Financial Times · Wired · Wired
12 Absolutely Banging Proper Watches Under $400
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The wonderful counter to rising prices at the top end of the watch world is that, frankly, things have never looked better for those seeking proper mechanical watches on a budget.
Key facts
- Still, this time, Felix Scholz, editor-in-chief of Revolution Australia and cohost of OT: The Podcast, chose the A-11 Hack Watch, on sale for $357
- Chris Hall, a watch expert who writes for WIRED, The New York Times, Financial Times, and others, as well as his excellent The Fourth Wheel Substack, recommends the Timex Marlin 1965 Reissue
- Pickings are admittedly slim for genuine automatic GADA (go anywhere, do anything) watches under $400, but take a look at the $396 Citizen Tsuyosa with its classic black dial and integrated stainless
- But with 200 meters of waterproofing, a 120-click unidirectional bezel, and a 42-hour power reserve, the Sea Hunter is a compelling sports watch
Summary
Recently, the reporter was asked to pick a couple of wallet-friendly watches for WIRED's Gear newsletter, and it sent me down a glorious rabbit hole where the reporter was genuinely surprised by superb timepieces well below what WIRED has previously set for affordable watches (the sub-$1,000 bracket). To check their math and make sure the reporter wasn't going slightly crazy, the reporter reached out to WIRED's wider circle of watch experts with a devilishly tricky, unenviable challenge: Pick their favorite mechanical watch for less than $400, the sort of price where quartz watches dominate. Caravelle has no right to make a mechanical dive watch this attractive and capable for a mere $300, but here it is.
Unquestionably one of the best-value automatic dress watches you can buy today, the $295 Orient Bambino ’s timeless 38-mm design with white dial and leather strap has been carefully shrunken down from the original 40.5-mm casing, making this piece incredibly wearable (both in these smaller watch times and when case sizes inevitably get larger again.) You can view the automatic Japanese movement through the exhibition case back, and there's even 30 meters of water resistance—not that you should be swimming with such a watch.