I missed my chance to see the Swiss Icons watch in person. Apparently they had it at Watchtime NY. I went to the show but I had a case of food poisoning and felt sick and had to leave as soon as I got there. Here are couple more not mentioned.

Steel Sports AP Royal Oak and Patek Nautilus

Racing Chronograph Tag Heuer Monaco

Tourbillion Breguet

Perpetual Calendar IWC DaVinci

Did Chris buy Johnny Sack's watch in Season 5. Spotted Chris wearing this after his Pasha got jacked. Saw Johnny sack wearing what looks like it might be the same watch a couple of episodes prior. Think it might be a VC Overseas Chronograph?

Before you pull the trigger on your first watch, do a little research as to what type of watch will suit your lifestyle. I glanced through the posts and I saw besides the Omega, you are considering the Grand Seiko and a Tag. Those are three different types of watches. One is a Vintage styled dive watch, the other is a GMT Travel watch, and the tag is a chronograph racing watch. For me if I was advising someone on their first watch, I'd advise toward a diver type watch as it has a simple yet functional dive bezel for timing things, it's going to be very robust, and that style of watch can be worn for nearly every occasion. The GMT complication and spring drive are cool, but unless you travel a lot that complication is basically pointless. For the Tag that is a chronograph, generally chronographs cost more as they are more complex. So since the tag is the same price as the Omega and GS that is going to tell you the movement is likely NOT going to be up to the same quality as the Omega and GS.

My wife got the matte stainless steel version. Its a great watch. Seems the matte version might be no longer available.

There are several of these lists going around. They all provide some decent guidance to someone who doesn't know about watches, but there will aways be some disagreements from enthusiasts for where some brands lie. Here are a couple more such lists.

https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/hey-all-i-made-a-watch-brand-hierarchy-tier-list.5291141/

https://www.watch-rankings.com/watch-rankings/

I have the same Cartier Pasha Grille as Christopher, but mine is stainless steel not gold.

I got my first Zenith around the time this was new. I got a Port Royal that I wore in my wedding. I liked it so much that later I got a titanium square case Port Royal. In hindsight I wish I had got the Rainbow as my second Zenith. I've never seen one in the wild, but I've seen a couple in person at watch dealers.