Cool watch $250 or under.

One of the coolest watches I've ever had is the gw-m5610 and way under $250

A veritable plethora of options from Timex to Casio to Seiko to Bulova to Citizen to various Chinese homagse like Steeldive,Tactical Frog,San Martin, Pagani Design.

Easy Peasy to find something.

Maybe a Seiko 5Sports like an SRPE61 or 67 (more in the $160-220 range)... like you, they are strap monsters. You'll have enough left over to add a sapphire crystal.

What @foghorn said, but I'll provide some examples.

My next new watch purchase will be this one that @hakki501 has shown off at the beach recently in a WRUW thread, shown below, a Timex from the Waterbury collection. Looks great on the bracelet or a strap I'm sure. Just look at that crystal and what it does with the high-contrast dial:

Following that will be the Bulova 96A242 American Clipper, also seen on someone's wrist around here (I forgot to note who it was):

I mean, look at that dial color and those even-only numerals! And again with the curved crystal that looks so good...

So those are my next two purchases. The quartz Timex can be had for around $120 and the Bulova automatic I found for $90. I think they're stunning pieces at three times the price.

What are you looking for style-wise? I would say diver my choice would be an Orient Komasu or Mako. For dress an Orient Bambino or Symphony. I prefer Orient over Seiko at this price point. I believe since Orient is built to be in the affordable range they put more into the product, since most of the new Seiko's are in the higher price range (for them) so I think the lower priced product has suffered because of that.

See my Beater Watch Collection series in my profile. 9 watches, 8 of which are under $250. Actually 7 are under $140 and 4 are under $50. Anyway, might help.

I’d probably go with the Orient Kamasu.

Or the Timex Navi XL

Or look towards the Citizen Ecodrive range and get a Titanium chronograph.

Yes, a Bambino v.2 would do nicely. 👍

Great choices bud! That Bulova was on my radar initially, but its dimensions are a tad big for my small wrist. Too bad. But, I'm glad you're going for the Timex Waterbury TW2R25400. It is a bracelet and strap monster. Here are just some pics I posted last December for #wcwhitechristmas

And here are other shots...

You can check out my gallery for more photos. Cheers!

I was right about the straps! Change it out to match a different outfit, so versatile! 👍

Advanced congrats, bud! You'll surely enjoy wearing it. I'm wearing it now, March 14, and will post a photo later on WRUW when the official WC calendar date turns over. Cheers and enjoy!

Personally, I’d go with a Citizen Promaster Automatic. A legendary and capable diver with history.

Two FIF is a good amount to get something decent.

My picks:

Glycine Combat Sub Quartz

Citizen Promaster Diver

Automatic version

Orient

Seiko

Casio

Here are mine to add to the mix...I'll try and avoid duplication with what has already been posted...

From more expensive to less starting at $250...(based on actual prices paid)...

Oh...there are a hell lot of options.

I think I don't need to mention the Oriebt Kamasu , Casio Duro and Seiko 5 line again.

First of all check my articles where I listed affordable german watch brands. Further links are in this article.

German watches has the same DNA as Swiss watches (at least the most). But they are much more affordable.

And there are many great affordable german watches. It depends of course which one is available to your country or deliverable.

Bit despite of those I can recommend:

Citizen the NJ0150 line

If you can get the flighty for 250$, let me know, because I see other prices 🙂

I've purchased quite a few watches lately, I should slow down, plus my wife's birthday is coming up...need to buy her some early beach time...

Picked up mine in December 2020 at Jomashop for $249.99 less an additional $20 discount coupon.

Marc from LI Watch has had them from time to time.

You have to be watching out for the sales as the prices vary wildly at any time depending on availability. I waited a couple of years until the price dropped to $250 to purchase mine.

In today's inflationary economy, my guess is that it will be a little bit of a wait. If they keep printing more money, then $250 will be needed to buy a pack of gum.

Well I'm from Belgium so LI watches are not a good option for due to import taxes, otherwise I would have closed the deal on the LI titanium :D.

I do not have many good options to buy, been looking on ebay, chrono24 and many other sites, but is see prices of +500$ ... so will have to be patience, maybe when Seiko see the light they re-release it 😄

When the time is right... ;) And advanced happy birthday to your wife. Enjoy the beach time!

Thanks for all those great ideas guys!