Engagement Watch

Xmas present 

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. 

My engagement watch, I justified that as she was getting an expensive engagement ring and wedding ring and I was getting just a £150 cheapo wedding ring that I could make it up to myself 😂 

Preowned Rolex explorer one?   Little easier on the budget and will be extremely versatile.     

My engagement watch was given to me by my inlaws lol. Its a Kenneth Cole fashion watch and its absolutely enormous 😂 

I never wear it and its in a keepsake box, likely to be there forever 

Get a GADA watch that you can wear to your wedding and everywhere else afterwards. I say an explorer, aqua terra or maybe a BB58. 

Engagement watch, that's awesome!! Personally, I'd put a little time in to think about it. 

It depends on your other watches in the collection and your style, however, I think a Rolex Explorer 2 makes sense. It's not too showy, a good watch to wear every day, and well known and liked in the watch community.

I love the Two-Tone Santos but don't like the SS Santos, so I would pick the Explorer 2 over that. I would consider Grand Seiko as well. Same price range, and you can get a dressier-looking watch with some impressive specifications none the less. 

Law School Graduation Watch (got the OEM bracelet for it in celebration for achieving my LL.M.):

Engagement Watch:

35th Birthday:

18th Birthday:

Do what you're comfortable with financially...there will be many more special occasions in the future

Bought my SMP when my sons was born and a Santos earlier this month for closing a big deal! 
They’re excuses really though, we just use it as justification 😅😂🤦🏻‍♂️

Is this just an excuse to buy a nice new watch or are you truly trying to commemorate a very special occasion in your life.  If it's the first, buy a Rolex, Omega or whatever strikes you fancy.  If it's the second, buy something special and involve your fiancé in the whole process.

Congratulations! I too just got engaged on the 18th this month!! I'm in the same boat

man, i hope this engagement watch thing would gain more popularity. I mean, girls would have a nice ring, and a dude would have nothing. We also want nice things.

I'd stick with a GADA watch for this, but the one that you actually like a lot and the one you will wear a lot, not just a fancy luxury timepiece in a sake of it being luxury.

Omega Seamaster Diver 300M James Bond 007 Edition 210.90.42.20.01.001
It was given to me by my wife's parents.

I’m going to be in a similar boat soon and have decided through the few conversations woth the lady that I don’t need a new “Wedding Watch” despite her wanting me to. I’d rather have the money to start our lives together. That being said I will also 1000% let her know that I‘d take a “Watch Purchase Get-Out-Of-Jail Free” to use card later on down the road😂

Not to hijack this post but this is what I was thinking for my engagement watch 

What do you guys think?

Rolex Datejust in 36mm. something versatile enough to wear on your wedding day and with jeans.

Cartier does the romantic watches that fit anyone. Maybe an inscription on the back.

Some things just have to be done. Great choice! 👍

Congratulations and much respect.  I too am on the MAD (to take an acronym from the Cold War) spending deal with my wife.  I encourage and don't object to yours, you encourage and don't object to mine (and we never retire).

So no mother in law jokes 🤣

I still rock a cheapo ring 25yrs later...I just get a new one if I scratch or ding it every couple of years or so...the watch is the only "jewelry" I need...love your Tudor! 

It's really the wrong kind of forum to ask the question in, from the point of view of getting any kind of definitive answer. There will be folk who got a $500 Seiko for graduating high school and it means just as much to them as the $50,000 watch someone else got for turning 60. In fact, it probably means more as they were less jaded, world weary and, frankly, well off, when they got it. If you're on this forum, you know watches. If Rolex is presenting a conundrum, why not his & hers matching watches from Omega, for example? Less money, still an amazing and respected brand, and something linked to one another.

Congratulations, I look forward to seeing what you go with

I didn't even consider Omega. Not sure how I missed this as an idea.

I agree and certainly respect that insight. I try to take this forum for exactly how you described it. I also don't think I ever want to get into the "hype" of luxury watches, and instead go with fits my lifestyle. That's not to say that luxury watches arent appealing, but I do have other priorities and a finite amount of resources (as most normal people in their 20s.) I think the Explorer 2 resonates with me because it straddles that line of functional and luxury all while fitting into my lifestyle. The biggest drawback for me, is that they are seen EVERYWHERE. I'd be better suited with the similar looking GS high frequency quartz (not sure of the reference), but again I'm still toying with the idea and still new to this hobby. In short when all is said and done, in 10 - 20 years there's a possibility that the watches I have now will be long gone. that shouldnt and wont happen with my engagement watch.

I can see that, I have spoken to her about cheaper alternatives that I'd enjoy that also may get her into it as well (His and Her longines) paired with a Tudor Heritage for myself or maybe even another longines (Zulu spirit or something in that line) I'm not tied to any brand overall besides Longines anyway for family reasons 

I may have to keep my eye open for that one 

my wife bought a Raymond Weil Tango (quartz) for me when we got engaged (early 2000s). I dont wear it anymore, but I still love it and keep it because it reminds me of what things were like when a $500 watch purchase was A LOT. So, I say that to say: I think you’ll love whatever you choose - not because of the watch or specs, but because of what it’ll come to symbolize over time.