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I have several fairly inexpensive ones. Cheapest is a Seiko5 SNK, about $75 and high bang for the buck factor, but it lacks a few features some people like and is perhaps a bit too true to the classic military field watches to which is pays homage, as it is a masculine watch, but favors more standard sizes of the 1940s and is thus smaller than what most men I know are willing to wear.
Next up the ladder is an Orient Ray II, a chunky dive watch which works as advertised, and is one of the cheaper ways to get into a mechanical dive watch. Cheaper ones do exist, but tend to lack the qualities this one has. It uses Orient’s own in-house movement, a rarity, is built well, and at $140ish shipped, it punches well above its weight.
Both of the above were purchased on Amazon with Prime, and were significantly below MSRP.
Last but not least is my Sugess chronograph. If you’re not a watch enthusiast, I don’t recommend you buy one - chronographs as a class of watches (basically stopwatches laid over a standard time telling set of mechanicals) are considered abusive to the entire mechanism, and you have to obey a bunch of rules to not grenade the mechanism in short order. But, while $240ish starts to sound a bit expensive, chronographs are a complex bit of mechanics. ANY chronograph which isn’t battery powered under $1000 is one of the rarest breeds of watch. It’s exceptionally well built for what it delivers, using a movement originally developed by the Swiss and bought by the Chinese in the 1950s. Yes, Chinese. It’s neither my most or least accurate watch. Chinese watchmakers run the gamut, and research is in order. But Sugess and Seekors, a sister brand, are not one of the fly-by-night Chinese sellers on AliExpress. Build quality is really good for the price and complexity, and some of their other offerings may be more friendly to folks who aren’t watch enthusiasts.
All three also come recommended by folks on the watch forum I frequent.
Another option would be a Citizen Eco-drive. Yeah, it’s electric and has a battery, but…it’s solar powered. I’ve had mine 12 years, and was NOT a watch designed for abuse. Wore it daily until about 2018, and never had to have it opened or serviced in any way whatsoever. Buy one with confidence. There alternatives from Casio and Seiko, but the former is only digital as far as I know, and the latter isn’t as durable. Citizens are sturdy pieces, and can also be bought at Amazon prices.
There are solar powered watches. I really like the Seiko Coutura I have now. I used be like @adjusterjack and think I didn't need a watch, but then my wife gave me this watch a few years ago for Christmas. I hadn't realized how much I wanted and needed a watch, but it's been a godsend from the first day. When I'm outdoors or even driving* it's 100 times easier to just look at my wrist than it is to pull out my phone and power up the screen. And I like the way it looks.
*We lost our car clock when we had a third party stereo installed. I think the time is displayed on there somewhere, but if so it's in characters no bigger than this.
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