Which price range satisfies your expectations ?

I just made a post on the Christopher Ward Sealander GMT. It's the epitome of the $1 to 2k modern, useful, value for money options out there. It's insane. It's why just people will be able to confidently answer $1 to 2k IMHO

Really depends? Some companies really don't deliver at their price point in terms of quality or even being unique or artisnal to make up for falling short elsewhere . . . while other watches punch well above their weight. I chose 1 to 2k b/c here we have companies like Farer, lots of Christopher Ward, some Kurono Tokyo . . . am I expecting high levels of finish or amazing movements? I know I'm not going to get everything and you'd be unreasonable to expect everything at this price, but the value proposition and price/to product ratio is closer here. And sometimes you do get the unexpected finish etc . . . and the brands know they are giving you something nearly unheard of at the price.

Once you break 2k though and certainly for the 3 to 5k range you're going to want to expect quality inside and out for the dial and movement and that's where so many companies get lazy imo.

And as much as I like Seiko, I feel like they've long left the realm in terms of value proposition when you look at quality vs. inflated price. Seiko can still win and often does win out b/c they offer so damn much, but I wish Seiko proper would reign in their catalog more and just focus on what I know they are good at if they want to be -- quality at accessible price points.

I would like to put two votes: realistically, it is 500-1k because this is what I pay for my watches. If I could (or better: if I would allow myself to do so), I would definitely go to 1k-2k, maybe even up to 3k…

Once you break through a certain price bracket it’s hard to go back down.

Right about seiko, wish they produced less variants with more quality finishing

Trickle down economics 😅

Typically I buy watches that retail new in the £1-2k range, but I buy them used for £500-£1000.

Only ever bought 2 new in the last 10 years and they were both gifts.

my each purchase doubles the previous one ı'm afraid😊

500-1000 is what ı've paid for till now, probably won't need to go above 2500-3000 ever

I think value is subjective to the enjoyment you get out of wearing a particular watch.

I enjoy wearing a £100 g shock just as much as a £150k watch, it all depends on what I’m doing that day and what watch is appropriate for the occasion.

I personally believe there is too much emphasis on the point of a watch’s value and not the enjoyment a watch brings

I have paid $500 a couple of times and that is about as far as I am willing to go. There is nothing I have ever seen so far that would be worth more than that to me, watch wise.

ı enjoy my cheapest watch too

that's exactly what ı'm trying to assess by asking this question🤝

Only death can satisfy a watch collector..

There is no such thing as satisfaction when we talk about any kind of materialistic wealth.

A watch regardless of price range can check some boxes of a persons desire, its really hard to attain overall satisfaction. And even if some watch does check all boxes of yours, there will be new boxes after certain time.

I hear you. What I mean is that categorizing based off satisfaction is a complex conversation that if left to price as the categorical index, becomes reductive. Price should be a factor of the satisfaction, not the category. Because in the end there will always be a watch that is X-price that doesn't live up to watch that is Y-price , or vice versa.

I could buy watches <$500 and be super chuffed all day long.

Life is smoother when one is easy to please.

$600-$1800 seems to be the sweet spot for me.

If ja dfinoshing with interesting complex actions is what stretches your itch, you’re missing a column for people to vote. Under $5 doesn’t cut it usually.

I don’t think I fit to a price….. I have one from all of your brackets apart from the top one (which is where my end watch lies!) I buy ones I like rather than focus on price. If I can’t afford it I’ll save for it, if I can afford it I’ll get it…..

B, if I can get it for A 😏

If it takes my fancy, I doesn't matter how much, can't afford much but I'll save it

Hey Deniz, good question!

In my opinion, there is increasing returns up to around 1.5k (think Hamilton vs run-of-the-mill watch from the mall) then diminishing returns (but still positive) until around 3k (Longines is probably better finished than Hamilton but it’s not worlds apart). Past 3k, I would argue price increase goes up much faster than build quality BUT brand prestige also increases much faster as well (Tudor is typically thought of as being higher end than Longines) whereas below 3k brand isn’t really much of a distinguishing factor. It’s very easy to find microbrands that sell for 1-2k.

Thus, I think the best value can be found up to 2k.

Hamilton longines and tudor are the perfect representatives of those price points

$1k - $2k is the sweet spot for me. After that it’s just diminishing returns.

I'm satisfied in the 1-2 range.

Does that mean I don't have more expensive watches? Nope :)

I can find everything I'll ever need in a watch for under $500 au

I wandered around a bunch of luxury watch shops yesterday, just window shopping. Maybe I’m blind wrt finishing or I need to try one on to understand, but I didn’t see anything costing thousands of dollars that I wouldn’t regret buying.

Never say never, but I feel like I’m destined to be in the under-$1000 or even under-$500 camp forever. Anything that costs at least as much as a troy oz of gold bullion will make my goldbug brain think “yknow the sunburst effect on a Canadian Gold Maple coin is better than any watch dial’s…” 😬

My second watch was a Grand Seiko which ruined me bc obviously even watches at that price pt fail to reach that level of finish.

Haha o yeah I can definitely see that