Straying off topic here, but Swiss watches at the affordable end tend to be made from Chinese components and just assembled in Switzerland. Only 60% of a watches production cost has to be incurred in Switzerland (including labour costs) for the "Swiss Made" label to legally apply, and that's very easy to achieve given the low cost of Chinese made components and high labour costs in Switzerland.

Basically If you're buying a Swiss watch that's cheaper than Timex, you're 100% buying a mostly Chinese watch.

That makes sense. Cheers 

Unpopular opinion but I just can't stand that crown on the Tank. I know it's a key part of the design, but to my eyes it's like the watch equivalent of a huge gaudy pinky ring! Fears all the way.

Another Xennial here, born 1981. It's definitely influenced my attitude towards watches as we were really the last generation that didn't grow up with mobile phones (I got my first mobile at 17), and so a watch was an essential clothing item rather than a frivolous luxury, and I still see them that way. I'm pretty sure I've worn a watch every single day of my life since the late-80's.

I don't think that's their ethos as a brand, it's just that the tool watches are what they're known for among watch nerds. I mean they have a whole line of dress watches that generally get ignored, and they've been doing colourful limited editions for years.

It must have taken an iron will to turn down the DJ! Really glad it worked out for you and you got the Explorer.

I was aware of a lot of budget brands from an early age - my first watch was a children's Timex that I learned to tell the time on, and I had numerous Casios (the absolute king of the playground), Sekondas, Lorus, Rotarys etc from childhood through my twenties. I was also aware of Seiko as they were ubiquitous in shop window displays, but they were way out of my league.

Non-budget brands were much more elusive though. The only expensive brands I can remember being even vaguely aware of as a kid were Rolex and Tag Heuer, but even then it was only in the context that they were "rich people watches" that weren't in the Argos catalogue, and must cost at least £200 or so, right? How could anyone afford to spend so much on a watch?!

At some point along the way, Omega and Breitling had also entered my consciousness by the end of my teens. As for other brands, I can honestly say that it wasn't until I started to tentatively become a "watch guy" in my thirties that I became aware of Patek, AP, JLC, IWC etc.