WHAT IS THE CHEAPEST LUXURY WATCH BRAND?

With Instagram and YouTube showing you so many fantastic videos of very expensive luxury watches, it can be nice once in a while to look at watches that don’t cost an arm or a leg. Of course, what’s expensive to one person may be cheap to another, but relatively speaking watches over 1000 USD are considered expensive. So, what does that leave us with below the 1000 USD price point in terms of luxury watches? Just because a watch doesn’t cost as much as a car doesn’t mean it isn’t a luxury timepiece so today we’re taking a look at the cheaper luxury watch brands.

If you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a watch there is nothing wrong with that and don’t worry, there are still plenty of excellent choices. Probably the biggest name you can get, if that’s something that is important to you, is TagHeuer. Some of their quartz watches in their dive watches and formula lines can be found at just under the 1000 USD price point and definitely if they are second hand. With a fantastically rich Swiss watchmaking heritage and years of mastering the art of watchmaking itself, TagHeuer can certainly offer some great pieces depending on your style. Another great brand with rich watchmaking heritage and right around the same price point would be the Nomos Glashutte club campus. Now these tend to be either loved or disliked as they are very unique designs but one thing for sure, there's no debating these watches are very well made. With automatic movements, small case sizes to make them very wearable and plenty of strap options, they make for a great entry level luxury watch.

Another great brand to look at an even lower price point would be Seiko. It’s almost impossible to talk about cheaper luxury watches and not mention Seiko. Whilst there has been plenty of debates within online watch forums concerning Seiko’s watch bracelet quality, they do make great watches. Their movements for the prices are what makes them stand out, watches from their Presage line look very elegant and smart for a very reasonable price of just under 500 USD. 

Source : Time & TIde

Source : Time & TIde

Another advantage to cheaper luxury brands is because the watches are easier to make, watchmakers often offer them in more variations like colour and sizes. In terms of best value for money, especially for the moment, Seiko really do have a lot to offer and for most watch enthusiasts it's usually a Seiko or TagHeuer watch that get them into the hobby. 

Similar to Seiko but moving back to Switzerland, Tissot have made headlines across watch enthusiast pages with hot releases such as their PRX. Big names within the watch community with collections worth easily millions of dollars have still all praised the PRX. For a Swiss-made watch with a great movement for under 800 to 400 USD depending on if you get the quartz or automatic, it’s almost a no-brainer! Tissot has many other watches to offer all ranging from a couple hundred dollars up to the low 4 figures region which considering you’re getting a full Swiss-made watch isn’t bad going. With a wide variety of sporty and dressy designs, it is safe to say you can easily find the right look for you. Another great thing about Tissot is unlike many other brands, they offer quite a few different strap options. 

Source : Monochrome

The rotor moves freely left and right which keeps winding up the power reserve, but instead of actually manually winding it, the rotor winds it when you move your wrist. Thanks to gravity on earth, watch makers realised you could use kinetic energy to power your Omega watch so you only have to wind your watch up when you take your watch off for an extended period of time. Both Omega sport and classic watches feature this however there are a few models that don’t. 

Source : SJX

All of the suggestions above are really worth looking into for luxury watches at lower price points however, there is another great option. The watches above are considered at retail, i.e. brand new, but if buying it brand new from the factory is not something important to you then second-hand watches are definitely worth a look. You may even want to have a vintage looking watch and therefore can only look second hand. For most watches that retail around and below 1000 dollars they are almost always at a good discount second-hand, even in near new condition. You may even find some Omega watches within this price point and if you’re looking for a female wearer, oftentimes the watches below 36mm case size tend to be even cheaper. Chrono24 is a great place to start when looking because it’s one of the largest online second-hand watch market place.

There you have it, a list of entry level luxury watch brands that offer luxury watches at cheaper price points. All the brands mentioned above have an excellent reputation for producing high quality watches and lower price points and that has its own advantages. The main one being the number of diverse straps and dial colours they often come with which is great for getting multiple different styles all out of one watch. Additionally, if buying brand new is not very important to you then second hand can help you make even more money. 

You might even be able to get certain other models second hand from brands by the likes of Omega as well so it's certainly worth having a look at what's on offer second hand! Thankfully, here at ZEALANDE, the universal strap will fit with all of the watch cases with a 20 and 22mm lug width! With many different colours and extra new details, like our extra hole cut at the end of the strap so the keeper will stay in its place, our universal strap is the perfect strap to give your watch a new look!

— James Talbot