Best three watch collection under £90 (=$100)
After last week's £30 constraint, responding to KevinK's much much higher budget game, I have upped the budget to £90. At this point, the cheap end of self-winding watches comes first into play, unless you go cheap vintage and risk it for a biscuit like Aurelian would do.
My first choice is the Ochstin 6020G which I had reviewed here, and there is also a review here of the silver coloured variant. Other colors are available, and this appear on various stores on AliExpress around the £25 mark. Chinese self-winders at this pricepoint tend to keep the movement anonymous, and these can be a bit of a gamble. Mine was a good'n. That this actually came with a sapphire crystal is almost shocking.
With mechanical movements at this pricepoint being a bit of a risk I still opt for anchoring the collection with a solid quartz watch, andfor this money you do not have to pick cheap Chinese. I rather go Japanese. My choice would be the Lorus lumibrite, which is a tad toolier than the Ochstin.
Above is a shot of mine, with the lume in action. This may be discontinued, but I saw new ones for sale on ebay for £22.
As a third watch I chose vintage. Getting a cheap vintage watch on ebay is as much a risk as these super-cheap Chinese ones on Ali. My choices here are limited because I have tried only a few, and some of those turned out to be duds. One which did not is this Citizen Eagle:
This cost me £42 which seems to be roughly the going rate for this watch on ebay. The other reason for picking this is that this is not a rare watch, you will be able to find more of the like.
If your budget is very tight you should bear in mind that the watch bands you get at this point may not be to your liking, which jeopardises your budget. Both my Ochstin and Citizen are not any more on the watchbands they came with. The Citizen's one was not sturdy enough, the keeper broke, so I got myself a cheap replacement. The watchband on the Ochstin did not need replacing, but I felt it deserved a better band - and I spend more on the new band than the watch itself.
UK-based German expat. Likes cheap watches. Not bothered about brands.
If that was my budget I probably would just buy one watch. I find Orinent Kamasu and others for 100$ used. But I woul probably go for this one: 75$ with new glass and battery 👌 Leaves 25$ for some straps.
Kwasi Kwarteng is not helping the budgetary cause. We will go with 100 USD as the target given the absurdity of the sterling.
First, a capable and attractive diver. Invicta Pro Diver ref 9094OB ($58 on Amazon). A vastly underrated watch and unlike many Invictas, reasonably sized at 40mm diameter and 13mm in height. I have owned several iterations of this watch before and it is the very definition of cheap and cheerful. It is also one the the cheapest non Chinese automatics I can think of (NH35).
Second, more of an every day watch. Timex Expedition Metal Field ($39 in the Timex website sale section but Timex has a 15% off coupon for signing up for the newsletter, so it can be had for $33). Perhaps large for a field watch at 40mm and 9.5mm in height but I love the giant Arabic numerals and the indiglo dial. This is a handsome and functional field watch at any price.
Third, I wanted something a bit unique case shape wise along with being more formal. The awkwardly named but very attractive copper dial Ulzzang Tank ($7, AliExpress). There's not a small amount of Cartier in the design but the cut off corners give it a bit of octagonal personality. Its also misleading named a women's watch but the dimensions are almost identical to that of a Large Cartier Tank Solo (26mm x 37mmish) and should fit most wrists beautifully. It even has 20mm lug widths!
I believe that puts me at just under $98. I'd use the last $2 and take a flyer on a mesh bracelet in 20mm.