What is the criteria to define a watch as "affordable?"

I class anything under £1000 as budget. I don’t know but maybe just breaking the four-figure mark no longer seems cheap to me 😅😅. Affordable is the next step up so that would be £1000-£2500. Something I could afford pretty striaghtforward. And then ‘luxury’ (for want of a better word), is anything over that. 

Fair enough. But converting, let's say, 1000 pounds to BRL (Brazilian reais), the exchange rate skyrockets to 6230 reais, and that is already 2 or 3 whole months worth of income for someone with a decent salary, I'm not sure how much 1000 pounds would be of the average income from the UK.

Perhaps it's unequal purchasing power, different price rates between markets, or a mixture of both. In any case, collecting watches where I am sure is harder than I thought 🤒

A budget watch is a watch I would buy and my wife wouldn't notice I spent any money. An affordable watch is a watch I would buy, and she would notice but not care about. A watch that I didn't check with her first before buying is not affordable.

That's a good classification! I will take notes for sure on that perspective 👍

Interesting to know!

£1000 here really depends on your job. Most entry level jobs start around £18k-£25k per year and then that can go up to whatever the ceiling is in that industry. I would guess it’s around or over 50% of an average persons take-home pay after taxes. 

A budget watch, or affordable watch, whichever the term, to me is one that I could still buy after paying all the month‘s bills, saving a bit for rainy day, and after spending on some entertainment For the month. So for my economic situation $10-$150 USD. 

Money talk isn’t very sexy, but it’s the real world, some of us make more than others, and thats OK, so long as no snobbery or put-downs are in the conversation.  Whether I wear a $50,000 watch, or a $15 watch, at the end of the day, we all have hopes, fears, and end up ceasing to exist on this Earth one day, depending on what you believe.

You are very correct about location and the strength of each individual country’s economy. Many of us are extremely blessed to spend money on anything that isn’t a bare necessity in the first place, but this is a watch collecting site, so it’s expected we are lucky enough to have some disposable income. 

Eventually there would be the talk about how not everyone has the same wallet power, but I don't mean to blame anyone for something that's just part of how the world works. I try to keep myself from pity talk because I don't want people to feel bad for me being poor. No one can control that, and I have to do my part around saving the money too.

At the very least I'm relieved that the folks at WatchCrunch are accepting despite my financial situation, because that's what we all share in common: a love for watches. And part of the fun is to not how much I spent to get my collection, but how cool the watches are.

My personal collection is also diverse in function, from beaters to weekend pieces, and also even some contenders for a formal occasion. Rubber, NATO, stainless steel and even a (cheap) leather strap, and cases in resin, chromed plastic, silver and gold colored stainless steel. 

And I even have some grounds for expanding my collection, since I can explore Technos, a Brazilian brand, and also there's always a treasure hunt around the vintage/second-hand market (which is why I got my Casio Edifice and SGW-100 for cheap, compared to retail, and they are still in great condition).

Maybe there will be a time where I can afford a single piece that I could call "luxury", but maybe it will be a time where it will be a special occasion or a moment of great changes in life. Until then, I still enjoy watches as well, I just need to be a bit creative around it 😉 

And that's why I asked about how different people define "affordable". We can't ignore there is something lost in translation between different economies and markets. But it's just a curiosity.

For me:

<$50 is "budget"

<$200 is "affordable"

$200-$500 is "unnecessary"

>$500 is "stupid"

This guys statement is quite out of touch with a lot of others. You shouldn't be worrying about whats affordable, budget, luxury. Just buy a watch you like and enjoy it. This isn't about the hype. Don't worry about what others think is ''cheap'' to them. Watchcrunch will love whatever you buy!

That's what I thought about, reading some comments. Collecting watches is about finding cool stuff, and not the price tag.

But I have to admit I feel left out when some definitions of affordable makes me feel like I can't afford anything... However I don't think I should worry too much about that anyway. As I said before, there's the treasure hunting in vintage or second-hand markets, and find interesting things for not as expensive.

People will use this term and that term. I personally think if people are using terms such as these it's not about the watch, it's about what people think about the watch. It's a gripe I (and lots others) have about watch collecting/fandom. There's few other hobbies (but there are some) that will preface their like of something based on a price tag. Buy what you like. If at some point there's a time you can afford an expensive watch, buy it because you like it. Not because others will consider it luxury. 

If you like the treasure hunting aspect, make that the hobby!

I can honestly say apart from people on watch groups (this one is the best btw) most people will not give a flip what's on your wrist. So wear it for yourself!

affordable as defined by me mr catfancy 

" its affordable if your willing to sacrifice and wait , most of the time , both"

Exactly, 1000£ is around my 2 months of wage in hungary, so I'm really bummed when I see someone posting  a super cool watch that is just 500£, man my country sucks🤣

It was a great topic that I haven’t seen talked about in this much detail on this website before, and I think it is important for people to realize that there are different definitions of “affordable” to different people, it reminds us that we like the watches for what the watches are, not what they cost.  

It’s subjective to one’s personal finances. Also another term to consider is “beater”. Often times people will assume your affordable is your beater. Many have different views of this as well. I work with my hands a lot so would not consider wearing an Aqua Terra for laying cement down. For activities such as this I’m wearing my $20 Casio. What’s more affordable than this?

These classifications absolutely have to do with our individual situations.  There are people who can’t afford any watches because every dollar they make needs to go towards food and shelter, and there are people who just get whatever they feel like whenever they feel like it. Most of us are in the vast space between. 
As you point out, what’s great about  this place is that people here appreciate the whole spectrum of watches. And we love watches whether we own them or not. So buy what you’re comfortable, or nothing at all. Either way, you’ll find people here who are interested in the same watches as you. 

Absolutely spot on! And I would add to that any watch that causes her to raise an eye brow to is likely unobtainable?

Affordability is entirely relative to your personal situation, as is being repeated here.

My personal situation is that I'm doing OK financially but I have lots of life stuff going on which means my current watch budget is limited. Hopefully that will change in the future and I have some watches in mind for that happy time. But for now my vostok and seiko 5s get the most wrist time. Relatively cheap watches I think can be as rewarding and fulfilling as more expensive pieces. That's why most of us love collecting isn't it?

I guess it depends on how we're defining "affordable". Affordable within a product's entire sector or affordable based your own budget. My brain tends to go to the first definition most often.

So, for me, anything below $500 falls into the "affordable/cheap" category for mechanical watches.  A watch is not any more expensive whether I have none of the budget for it or it's fully funded. It's where it falls within it's own sector that determines how I classify it.

Ex. A brand-new car for $12,000 is a cheap car to me no matter what the budget is because I'm placing that in context of the entire price range for all new cars at every price point. Now, it's not a cheap purchase in general if I have no funds and need a car.

Hopefully that brain dump makes sense, haha.

It's an interesting question but I think it's really tied in to what sort of discretionary funds you have available to you relative to what kind of watches you like. My collection is all over the place from my super 80's tacky Amitron (in Gold) Red LED watch to my vintage Speedmaster Professional and then a bunch of other stuff all over the place in between. I think I paid $30 for the Armitron and the amount that watch makes me smile is worth it. A few of my other vintage pieces were certainly affordable when I bought them but there is always the cost of service and bringing them back to spec to consider. The thing is I take joy in each watch, no matter it's value or cost. The fun was in the hunt and the research and ultimately putting it on the wrist. And hey, if you got it in a good deal, that's just bonus.  I will say when you've got a watch worth thousands on the wrist, you're a lot more aware of your surroundings.

It makes sense. There is a bit of a debate on the definition indeed, because something might not be an immediate purchase, but could be easily achieved by some basic management around income and saving money.

As I stated before, it needs to also take in consideration the financial status, where the person lives and how much things cost in one's part of the world. But overall the question is around the cases of "Can I buy this without worry?" and "Will this watch make me lose my Monopoly game?"

I thought I would consult Google on this one...

The adjective affordable can either mean "cheap," or it can imply that even if it's expensive, you have enough money to easily buy it. The verb afford is at the root, and its earliest meaning was "accomplish." Gradually, afford came to have the meaning "manage to buy."

So if you can manage to buy it, then it's affordable.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for U.S. workers is approximately $54,000.

So a watch costing around $1,000 would be approximately one week's gross salary and likely would be considered affordable for most in that median category.

As I said earlier in the thread, that is fair, but what you calculate as one week's worth of gross salary in the US is almost 2 whole months of wage for a middle class family in my country.

So my question was more of a curiosity, since there could be different wages and market prices between different parts of the world, and that could change how we perceive what amount is considered "affordable", but there is a consensus between the members in this thread about the notion of affordable being something you can realistically purchase without compromising your finances, no matter how much one earns.

My point in using US$ and US salary was that you can make the conversion to your local currency on the same basis. If one week's salary is two month's wages, then an affordable watch would be approximately the equivalent of US$125.

I really think this question is subjective depending on your income level as well as your expenses and your discretionary spending ability. Everybody has a different idea of “budget“- somebody that makes a few million a year isn’t gonna think twice about a watch that costs a few grand whereas somebody who makes only $50-$60,000 a year would definitely notice a $3000 purchase on their credit card statement as it would have an impact on their ability to afford life’s necessities. 

Budget is less than a good steak dinner for two. Max $150 USD
 

Affordable is what I have set aside per month for watch purchases. Max $700 USD

Luxury is a price range that will take 2+ months' watch budget to save for. Minimum $1050-$1400. 
 

But that's just for me. At this point in my life, my kids are grown and we have disposable income. When we were in our 20s with 3 small kids, $300 watch was a luxury. 
 

In truth, it depends on national currency exchange rates, living costs, indebtedness, earning potential, job security and so much more. 

What is affordable clearly depends on how much an individual makes or networth... and which country he/she resides. 

Per McKinsey watch report, the premium category goes from $180 to $3,600, luxury from $3,600 to $30,000 and ultra-luxury > $30,000. By this classification, anything under $180 would be considered 'affordable' as it relates to the general population at large. 

Don't get hung up about those adjectives. Both "affordable" and "luxury" are relative terms, and they are both deployed by the watch industry to encourage unwise purchases.

At the high end, watches are talked about as affordable that really are not, not even for the median income household in the US. The point is to play on your aspirations, and make you afford a watch you should not by guilt-tripping you as a cheapskate. Essentially, affordable is a term only meaningful to the individual customer, if the blurb about a watch comes with this tag it is a red flag.

At the middle end, there are the fashion watch brands that prey on the ignoramuses of the watch consumers (i.e. most of them) and combine the words into affordable luxury. The affordable attribute is generally accurate for their target market, the word luxury is a lie, however you frame it.

At the bottom end, you get listings such as this Shshd 

that still claim the word luxury in their listing, and it may be an indulgence for the people who actually buy this, but it is still a lie. They no longer claim the affordable tag though. It costs £1.79, so it just is affordable, no need to tell anyone.

Never have I classified a purchase as “affordable“, “budgetary“, “luxury”, “expensive”, etc.  Those terms are are relative to the consumer or person purchasing a watch.  If you want a certain watch, save for it, buy it, wear it and love it.  Adjectives are more powerful when used to describe the apperception, love and excitement for a watch you purchased.   

$500. That's what people seem to say anyway. That's my limit.