I would love some recommendations or suggestions!
Hello!
I have been into, as you can guess, watches for the past few years now, and while my collection hasn't grown much, I'm starting to become more financially able to expand it.
I'm looking at a budget of about $200-800 CAD ($150-600 USD), and I already have a few on my radar.
-Hamilton Khaki Field 38 Auto
-Marathon GPM
-Bulova Lunar Pilot
-Seagull 1963
-Seiko 5 GMT
-Maybe a Seiko 5 sports, but would need to narrow
-At the very top of my budget, something like a Seiko alpinist
While none of it is a deal breaker or maker, I think I lean towards more rugged pieces with a strong history, and applicability. I work in the automotive trade, and I want something that can take some wear and tear quite well. I also prefer mechanical, but something like the Lunar Pilot, with it's rich history and precise nature really appeals to me. Again, none of this is set in stone, just trying to map out my mind.
I would really love any words of advice, recommendations, reviews, or whatever you have to share!
Thank you for reading, I greatly look forward to any responses!
You can’t go wrong with the hammy. I bought mine originally on a strap and after about a year hunted down a hammy original bracelet on eBay. It feels so much better on a bracelet than on strap.
My Seagull 63s are beautiful, but I wouldn't advise them for wear and tear use.
Great question! Funnily enough I like all the watches on your shortlist.
Thinking about your requirement that it takes wear and tear well I would go with something which has a great reputation for reliability and which will gain extra character from the odd bump and scratch.
For me that means avoiding watches that use lots of high polish as part of their design or depend on the contrast between high polish and brushed/blasted finishes. To my mind that rules out the Alpinist because of its dressy finishing and the Sea-Gull 1963 because it's movement is more delicate than the others, it doesn't have great water resistance and I find it's quite easy to snag the chrono pushers against things when working in confined spaces. Then again you could buy at least three 1963s for you budget if one broke.
In terms of the others the Marathon sounds perfect as does the Hamilton. Great heritage and bombproof. Smaller size also means less likely to snag against/scratch things. Seiko 5 Sports and the GMT are also great, tough watches. Super legible lume and comfy for their size.
The lunar pilot is a great watch but it wears very large compared to the rest of your list. Not just because of its size but also it's lug design and bulging case back. If you have large wrists that might not be an issue - worth trying on in person before buying or buying from somewhere with a good returns policy.
Good luck! You can't go far wrong witblh anything on that list!
Good choices I’ve just bought the Hammy 38 in Titanium with a green dial. How do you feel about microbrands? There’s been a huge number of micros lately that have been coming out with gmt’s using the Seiko 5 movement and are competitively priced and slightly smaller in size.
I like the watches on your short list and own or have owned three of them. The Khaki is a great watch I have had for years. I just got a Marathon GPM but I am already enamored of it. It is a great field watch, and the tritium lume is a nice feature. I had a Lunar Pilot but I sold it. It is a great watch but a bit too big and flat for my wrist; it just never felt comfortable to wear. I also do have a Tandorio Explorer II homage/rip-off with the NH34 movement, and it runs well.
I have thought about adding a 1963 to my collection, but never got around to actually buying one. Red Star makes a bull-head chronograph using the 1963 movement that I have also been considering.
It also comes on a bracelet.
You also might think about Citizen. They have some great watches.
Promaster Nighthawk
Promaster Diver
Both of these are pretty durable watches with screw-down crowns and 200M water resistance.
Great question! Funnily enough I like all the watches on your shortlist.
Thinking about your requirement that it takes wear and tear well I would go with something which has a great reputation for reliability and which will gain extra character from the odd bump and scratch.
For me that means avoiding watches that use lots of high polish as part of their design or depend on the contrast between high polish and brushed/blasted finishes. To my mind that rules out the Alpinist because of its dressy finishing and the Sea-Gull 1963 because it's movement is more delicate than the others, it doesn't have great water resistance and I find it's quite easy to snag the chrono pushers against things when working in confined spaces. Then again you could buy at least three 1963s for you budget if one broke.
In terms of the others the Marathon sounds perfect as does the Hamilton. Great heritage and bombproof. Smaller size also means less likely to snag against/scratch things. Seiko 5 Sports and the GMT are also great, tough watches. Super legible lume and comfy for their size.
The lunar pilot is a great watch but it wears very large compared to the rest of your list. Not just because of its size but also it's lug design and bulging case back. If you have large wrists that might not be an issue - worth trying on in person before buying or buying from somewhere with a good returns policy.
Good luck! You can't go far wrong witblh anything on that list!
This is really helpful, thank you!
Good choices I’ve just bought the Hammy 38 in Titanium with a green dial. How do you feel about microbrands? There’s been a huge number of micros lately that have been coming out with gmt’s using the Seiko 5 movement and are competitively priced and slightly smaller in size.
I'm perfectly comfortable with micro brands, in fact I had heard about some ones coming out with the GMT movement, but I couldn't find them! I would love any recommendations you have on those.
I'm perfectly comfortable with micro brands, in fact I had heard about some ones coming out with the GMT movement, but I couldn't find them! I would love any recommendations you have on those.
Sure I got the Phoibos Voyager gmt back in March that is great. 39mm diameter, 200m water resistance with a screw down crown and I got it for around 350USD. Borealis recently came out with the Seastorm mk2 gmt. Another one I got recently and has better specs than the Seiko and competes price wise. RZE have the Ascentus gmt a titanium gmt that I picked up today. And @Max reviewed one I think from Nodus that seemed pretty good.
Hope that helps and good luck.
i would go for a seiko samurai or turtle for the same money as the seiko 5 GMT, especially if you galue ruggedness. the seiko 5s look really nice but i dont consider them rugged after seiko switched from screw down crown to push/pull and halved the WR
Don’t know if it’s your style or if you could stretch the budget a tad, but Autodromo makes automotive inspired watches.
https://autodromo.com/product-category/watches/?gclid=CjwKCAjwjMiiBhA4EiwAZe6jQySGOHMIW2tnzxcW6KNIVOGMkBOM24TwhALx7IwUmergzVX8cjyr9RoCMrEQAvD_BwE