t go with gold at this point in my life.