You will often hear people saying that buying a cheap watch is a waste of time, but this is not always true. While sayings like “buy cheap, buy twice” are often true, it is not always the case with watches.
You can certainly buy a lot of cheap dreadful watches, but you can buy a lot of cheap and extremely excellence watches. If you do your homework, you can end up with a great watch for a very cheap price.
What Does Cheap Mean When Buying A Cheap Watch?
I think it is important to remember that the price of watches is a pretty broad scale. You can pick up watches for under £10, but you can also get ones that are 100k and often far beyond this!
It really depends where you sit on this scale that will determine what you think is “cheap”.
For me, £500 may be crazy expensive, where as you may see that as nothing. If your watch collection is made up of high end pieces, you might consider a 3k Tudor as pretty cheap.
Maybe “affordable” is a better term to use, rather than cheap, but really you should aim to buy watches that you can comfortably afford.
However, if you are like me and think 3k for a watch is too much, just think about how long it will last. You are going to get decades of use out of it, so although it is a big upfront cost, when you spread it out over how long you can own it and use it, it’s not as bad you first think. When you start to compare it to our smart phones that only last a few years, watches are not too bad!
The Watch Brand Is Important when Buying A Cheap Watch
When it comes to buying a cheap watch, brand is everything. There is an endless supply of unknown or even unbranded watches that you can buy. These are most likely going to be awful and if you buy these, it’s a bad idea. They are not going to last.
If you go on Aliexpress you can find clones of known watch brands, even clones of cheap Casio’s!! They may only be £3, but they are really not worth it. You need to focus on proper established watch brands.
When you have a watch brand that is well recognised and has a strong history of solid craftsmanship, it doesn’t matter if the price is low. The watches from these companies are shown respect as they have been proven to be good watches, they just happen to be cheap.
Just think of brands like Casio, Vostok, Seiko, Swatch or Timex. They are all well established brands, they get a lot of respect from watch collectors and they are all very cheap.
If you flip this around and look at the fashion brands, their watches are still “cheap” compared to the luxury brands, but they are certainly more expensive than most of the companies I have just mentioned above. The Fashion watches may be recognisable brands, but they do not have that rich history of watch making, which is why they often have awfully made watches that you should avoid.
If you stick with the right brands, you can’t go wrong, no matter how cheap a watch may be.
Cheap Watches Are Not Luxury Watches
On of the biggest arguments against buying cheap watches is that they are not luxury watches, which is very true.
If you want a high end luxury watch then you should save up and get one.
However, why not get a nice cheap watch while you save? Saving can take a while and I’m sure you want to wear something in the meantime. Cheap watches can last for many years and they are going to fill the void while you save up or build your collection of more expensive watches.
Cheap Watches Can Still Offer A Lot
Apart from being financially affordable, cheap watches actually offer a lot and the low price shouldn’t be the only thing you look at.
Great Quality
The parts may often be cheap, but that does not mean bad. Plenty of watches use cheap components, but the sum of the parts together far outweigh the cost. Just think of a G-shock. It’s made mostly from cheap plastics, but is assembled in a way that makes it one of the toughest watches you will ever find.
You can find plenty of examples of watches using cheaper materials and still lasting as long as a watch that is using the most expensive materials.
Accurate
Cheap watches can still be very accurate. It is pretty common for them to be quartz powered. This is may be far cheaper than a mechanical watch, but it is far more accurate. They only lose a few seconds a month, often less, which just far out performs a high end mechanical watch that might lose this in a day.
Mechanical
Not all the cheap watches are quartz. If you look at a brand like Vostok you can pick up a robust mechanical watch, with an in-house movement for incredibly cheap. You can also find plenty of watches that are really cheap and contain a reliable movement like the NH35.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a good mechanical watch!
Look Good
While this is a bit subjective, you can find plenty cheap watches that have original and unique designs. Some of these can end up being absolute icons in the watch world, like the Casio f-91W.
Of course there are also the homage watches, some of these will be good quality, you just need to do your research and make sure you buy the right ones.
Expendable
At the end of the day they are cheap. This means they can be expendable and you can wear them with no fear or worries, its okay if you beat them about.
The same goes for servicing; you don’t need to worry about it. Often it is just easier to replace the watch rather than service it.
Functional
When it comes to function, the price doesn’t matter. A £100k watch and £10 watch will both tell you the time. However, you might also find the cheap watch may have more functions, especially if it is a digital watch.
Price Doesn’t Matter
Really price should not matter. If you like the watch and you can afford it, get it.
It doesn’t matter what anyone says or what they think. If you want to wear very cheap watches or very expensive watches, it doesn’t matter. Just wear whatever you like. So long as you are not wearing a fake, it’s all okay.
There is really nothing wrong with cheap watches. Often you can get some amazing watches for next to no money. They are easy to add your collection and you will find they bring you a lot of fun. If you haven’t got any cheap watches because you think they are not worth it, think again. Go and get one and enjoy it. They are totally worth it!
(You can also see some cheap watch brands that are worth buying – Affordable Watch Brands That Are Not Just Homages)
Ian is the main writer at Horology Dream and is a lover all things watch related.
He has been a watch collector for over a decade and brings his knowledge and experience to this site to help you on your own watch collecting journey.
You can connect with him on Social media and talk anything watches or read more about him on his Author Page.
