Cheap Watches

UffDa

UffDa

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 11, 1999
Messages
42,596
I have never had good luck with medium quality watches. My wife and I have had Tag Heuers, Swiss Army and Lucian Picard. None of them are running and
are too expensive to fix. She has two Citizens that are doing well.

My last two watches were $10 Casios. They both lasted 10 years and the bands finally broke. Since it would cost $5 to replace the band, it is more practical
to just buy a new watch. When the band broke on my last one, I decided to try something different and bought a Timex. I have had it for 30 days and decided
to see how it was doing. I was almost shocked to see that it was about 1 second off. Every digital watch that I have owned typically gains about 15 seconds a
month. A 1 second error on a $20 watch? :eek: It will be interesting to see how it does over time. (The clock receives WWV)

The only odd thing about this watch is the bezel. It has the points of a compass and a little red pointer, but does not have a compass function. Maybe there
is another model that uses the same case that does.

I was going to post a picture of my cheap pens. Almost all of them have advertising on them and they all write very well. I have some nice Parker and Cross
pens that don't work. :roll eyes:


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My Timex watches (Expedition and Triathlon series) have served me well...darn good value and performance. I had a few Swiss Army watches, liked them, but they seemed to die too soon, even with good maintenance.
 
I wear an inexpensive Timex watch also. Keeps time as well as any other. :thumbup:

My 'expensive' solar powered Citizen Eco-Drive watch stopped working. I think there must be some battery in there that needs replacing, but I don't care enough about to go through the hassle. The band pulls my arm hairs too. :thumbdn:
 
Liberando said:
My Timex watches (Expedition and Triathlon series) have served me well...darn good value and performance. I had a few Swiss Army watches, liked them, but they seemed to die too soon, even with good maintenance.
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I've got a Timex Expedition chronograph and love it. Paid under $100 for it.
 
I've been wearing a Timex Expedition for several years now, and it's 'taken a lickin' and kept on tickin'! Just like the old commercials. The Timex I had before this was 15 years old and still running fine, but the girl in the watch section at Walmart screwed up changing the battery by stripping the screw off, so they gave me a new Timex expedition. Between the old one and my present one, the Timex expedition has served me for well over 20 years with no problems. Not bad for a 20 dollar watch.

Plus, as I go about my daily business, I really don't want an expensive watch displayed on my wrist.
 
By all rights, just like the Timex of old with pin lever escapements, this old watch with a Swiss made one jewel/pin lever movement should be dead.

Belonged to one of my Grandfathers, the grocer. Years ago on a watch site, another collector gave me a nearly identical watch, and I got this running with the donors help. Everything about it is cheap. Case and bezel is even zinc/pot metal. Don't wear this often as the shine will wear through and the movement just wasn't meant to last through decades of friction (no bearings/jewels for lube).

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I have had good luck with Skagen for nicer looking inexpensive watches. They seem to hold up well. My 105ltx I found during a trash out on a foreclosed home has lasted me 5 years with just a battery replacement and maintained about +10s/mon. Which is close enough for payroll.

I haven't used a digital watch in 20+ years so I can't really comment on them.


-Xander
 
I have had good luck with Skagen for nicer looking inexpensive watches. They seem to hold up well. My 105ltx I found during a trash out on a foreclosed home has lasted me 5 years with just a battery replacement and maintained about +10s/mon. Which is close enough for payroll.

I haven't used a digital watch in 20+ years so I can't really comment on them.


-Xander
 
Seiko 5 series offers a lot of value in automatic mechanical movements... I own two, one cost about $120, the other was on sale for about $50. Both have continued to run perfectly for 5+ years.

In quartz based watches, there are a bunch of Timex expedition series watches I love the look of. They'll be more accurate than any mechanical (just the way it is). And offer good value, even if you have to deal with replacing batteries every once in a while.

Personally, I'm also a fan of finding and cleaning up vintage watches. But that's a whole other ball of wax.
 
I have one watch, a G-Shock Mudman that cost me somewhere in the vicinity of $100. I've had it about 4 or 5 years now. It almost never comes off, and gets a scrub down whenever I take a shower. I also take it apart a couple times of year to remove accumulated dog fur, sweat, and grime that makes its way under the bezel. Heck, I'm wearing it right now. What attracted me to it in the first place is the solar battery, the atomic time keeping, and that it won't die from getting a little water on it. The glass is scratched from rough housing with my golden retriever, there are gouges and scrapes in the band and bezel both. It has some mysterious white scratches/streaks that won't come off. It's ugly as heck, but it's mine.
 
I think the term "inexpensive", or "value for money" is a better word to use than "cheap". There are some solid inexpensive watches out there that will last for a long time

For mothers day in 2008, I got my mom a Casio analog watch. It was inexpensive, and it's still going! She still wears it everyday. Before that she had a Victorinox that must've died after a year or two

My mate has two Casio digital watches, one is five years old, the other 14 years old!! Both weren't expensive. They are both still working fine

My dad got an AWESOME Casio G-shock last year for his birthday that tells the tides and moon phase. I envy him greatly and will get me one like his some day, however it is expensive in my eyes

I had a Casio digital watch that lasted me only two years. Towards the end of its life it would fade and reset itself unless I pushed the screen while it faded, must've been a loose battery connection, I guess I just got a dud if I look at the longevity of the other Casios from friends and family. I was very happy with it though, held accurate time

I hate super cheap watches, I've had three crappy cheap watches this year, two broken already, but the second one (Xonix, if anyone knows of the brand) had a guarantee so I made full use of it to get another crappy cheap Xonix watch which is now my third watch this year. I doubt it'll last till the end of the year... I'll buy a decent watch when I can afford to again
 
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UffDa said:
The only odd thing about this watch is the bezel. It has the points of a compass and a little red pointer, but does not have a compass function. Maybe there
is another model that uses the same case that does.

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The compass bezel on your Timex Expedition is to assist you with map reading. Place your watch on a map oriented north, and the bezel will show you (for example) NNE.

An analog watch can be used as a solar compass, instructions here:

http://modernsurvivalblog.com/survival-skills/how-to-use-a-watch-as-a-compass/

The compass bezel on your digital watch can be used as a substitute for the analog hands it doesn't have.
 
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