"Brand heritage" has $0 nominal value but:

• The Seiko bezel insert has a really cool, subtle two-tone finish. Sometimes it barely shows up in photos but it looks great in person.

• San Martin has one of the worst logos in the business. Apparently it was personally designed by the CEO.

• Seiko's design team did a lovely job with the typography on "Automatic". San Martin went with a generic sans serif.

• The Seiko in your picture is on a decent quality bracelet instead of a strap, although you've said they both came with comparable options.

I'm an AliExpress lover who routinely recommends Chinese watches, but these are all reasons why I would pick the Seiko in this comparison photo.

Additionally, if you're cheap like me, Seiko is a much larger brand so used SSK's come up for sale pretty often. Comparatively, I have much less trust for AliExpress watches that are being re-sold after a few months of use: surely the original owner was a savvy collector who knew what they were getting into, so what's wrong with it?

A very similar reference for $48.50 in 1949 - the Bank of Canada says that's $625 today. Not bad for the Polish dirt farmer side of the family.

Eaton's was enough of a cultural institution that there is an "Eatonia" in Saskatchewan, explicitly named after the department store. The town also seems to be in terminal decline, although it's outlived its namesake.

Plenty of younger people don't want to spend their days constantly getting notifications from every damn thing they own. I like having a watch because people are very boring and it's a great social asset to have something I can stare at without causing offense.

1960's Westclox dollar watch. Cheap, disposable, impossible to repair - I roll my eyes when people suggest that products were better in the good old days. Manufactured at the company's sole Canadian factory in Peterborough, Ontario.

As previously mentioned, if it just needs a battery change, this line has a quick-change battery door that can be opened with a coin. If something else is broken I believe it is possible to open these things up through the front, but it's very difficult. The cost of repair would be more than buying a new old stock model, but watchmakers are used to getting sentimental pieces.

Great eye. I try to keep track of all the paper Chronomaster models and it looks like you have spotted a never-before-seen combination... although switching the cursive "Chronomaster" for the Citizen eagle is a hilariously minor tweak.

I wanted a touch of gold so I bought a used AQ4024-53Y on Yahoo Auctions, with the intention of having it be my first and only watch over $1,000. After 6 months I am still greatly enjoying it and my urge to explain its superior functionality to random people is barely satisfied. Maybe the emergence of a U.S. model will finally get YouTubers to start heavily promoting the product line?

I've repurposed every single one of my watch boxes as a desk drawer organizer and I don't regret it. (They're probably the sturdiest small boxes you have in your house, try it!)

It was fun to look at my Japan-only warranty cards once, but they're literally worthless pieces of paper.