I'm a watch guy. It was mentioned earlier, but I will do a +1 for ORIS.
Here's why I say it:
All ORIS watches are mechanical/automatic. If you don't know the difference between quartz and mechanical, here's the basic: Quartz is very accurate but not built to last. You buy a good mechanical watch and it can be an heirloom.

ORIS is an independent watch company and in my opinion, they make watches that are way above their price range. I own two Aquis with the SW-200-1 movement and one gains less than a second a day and the other loses about 2 seconds a day. Only my Rolex Explorer 2 has better performance. It costs 5X more. The construction of an ORIS watch is on par with Omega. I have a Seamaster and when I hold it next to an Aquis, I can't find any noticeable quality differences other than the Omega has an in house movement.
Anyway, ORIS is a great buy it for life watch. That being said however, if you get into mechanical watches, you will own more than one.
Check out grey market dealers like jomashop.com. Legit watches but they don't come with factory warranties because these watches usually come from authorized dealers that sell watches to the grey maket to keep their volumes up. Good Luck and avoid Tag Heuer at all costs.

I've had a lot of watches. The divers always look like Rolex Submariners and I always liked that style. I have had either 4 or 5 subs, and only one kept good time. Sold all of them for as much or more than I paid. (That rarely happens to me).

I've had a lot of other Divers and all of them have been good. You can't go wrong with a Sinn.

That said, I've fallen in love with the Apple Watch. My daughter gave me one a year ago and I bought one off this forum a few months ago. The first has cellular, the second does not, but I only wear it at night.I like the ability to change up the face-color, style and other features and the ease of changing a band.

I liked them so much I bought my wife one and she liked it so much, she put her Rolex in the safe.

Watches, like vehicles are pretty subjective and I wish you good luck finding the "right one" for you.

Bob

No one has mentioned it yet, but the downside of automatics is the 'routine' cleaning/repair work one has done every few years. This can run into the hundreds depending on the brand, what needs to be done and where it is done. I have owned in the past a goodly number of automatics (Omega, Tudor, Breitling, Doxa, Seiko, Tag Heuer and a number of 'boutique' brands as well) and don't plan on buying any more again. For every day use a nice quartz fills the bill for me; throw it on and the time is correct, outdoor activities don't bother it, battery life is several years, relatively cheap to get batteries replaced and even bigger repairs are less expensive in my experience. I had Omega, Breitling and Tag quartz in the past; all very nice looking and all were less expensive than their automatic counterparts, including up front costs and subsequent maintenance costs.

A few hundred dollars every 5-10 years for maintenance is a small price to pay for an automatic. The money you save on batteries also comes with the boring, soulless experience of owning a quartz watch.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
A few hundred dollars every 5-10 years for maintenance is a small price to pay for an automatic. The money you save on batteries also comes with the boring, soulless experience of owning a quartz watch.

And the majority of the watches in this price point are generic watch movements that don't need special parts and are reasonably cheap to work on.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
A few hundred dollars every 5-10 years for maintenance is a small price to pay for an automatic. The money you save on batteries also comes with the boring, soulless experience of owning a quartz watch.

Indeed.

And quarts watches require maintenance occasionally as well in order to continue running in tip top condition.

And those utterly soulless and hideous Apple watches won't last near as long as a decent mechanical watch. No one is passing down that plastic junk to a son or daughter or grandchild. How long is it before one becomes obsolete anyway? Not for me. Never.

But like has been said, opinions vary wildly in the world of watches.

My favorite is my Omega Seamaster Professional. It runs fast an average of .3 seconds per day, or about 9 to 10 seconds fast per month. I'm sure that is on par with Rolex as far as accuracy and build quality.

Anyway, I also have a Longines Hydroconquest that is also a great watch. It runs about 1 second fast per day and is certainly in your price range. Look them up, you may decide you like them a lot!

If you’re willing to go used, you might be able to get some of the other interesting Seikos. I have a few marinemasters and some spring drive Seikos, and they were all around 2.

Oris is a really nice watch for the money, and devoid of silliness.

I really like my BCPD, as a daily wear.

Sinn is a great choice, but I’m not sure about the price point.

I gave my brother a Sinn UX - used, they should squeak under the budget, but are, very well done, quartz, and require a large wrist.

New only?, or are you open to pre-owned for that budget? If the latter, I'd be thinking hard about tracking down a good deal on a Tudor BB58. I've seen them in the $2200 zone. Probably could even get a little lower. You're within striking distance unless that $2k is an absolute firewall. And a BB58 gives you a lifetime watch, with a stellar movement, and excellent value retention (in fact, in a number of years, you'll surely be ahead on investment to value).

If not, then I'd get WAY under $2k. Just my opinion, and I know there are others here that feel much differently and I respect that. But for me, I like under a grand, or I steer to the bigger Swiss/German premium makers. That middle zone typically either isn't my tastes, or/when I do go there, I lose quite a bit on them on the sale (poor value retention).

I like Squale. Particularly the 1521.
https://www.squale.ch/en/1521-watches

I've had a lot of fun with Maratac too.
https://countycomm.com/collections/mechanical-watches

The other thing is, if you reallywa taskbar, are you better off saving up for one/buy a non-diver, with a plan to save up for your sub?

A place to look at lots of watches is JOMASHOP. They have many varieties to look at to give you ideas. I prefer the "art" of high end mechanical watches.

If you can bump up your budget a bit, an Omega is a great choice. Preowned you can get there for a bit more, perhaps not a Planet Ocean, but if so that's an incredible watch.

I would suggest a Seiko Prospex diver, there are a bunch of different models and colors. Something is bound to strike your fancy.

ORIS are also nice, but tend to favor more modern styles. From your post, it seems like you want a more traditional style.

There is always Hamilton, Tissot, or Certina which are solid, budget friendly Swiss made watches.

You might want to take a look at Resco watches as well. I can't say I have much experience with them, only that Jack Carr mentions them in his novels.

They refer to themselves as an American brand if that matters.

https://rescoinstruments.com/

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions.

I'm not necessarily interested in the watch as a piece of jewelry, but still want it to look nice.

I really like the look of the Sinn 104, but some of the Seiko's seems really nice for the money. I also really like the Christopher Ward C60 Trident Pro 300, but I'm not sure what size I would need to order.

Can anyone provide some reputable watch retailers online?

How do I confirm that a shop is selling a real grey market watch? Will they announce it as grey market?

I happened to be at Costco today, and grabbed a Glycine Combat Sub for $240. I liked the look, but don't know anything about it except it's Swiss made. Any experience with this brand?

In my opinion, best bang for your buck as far as build quality is concerned and accuracy for an auto: https://seikousa.com/collectio...spex/products/srpe05

It may be a little above your price range but Bremonts are amazing as well.

I love my two Marathons.
CSAR and Chrono- I will say that depending on the size of your wrist, the Chrono is big! The CSAR is slightly smaller.

One of these days Ill grab a Omega Speedmaster.
Tudor is on my short list as well.

Im seriously looking at a carbon fiber Maratac as well
https://countycomm.com/collect...ver-watch-by-maratac

I really like my VAER D7 automatic diver. Swiss made, domed sapphire crystal, and a host of other features. $900. Wear it almost every day.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett257:
<SNIP>
I happened to be at Costco today, and grabbed a Glycine Combat Sub for $240. I liked the look, but don't know anything about it except it's Swiss made. Any experience with this brand?

I bought the same watch at Costco for the same reason a few months ago. For the most part I wear it around the house; what I don’t like is that the spinning bezel is too tight.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett257:
I happened to be at Costco today, and grabbed a Glycine Combat Sub for $240. I liked the look, but don't know anything about it except it's Swiss made. Any experience with this brand?

I have a Combat Sub I also got at Costco about two years ago. It’s been a good watch, wears well and reads easy. Nice bezel action. It ran, I think, 8 seconds a day fast. After maybe six months, it abruptly went to thirty seconds a day slow. I went to back to Invicta’s US service center, they told me +/- 30 seconds a day was within spec and sent it back, wouldn’t regulate it for me for free. I think they wanted to charge a hundred bucks or so. I decided that was less than gracious, so I told them to send it back to me as-is. I bought a timegrapher and adjusted a screw on the movement and got it running about one second a day fast.

A few months later, back to thrifty seconds slow. This time, I decided to just live with it since the screw was adjusted all the way and anything else would require a watchmaker to fix. It worked this way until last August when I accidentally knocked it off the bathroom counter and it landed face-first on the tile. It now loses half an hour every twelve. I need to send it to get regulated with someone reputable, I’ve just been spending money on other things. I have a Hamilton Khaki Field now that also runs about thirty seconds a day slow and goes dead if it sits for more than twelve hours, so I need to get that, and Heuer I inherited that also won’t keep running serviced.

I love mechanical watches, but they require service. If you skimp on that or don’t want to deal with it, you’ve suddenly got a watch box with a bunch of dead watches in it.