I Need a Watch!

Mr Pink

I've been wearing the same watch for eight years now, and at the urging of everyone I know, I've decided a new one is in order. I'm pretty spoiled as far as gadgets go, having access to everything I need on my iPhone at any given time. So basically, I need a watch that is either just a plain (but stylish) timepiece, or a sweet gadget dohicky that'll do something cool.

Where do I start? I've googled 'cool watches' but it's a bit of an overload. Id like to keep it under $400, but I'm willing to break that for the sake of sheer awesomeness.

Antithesis

Seiko makes a nice range of watches. It could be pretty standard or it could recharge from the motion of your wrist.

Kyougu

Crap, there's a site that sells awesome watches. They're the ones that you can't even tell how to tell time by first looking at. Sadly it escapes me right now..anyone know which site I'm talking about?

starmanbrand

http://www.tokyoflash.com/en/watches/1/

Whats your pleasure, Sir?

Dark Moon

Is this a formal watch? An everyday watch? Depending on what you want, I've assembled a few categories of watches.

Casual and Funky
Fossil Stark Palindrome - Also available black on black. Polyurethane strap means it'll be very comfortable but very much a casual timepiece. Definitely wouldn't work with a suit.
Fossil Analog - Tells time by a turning rotary dial. Slightly less casual than the plastic fantastic above, it wouldn't go with anything above khakis and a shirt.

Classy and Sleek
I prefer simpler faces on my watches - I find things like the Breitling Cosmonaute terribly gaudy.
The Nixon Chronicle is wonderfully simple and has a really nice finish to the face.
The Idependent ITA21-5111 may have a terrible name but looks great despite being a chronograph.
The Jorg Gray JGC6500 is a similarly good looking chronograph.

My personal favourite which is only slightly over your budget is The Mariner by Mangirarotti. Classy, simple and stylish.

DiscoZombie

I was going to suggest Tokyoflash but it was already suggested. As you already mentioned, we all have fancy phones for telling time, so might as well wear something unique looking to make a statement.

Ten years ago I thought I was super cool for having one of these -_-

Dunadan019

you need a Laser Watch.



or

E.Coyote

I have a pulsar PQ2001 that's pretty nice. It's one of the few digitals that can pull off being a dress watch and the particular model has one of the coolest looking displays I've seen.

firewaterword

Antithesis wrote: »

Seiko makes a nice range of watches. It could be pretty standard or it could recharge from the motion of your wrist.

Came in here to say this very thing. Bravo, bravo.

matt has a problem

Check out Chronoshark, it's like Woot but only for watches. They change every day etc, and the deals are usually quite good.

Thanatos

I bought a Kenneth Cole watch for $80 that I'm very happy with. It's nice enough to be somewhat stylish, but not so nice that it's the end of the world if I lose or break it.

Mr Pink

Dark Moon wrote: »

Is this a formal watch? An everyday watch? Depending on what you want, I've assembled a few categories of watches.

Casual and Funky
Fossil Stark Palindrome - Also available black on black. Polyurethane strap means it'll be very comfortable but very much a casual timepiece. Definitely wouldn't work with a suit.

That's really neat. I'm a bartender/college student so I rarely have to wear a suit, but anything unique is great for work (and might help get a few more tips due to the inevitable conversation).

Cauld

I'm no watch expert, but I've always liked the look of simple movados like below. Also I've never really liked metal bands so maybe I'm just strange.

Richard M. Nixon

last year my boss bought the office customized watches from www.121time.com (no connection apart from owning one of their watches). it's worked okay for the last year and they have a tonne of customization options available. the customer service was also quite good through the process.

baudattitude

Cauld wrote: »

I'm no watch expert, but I've always liked the look of simple movados like below. Also I've never really liked metal bands so maybe I'm just strange.

I wear a Movado myself, and I really like the contrast between it and all the tech I carry around. Heck, I'm posting this from my 3GS, but my watch doesn't even have a seconds hand.

It does get a fair number of comments, not quite the same sort you'd get if you were sporting one of those tokyoflash toys (and believe me, I have total geek lust over the tokyoflash watches).

If you have an outlet mall near you with a Movado store, they sell customer-returned watches they can't resell as new, for cheapish. That's the only way I was able to justify the price - it was 70% off!

RUNN1NGMAN

Seiko makes a pretty cool line of automatic military style watches. They aren't available in the US, so you have to order them from an Asian seller. For around $80 you get a true automatic movement with a cool see-through back that lets you look at all the clockwork inside. They usually come with a nylon strap that you can swap out for a generic leather strap when you want it to look a little more dressy.

This is the one I have--it works really well and looks very cool. J.Crew sells a Timex version with quartz movement for twice as much as I paid for this watch.

http://www.21jewels.com/productsdetail.asp?getproductid=856&start=1&getbrand=1&getproducttype=8

Cervetus

Cauld wrote: »

Also I've never really liked metal bands so maybe I'm just strange.

I prefer leather bands as far as aesthetics go, but after wearing one every day for a while it got smelly. That's why I'll stick to metal ones for now.

Edit: And price doesn't necessarily correlate to a good design, OP. The only watch I've had that's received any compliments was from a Canadian Wal-Mart. Of course, the watch itself is shoddy and made with poor materials, but the styling is apparently quite good.