You don’t need to read the name on the dial to understand the innate quality of a watch. Beautiful design, exceptional finishing, specs that border the improbable, you pay for more than the label. Or do you?
More and more often, watchmakers are offering timepieces that seem to completely outclass their price tags; the kind of models that you could quite easily convince less informed collectors are worth an extra decimal point than you paid.
We’re talking skeletonization, guilloche and retro style ripped out of a vintage catalogue – all for prices that make you wonder what the catch is.
There’s no catch here; just six great watches.
1. Seiko Presage Cocktail Time Crushed Ice Mint Mist
There was always going to be a Seiko on this list and while the Prospex has the performance angle nailed down, the Presage collection has more of an overtly luxurious feel.
The HCB002 with its icy textured green dial and golden indexes is like a slice of Grand Seiko sexiness turned into a distinctive entry-level watch.
Inspired by a specific cocktail from Toyko’s famous Star Bar (the mix of blue curacao, rum, lime juice and mint dubbed the ‘Mint Mist’), it’s just as cool and flavourful as its namesake.
2. Baltic HMS 002
When the original HMS 001 launched it was lovely but lacking the kind of depth you would have expected from the hype around it at the time. The new version though brings the legend to life, with applied indexes, a sector dial with various different finishes and in the silver version especially a crisp, Art Deco look perfect for a classical three-hander.
It’s also equipped with a more-than-solid movement in the workhorse Miyota 8315 and it’s 60 hours of hand-wound power reserve.
It was a toss-up whether this or the Aquascaphe made this list, but the sheer versatility of the HMS 002 lets your money work harder.
3. Serica Ref. 7505 Field Chronometer
Making a field watch feel good isn’t as easy as it sounds. There’s a tension between what a field watch is – something designed to be put through hell and come out the other side ticking – and what most of us want from it, i.e. a good-looking, great-feeling, go anywhere, do anything staple.
Serica’s entry into that faux milspec canon is the Ref. 7505 and it’s possibly the coolest in class. The TXD version especially with its beige tuxedo dial, applied numerals, lumed hands and unashamedly retro Bonklip bracelet stands out as one of the rare field watches with both lashings of style and a price that means you’ll actually want to use it as a field watch.
4. BA111OD Chapter 7
While they’re best known for their almost impulse buy tourbillons, that ultra-accessible approach to proper Swiss watchmaking carries through to BA111OD’s entry-level skeleton watch, too. This isn’t some cheap, open-heart crap; this is a movement you can read the paper through, built into a solid integrated bracelet sports watch.
Yes, the look takes some obvious design cues from 70s-flavoured icons, but at least it’s more Laurato than Royal Oak. More importantly, rare is the watch that can offer skeletonised bevelled bridges at $1295 / £840 and make it look this good.
5. Selten Flare
Hong Kong-based Selten make some of the most spectacular dials, not just in their price range but a few notches above as well.
This is grand feu enamel, the kind that’s made using layer upon impossibly thin layer of coloured enamel and fired at 800 degrees. Here that enamel is laid on top of a hand-engraved dial for a vortex of deep, gorgeous colour.
The movement is a Swiss SOPROD number, but if you tried to get a dial this magnificent in Switzerland, expect orders of magnitude more expensive. Every colour is stunning but there’s something about the more saturated Rustique that’s hard to take your eyes off.
6. Oceaneva 6000m Deep Marine Explorer VI
Sometimes you read a specs sheet and assume the price is missing a 0. So is the case with Oceaneva across the board but more specifically with their depth-defying Deep Marine Explorer VI with a staggering 6000m water resistance.
That’s not just a number; this watch has been tested to those extremes, competing with the Omega Ultra-Deep at a fraction of the price.
At 44mm across it’s big, but even then, the case is made from Grade 5 titanium for light weight and a more comfortable wear. And honestly, would you want a watch like this any smaller?
Liked this? I swapped my Apple Watch for a mechanical watch 10 years ago, and I’ve never looked back
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