Inexpensive Automatic Dress Watch

I would recommend Orient Bambino with the small seconds and modifications of the crystal. It looks astonishing that way! 🙂 The photo is not of mine watch.

Which model number is this? And by "modifications of the crystal," do you mean that the cost of the watch + having the cystal replaced with sapphire should, combined, still be under $300?

I would check out Tissot in your search. There's lots of great options from many different brands. The Bambino in the above picture looks really nice. There's no perfect choice, but dozens of great choices you could probably be happy wearing.

I may be wrong, but if we're talking big brands, I feel like the sapphire requirement makes that a tough one at $300. At the risk of being cliche, the Orient Bambino is kind of the gold standard for automatic dress watches in this price range. But again, the mineral crystal means it's a no-go.

Upping the budget by $50 would mean that the Baltic HMS002 or the Vario Empire would be in the discussion, either of those would be my choice. (I am in a bit of an art deco phase at the moment though, lol).

Alternatively, an hour-and-minute-only quartz might make some sense for a slim, occasional-wear dress piece.

Islander has the sapphire for 50$ if I remember it correctly and also the watch you can find in 250$ range rather easily I think. Here where I live (Poland) with my AD discount I can get for such money 😎

To sum it up those are the things I might buy and do 😉 900 polish zloty is about 207$ 😉

Sorry for ruining your entertainment with this task 😎😎😎

Zeppelin Lz129 Hindenburg 8062-5

movement: Miyota 821A

strap: Leather

crystal: Mineral glass

*you would need to swap it tho, but you will still be under those 300$ for sure!

Ah, you're from Poland? What is your opinion of the Gerlach brand? I have been considering buying one of their Wojtek watches. 😀

I think that it my be a little gimmick to buy it, however it might draw attention to You like a magnet. Those watches are well made and have a nice story to them aside from the fact that they look like Stowa connected with Seiko in regards to dials 😉

For $300 you buy the Bambino, hands down the best choice. There are at least 4 generations to choose from. With the money you save you can buy a G-Shock too.

My wife is Polish, born in Gdansk, raised in Canada, now living with me in Texas! 🤠 A real world-traveler! 😃 We are taking a trip to Poland later this year, to visit her parents, and if we do any jewelery shopping, that's the first thing I am going to look for! 🤣

My “dress” watch is a Glycine Combat 6 in 36mm.

While technically a field watch, it has a nice mix of brush and polish on the case. The bracelet as well. Domed sapphire crystal. Selita based movement. The case is slim, tucks under a cuff well.

It's a bit more than $300, but the Islander Brookville is a great dress watch; sapphire crystal, either jubilee or oyster bracelet, 100m wr, and a combination of SARB and Datejust aesthetics. Also lots of dial choices for this one. Here is the black sunburst dial.

I think the Timex Marlin is the winner as a $300 dress watch.

Hodinkee photo.

The mineral crystal doesn’t bother me and I’m not sure why that’s a requirement but I’d love to hear the rationale. The fois gras spoon at a nice dinner won’t scratch or crack mineral crystal. Unless you’re demonstrating your six month progress at learning nunchucks during your next formal event, I don’t see the need. But that might just be me. I’m bad at nunchucks.

It's not a practical rationale, it's an aesthetic one. I have a Tissot that has a sapphire crystal, and I love how super-clear it is, and how it catches the light and really gleams. To tell the truth, my Tissot basically =IS= a dress watch with all the parameters listed above, except one: my Tissot Classic Dream is a quartz watch. I'd like an automatic dress watch. 😀 I am trying to create a well-rounded watch collection, so the thought was to have at least ONE (possibly more) automatic watch for each of these catagories: Diver (which I have), Dress, Field, and Chronograph. 😎

Is there a pulsation scale on there?

I think I might need a dial with an eye test!

Definitely the Orient Bambino in 38 mm. One of the best budget dress watch you can get with a brand that has a lot of history.

I didn't see one either!

A quick story about the Bambino: when I was windowshopping for a dress watch a few weeks back, I went to many boutique stores, two of which carried the Bambino. In both of those stores, when I asked to try on the Bambino, both salespersons (again from two different stores) asked me whether I’m attending a wedding and whether I’m the groom. None of the other boutique shops dealing other brands presumed the reason I was looking for a dress watch was because of a wedding.

So, does this happen all the time in the rest of the world? Or just where I shop, which is in Manila Philippines? Are Bambino watches known for being wore at weddings?

If it's going to be your occasional dress watch, get an Orient Bambino. You cannot beat the value that watch offers and you have plenty of variations to choose from.

I paid only $135 for this variant of Bambino. The mineral crystal on the watch will do the job if you are just going to wear it occasionally. Box mineral crystal has a nice clarity compared to sapphire and looks beautiful too. The 38mm version looks more appropriate and they slightly more expensive than the 40mm versions. Also the movement in Orient watches are great, runs with a good accuracy out of the box.

If you have seen posts about budget wedding watches or watches to get for the groomsmen on Reddit, then you should be familiar with why Bambino is often suggested. Its a great budget dress watch.

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but the orient bambino is the one. I would go with the 2ns generation with the Roman numerals and the minute markers

Glycine has some dress models that can be found for under $300. Sapphire crystal, stainless steel band, high beat Sellita SW200-1 with hand winding and hacking and Swiss Made to boot, all from a brand that has been around continuously since 1914. Unbeatable value for money at $290.

https://www.ashford.com/glycine-gl0455.html

GL0455 shown:

if you want the cheapest of the cheap, i'd recommend going in a flee market and buy on the side a watch strap, i've found some nice citizens and seikos autos for around 40 euros, and even cheaper quartz (5-20 euros with tasteful patina) which also works, if you want something cheap and new, check out the pagani design mocktail time with a mecaquartz movement

or buy a good, elegant leather strap and stick it on one of your watches

and for the higher end of your budget there is seiko cocktail time, orient bambinos, invicta 1953, sternglass, bauhaus, zeppelin, junkers/iron annie. and if you want the most specs for the money check out san martin a lot of hommages but they have some interesting in house design too, tho check out yourself since prices vary with regions

nice dial!

I'd call that the winner right there, IMHO!

I would suggest one of the following...

Hitori Habuka 39 (from Gnomon Watches)

Ocean Blue

Automatic Seiko NH35

39mm x 11.5mm

Sapphire

100M WR - Screw Down Crown

Stainless Steel bracelet

Price Paid: $282

Certina DS1

Ref. C006.407.11.088.00

Automatic ETA 2824-2

39mm x 12mm

Sapphire

100M WR

Stainless Steel bracelet

Price Paid: $290

Both of these slay any Aliexpress watches in the same price range

Of course, this one just knocks the two above off the rack...

Aragon Caprice Aventurine

Ref. A120BGS

Automatic Seiko NH35

43mm x 19mm

K1 Hardened Mineral Crystal

200M WR - Screw Down Crown

Black Leather strap

Price Paid: $129

I would say my pick for a dress watch would go the Sternglas Naos for an inexpensive dress watch.

https://www.sternglas.com/collections/all-watches/products/naos-automatik-black

Granted the automatic I linked there is over $300 but you can get the quartz instead for around $300 or less depending on where you buy it. I kind of like a quartz for a dress watch since I dont wear a dress watch very often and having it as a grab and go watch is convenient.

One more to shake up things: the incredibly thin (5.3mm!) Seiko Dolce. Three thoughts come to mind when I think of a dress watch:

1. Thinness (to slip under suit cuffs)

2. Versatility of dial color (since it is primarily with formal suits)

3. How often will you wear suits/this dress watch? (I bet not too often for most).

If you are not going to wear it frequently, go for quartz so as to not have to worry about setting it the few times you do need to wear it. Also, most quartz timepieces are much thinner than their mechanical counterparts. The following high accuracy quartz adds a delicate, dressy style that sets it apart and also comes right in around your $300 budget if you look for it. On top of that, even the quartz movement, which is not your grandmother's quartz, was used in Grand Seiko watches prior to the current 9F series.

Seiko Dolce (@6:23): https://youtu.be/0jQVGxrmwZA?t=386

In this price range, only Orient Bambino and Timex Marlin come to my mind. I paid €150 for this Bambino V2 40mm. I would like to replace it for the new 38mm.

In the future I would love to get the new Tissot Chemin des Tourelles 39mm, but it cost 800€