Anyone understand mens' watches?

[OhBuggerandArse]

My old mum is wanting to buy a watch for DS's 18th birthday present, but we are all a bit at sea about where to start looking and what kind of thing might be a good idea. I think £200-300 would be a reasonable budget, and searching for recommendations is mainly producing suggestions in the £1000s! He's very active, plays sports and sails, so something robust and waterproof would be good, but he'd like a watchy watch rather than a fitness monitor type thing. Would be very grateful for any recommendations or guidance!

Luminox and Tissot are at this price point.

but for that price you will not get a watch that will be waterproof and able to withstand sport. It would be a dress watch. The luminox are cool and DH wore is swimming in Egypt and it misted up which is on annoyi He has many watches though.

maybe seiko and citizen but I don’t think they as fashionable.

or an omega swatch but I can’t remember how much they are.

ask chat gpt for a cool watch brand for an 18 year old for £300

Oh sorry also Mondaine - my mum has one and we both love it

I have a Skagen watch and love it. Modern but classic looking.

I know at least 4 early 20s that wear Casio now which seems to be making a come back. Do they do waterproof ones.

Honestly I just asked chat gpt this and got a great answer but it asks you questions to refine it! It recommended a seiko

If he wants something to wear sailing etc he needs a divers watch ideally as it will be more water resistant. No watch is totally waterproof and even those which purport to be will get condensation in them if they are subjected to sudden changes in temperature (eg suddenly in cold water, skiing etc)

You are looking at ££ for a divers watch if he really wants to wear it to do these activities, but my suggestion would be to get him a nice watch he can wear when he's not doing them, he can wear a cheap swatch or something when he is!

I would go for a Casio G Shock, tough as anything for an active lad, whole range of styles and price points.

Seiko Prospex Solar Diver’s 41mm Men’s Watch SNE597P1 | 41 mm, Black Dial | Beaverbrooks

Or something like this? It is water resistant to 200m so would work for sailing

Or a gshock- DH has a couple for them. Sorry down a chatGPT rabbit hole will leave you to it! The GShock one and Seiko Turlte- loads to look. Happy shopping

Seiko 5 Sports seems to get good reviews and within your price range @OhBuggerandArse

Another vote for Seiko. They're almost all automatic watches, meaning that they're actually clockwork machines that use your body movement to automatically wind themselves up, rather than being battery-powered, and they mostly have a glass back so you can see all the cogs ticking away inside. They're incredibly good value and they're waterproof enough for sailing or light diving. I'd recommend the SRPD53K1 shown linked below if you can find it because it has an iconic look but any of the Seiko 5 series are probably a good choice.

www.firstclasswatches.co.uk/seiko-5-sports-automatic-blue-and-red-bezel-stainless-steel-srpd53k1-p-55167/

Thanks, everyone - some really interesting pointers. Will go and research and report back!

Avoid all fashion branded watches, eg Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger. They are all junk and you’re paying for the name, not the timepiece.

in the mid-price sector, ie £ hundreds, not thousands, look for ‘proper’ watch brands, eg Seiko (you can’t go wrong with Seiko), Tissot, Citizen etc. Then consider if you want quartz (cheaper & more accurate) or mechanical (more expensive & classier). Leather strap (dressier) or metal bracelet (more robust for wearing everyday). Diver type watches are always very popular being waterproof & particularly robust.

Size is also something to think about. Smaller watches, eg up to 36 ish mm diameter suit slimmer wrists. Bigger watches, eg over 40mm suit bigger wrists and have been in fashion in recent times. Colourful dials are currently in fashion, but that could be a passing fad. It’s all down to personal taste. I would suggest an afternoon browsing & trying a few different brands on at your local shopping mall.