Whether you just finished college, recently got hitched, or just celebrated your Bar Mitzvah, you are now officially a man. While your $20 Timex Ironman has been reliable, it is past time to retire it.
You know the watch I’m talking about…the one you got from your Aunt on your eight birthday; the one with twelve different features (most of which you never used).
You’ve spent five times the original cost of the watch on battery replacements, and the nylon band, well, it smells pretty rank. Pay attention, because these will be the deciding factors while trying to decide which men’s watch to buy.
Is it Practical?
First and foremost, purchase a watch that is practical. It sounds like I’m joking, but I’m not. When contemplating the complexities of purchasing a watch, consider both your lifestyle and the usefulness of the watch. Below is a watch that I think you will find—umm, rather useless.
The creators of this watch have made it very difficult to read this watch. I’ve been looking at it for a few minutes, so I can tell you the time; however, imagine the following: You’ve frantically woken up. You’ve got that feeling in the pit of your stomach; you’re late! You look down at your watch AND you don’t know how late you are because your watch has no hour-hand indicators. Now you must waste the next thirty seconds trying to wake yourself enough to figure out exactly how much trouble you’ll be in with your boss.
Additionally, don’t get caught up in “cool things” that the watch does. If you aren’t athletic and you spend upwards of $1,000 on a watch that measures temperature, altitude, and your heart rate, you’ve wasted your money. Unless you are an amateur snowboarder or skier, you don’t need to know the altitude. Be practical.
Numbers or Arms?
If you sneak a peek at someone’s watch and you think to yourself, “Oh good, I can read this one because it has the numbers and not the arms,” you will need to decide if you want an analog or digital watch. This again correlates back with your lifestyle. If you’ve just finished Law School or landed a VP promotion, it is no longer acceptable to wear a digital watch. They do have hybrid watches, but I highly recommend learning to read an analog clock.
I know, we are in the digital age and everywhere we look is another digital clock, but your boss won’t respect you or take you seriously if you wear a digital watch in the corporate world. When looking through specialty retailers of watches, a company like Michael Hill Jewellers, doesn’t have a large selection of digital watches. In fact, in their men’s collection, only one of their seventy watches is digital. Don’t get stuck in a dead-end job because you never learned to read an analog clock.
Fashionable or Gaudy?
Unless you spend most of your time hanging out with Drake, Miley Cyrus, or Justin Bieber, you have no reason to wear a diamond-bedazzled watch, or a watch with a giant face.
Why?! Why would you want a watch that size?!
It isn’t practical and would be cumbersome. Don’t feel like you can’t try on a watch before you buy it. Make sure that it isn’t too heavy or in your way—you should be able to do simple task like type on a keyboard and put your hands in your pocket while wearing your new watch.
Battery, Quartz, or Mechanical?
If you run across the term “movement,” this is important, so pay attention. The movement of a watch refers to the interior mechanism within a watch that allows the watch to function. There are multiple options in today’s watch-buying market, but these are the most common: battery, quartz, and mechanical. The difference in these affects the craftsmanship and price of a watch. A battery operated watch would be your digital watch. As we’ve established, now that you are now a man, and not a little boy, we will steer away from digital, battery powered watches. While the craftsmanship of a mechanical watch are top-notch (and generally come with a hefty price tag), the most accurate are quartz watches.
While color, band-type, and price will all come down to what you, the consumer, likes, hopefully you will take heed and purchase a classic timepiece that fits your lifestyle and is practical. To better navigate the waters of watch-buying, check out this helpful watch glossary.