Picking watches for those in your tribe can be tricky – even with a good sense for taste, you are still relying on some amount of luck that any minor details the gift receiver finds off-putting won’t sink your holiday offering entirely. Fortunately, there are plenty of gift options out there, both time tellers and accessories, that are affordable and attractive enough that most can easily appreciate them. Cyber Monday or not, here are my 5 top picks to slot underneath your Christmas tree.
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3 more seasons pass by and once again we return to the holidays. I am unapologetically pro-Mariah Carey being vomited on radio stations across the country; it is a clearer marker than the weather turning that the final act of the year has arrived. I find that two types of people tend to emerge from hibernation for the holiday shopping season – the disciplined few that are cleaning up the remnants of their list, and normal people that simply scramble last minute. Call me a lucky Type 2 – the wife enforced our monthly budgeting accrual for Christmas shopping and actually kept an organized gift idea list. Solid.
Having friends and family who like watches is a bit of a trap – watch taste can be ultra subjective, almost to the point where even the placement or color of text can be fair game for rejection. Every now and again I get asked about what watches are best for a specific price range. I can provide limited general recommendations, but I also recognize the impossible futility of this question. You need a lot more detail and knowledge about what someone is looking for before you can provide good advice.
That being said, I do think there are some watches that make for objectively good value picks and can withstand subjective pressure. I also believe that you definitely do not need to look at only watches for gifts when there are so many more accessories to choose from. To help kick off your watch-related Cyber Monday shopping if you haven’t started already, I have 5 ideas below that will be perfect for that special someone in your life who is too obsessed with tracking time. Two watches, two straps, and perhaps a book for the page turners too. Quick caveat that these picks may not necessarily be on sale, but I do believe they’ll remain perfect holiday gift choices as we move ever closer to the end of the year.
Brew Watch Co. Metric Chronograph (Steel Dial)
Something about Brew Watch Co.’s industrial design language strikes me in the right way – the square case, the color palette, and the dial layout are very harmonious. What you are looking at is a hybrid meca-quartz sport chronograph that literally functions as a timer for espresso shots (as well as other obviously critical time-sensitive operations). The Metric has fully brushed finishing and comes with its own integrated bracelet, which, aside from Tissot’s PRX line, can be tough to access at lower price points. At 36mm in case diameter and 10.75mm of thickness on paper, this square case should be very accessible for most wrist sizes.
If you are shopping for someone who really doesn’t care about fully mechanical innards, and has truly idiosyncratic watch tastes, I believe this can be a serious Christmas winner. Did I mention that it only MSRPs for $425 USD and carries a 12-month warranty? FYI, there is another non-limited dial configuration with less monochromatic coloring, but it is currently sold out (personally, I find this variation to be the handsomer of the two anyways). Yours truly doesn’t even like coffee and I want one of these badly. Act quickly before the ability to create optimal espresso shots is lost permanently to the sands of time.
Images by Brew Watch Co.
Bulang & Sons – Caramel Brown Leather Watch Strap
Worst kept secret in the watch industry – OEM leather strap options suck. Always have, always will. It probably gets better as you punch up the food chain into Breguet / Vacheron Constantin territory, but otherwise you can forget about having premium leather right out of the box. An entire ecosystem of aftermarket strap providers has risen up to fill the gap – Delugs, Veblenist, etc. I personally love every strap I buy from Netherlands-based Bulang & Sons. One of those is this rich caramel brown option you see above. I have this strap on my personal Speedmaster and love how comfortably it sits on the wrist. This strap looks pretty baller – why shouldn’t your watch friend, too? Snagging one will cost you €77 EUR, which at the current exchange rate is roughly $80 USD.
Images by Bulang & Sons
Chronographs for Collectors Book
Chronographs are a bit of an acquired taste for certain enthusiasts and collectors, but there is no denying that this subgenre is home to multiple legendary watches – the Omega Speedmaster, the Rolex Daytona, Universal Geneve’s Tri-Compax, etc. The list is quite expansive, so it is nice to have a compendium on hand for edification (I have never met a watch lover who did not enjoy geeking out over reference numbers or model details). Enter “Chronographs for Collectors,” written by doctors Sébastien Chaulmontet & Joël Pynson, which details the history of the chronograph and various historically important chronograph models over 30 chapters. The book boasts 450 previously unpublished photographs with the accompanying detail to match. Find it at time2tell.com for €137.44, or roughly $142 USD at the time of this article’s publishing.
Atelier Del Sur – Homen Watch Strap in Mustard
Another one – this time, a strap choice from a brand I would consider lesser known in Atelier Del Sur, who is based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have recently received and fallen in love with their Homen strap in Mustard – it is subtly muted, pleasing to the eye, and helps bolder colors on your watch of choice (like red bezels or blue dials) to visually take center stage. The leather is a very supple vegetable tanned calfskin and is probably the softest strap I own, full stop. I currently wear it on my GMT-Master II in rotation and I couldn’t be happier with the choice. Atelier gives you options for both the buckle finishing as well as whether you would like quick release spring bars or not. Find it at their website for $105 USD.
Images by Atelier Del Sur
Orient Kamasu (Red Dial)
Seiko this, Seiko that. While the big dog of Japanese watchmaking rightfully deserves all the praise it receives, lesser-known Orient continues to toil away in the background and push out models just as good if not better than its primary rival. Enter the Kamasu, one of Orient’s best known dive watches. The Kamasu represents real value at the budget end of the spectrum; it has 200 meters of water resistance, a sapphire crystal, a screw down crown and an automatic hacking in-house movement in Orient’s Caliber F6922. That is real functionality in spades and it shows.
You can acquire the Kamasu in a few different dial variations, but this deep scarlet red configuration is my personal favorite (I am always partial to color). Orient has truly made a handsome diver as well as a watch that nets you some inside baseball points with true watch enthusiasts. Purchasing a Kamasu from Orient directly will set you back $335 USD, which is a highly achievable price tag and also nets you a 12-month warranty. However, you can most certainly can find the Kamasu in all color variations for cheaper if you don’t mind buying used examples with the battle scars to match.
Images by Orient
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