Watches often get passed through generations, giving added sentimental weight to these already significant objects. This sort of misty-eyed affection isn’t limited to just watch buyers. Take the latest release from Patek Philippe, reference 1938P, created as a tribute to former longtime company president Philippe Stern on his 85th birthday.
Philippe’s son and current president of Patek Philippe, Thierry Stern, commissioned the series of just 30 watches to honor his father—naming it 1938P after the year he was born. The new watch digs deeper into his father’s legacy, featuring a brand new movement and housing a minute repeater—Philippe Stern’s favorite complication.
Patek Philippe Reference 1938P watch with Caliber R AL 27 PS movement shown.
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Putting together this new self-winding caliber R AL 27 PS movement was no easy task—requiring the addition of 227 components and the filing of four new patents. The story goes all the way back to the company’s 150th anniversary in 1989, when Philippe Stern reintroduced the minute repeater in wristwatch format with the launch of the caliber R 27. This was combined with an alarm that rings at the preset hour, one of five sound functions revealed in the Grandmaster Chime Reference 5175 back in 2014. The R AL 27 PS is built off the R 27 and, for the first time, combines a minute repeater and an alarm.
The watch is as visually striking as it is technically impressive—featuring aGrand Feuenamel portrait of Philippe Stern himself on the 18k white gold dial. The white and gray, three-quarter profile image emerges from a black enamel background, complemented by a hand-stitched alligator leather band with platinum clasp to finish off the classic look.
The platinum, officer’s-style case has a 41mm diameter with a 14.2mm thickness and is 49.4mm lug-to-lug. The case opens up to reveal the movement as well as an engraving that reads: “À mon père, 85 ans de passion horlogère. “To my father, 85 years of watchmaking passion.”
The price of this ultra-limited-edition watch is available upon request. For more information, visit the Patek Philippe website.
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Everyone knows that Rolex makes quality luxury watches that are lusted after and that Omega has a cool watch that once went to the moon on an astronaut. But for newbies to the watch collecting scene, or guys that want to branch out from their tried-and-true brands, it can be difficult to suss out just what watch from popular brands—across the watch spectrum from tough digitals to handsome mechanicals—will be right for your wrist. Hence our annual Watch Guide, which spans a wide range of watch brands and activities that can be enhanced with the help of a trusty watch at hand, and aims to give you the guidance and direction to buy your next favorite watch.
How to Buy a Great Watch
The first thing to know about watches is that anyone can get into them in a way that’s fulfilling at any budget level. It’s easy to get intimidated by videos of people handling watches with white gloves and using unnecessarily flowery or rigid language to talk about them. But the higher up you go seeking advice from respected collectors, the simpler their advice gets: Buy what you love.
Now, if what you love is a vintage Paul Newman Daytona, then following this advice is easier said than done. So, a better goal may be buying what you love within your budget. There are cool and interesting watches at every level, and there will always be a watch you want but can’t or don’t have, so enjoy the watch of right now.
If we had to pick a best overall watch to point you toward, it would be the classic, stylish, and high-quality Omega Speedmaster Professional. It’s an investment piece you could leave to your kids, or bribe your way out of a war zone in a pinch. For those on a smaller budget, but also enamored with watches that went to the moon, we also whole-heartedly endorse our runner-up, the Bulova Lunar Pilot. The finish and details on this watch make it able to hang with virtually any luxury Swiss sports watch out there—in every way but price.
Watch Styles
Once you’re immune to watch world pretentiousness and are ready to embrace the coolest watch in your budget, then it’s time to decide what kind of watch you’re into. Do you want the utilitarian look of a dive watch, the military aesthetic of a field watch, a racing chronograph with subdials, a pilot watch, a dress watch, or something totally different? Explore the different genres and have fun with the search.
In an era when our phones can automatically adjust to any time zone in the world with perfect accuracy, and grant us access to the knowledge of mankind, you don’t really need a watch to do anything other than tell you the time (to keep you from looking at your phone) and to feel good on your wrist. That said, know that buying fashion watches is best avoided. This category refers to any watches branded with a fashion label instead of a watch brand, and with the notable exception of Hermès watches, fashion watches are the equivalent of costume jewelry.
How to Pick a Watch Size
Once you’ve decided on the style of watch you’re looking for, determine what sizes will look best on your wrist—36mm was once a standard men’s watch size but would now be considered the smallest that most men would wear. A 45mm watch, meanwhile, will dwarf a smaller wrist and look awkward. For most men’s wrists, 38mm to 42mm is usually the sweet spot.
Go try on watches at a store, or if that’s not possible, many watch websites now have virtual try-ons so you can take a picture of your wrist with your phone and then see the watch on your arm on your computer. This is not ideal, though, because the thickness of a watch is a big part of how big it feels, but at least you can see the width and the lug-to-lug distance—i.e., the distance from the lugs that hold the strap above 12 o’clock to the lugs that hold it below 6 o’clock.
Lug-to-lug is an important dimension because if a watch is narrow but has a long lug-to-lug distance, it can feel larger than you’d expect based on the width alone. Similarly, if a watch is neither wide nor long on lug-to-lug but is extremely thick, it can feel bigger than expected.
Watch Movements
You will hear a lot about movements. The movement, or caliber (often spelled calibre), is the system of gears and springs that run the hands and complications of a watch. They can be automatic or self-winding, where a weight inside the watch winds a spring that powers the movement. Or manual-winding, where the wearer winds the spring every day or every few days to keep it going. They can be quartz movements, where a battery powers the gears and you change it every few years, or solar quartz, where it gets its power from sunlight and never needs winding or a battery change. If pure functionality were the goal, then even the finest watches would probably be solar quartz, but pure functionality takes a back seat to tradition in watch collecting.
Broadly speaking, the best watch movements are made in Switzerland and Japan. As mentioned above, mechanical watches are more coveted by collectors than quartz watches. But often this preference is overblown by people just getting into watches and wanting to appear savvy by affecting a disdain for anything that isn’t mechanical. Even serious watch collectors respect quartz when it’s the right movement in the right watch. Here’s what else to look for:
Manufacture Caliber or In-house Movement These are movements made by the watch companies themselves. These are generally found on higher-end watches like Rolex and Omega, but more affordable in-house movements can be found with a handful of brands, such as Oris, Seiko, and Yema.
Third-party movements made by Sellita from Switzerland or Miyota from Japan are very common, and typically less expensive while still being respected and reliable. A primary benefit of an in-house movement is the freedom of a custom fit. Whereas, if you’re a watchmaker using a third-party movement, certain specs of your watch case have to match to specs of the movement or else it won’t fit.
Master Chronometer
This is a certification of the accuracy of a watch. Phonically this is easy to confuse with the word “chronograph”—a type of watch usually designed for racing that has subdials that act as a stopwatch for measuring minutes, seconds, and fractions of seconds while the main watch hands continue to function as normal.
Some chronograph watches are certified master chronometers, but any watch can be a master chronometer if it passes the certification. That said, this certification is primarily a sales tool for luxury watch companies, because a far less expensive watch with a radio-connected solar quartz movement would still put any master chronometer automatic to shame.
Why Get Into Watch Collecting?
Watches can be a good investment, but passion should be the driving force behind your choice of watch, not social status or potential ROI. Watches are the closest thing to jewelry most men will wear on a daily basis other than their wedding rings, so why not make a meal of it?
Watch history is human history because time has always been the most valuable asset we have. Through watches you can learn about wars, sporting triumphs, trips to the moon and to the depths of the ocean. Just don’t get caught up in obsessing over specs to sound smart or to find a way to justify a large purchase—and always remember that the most important thing is to buy what you love, within the budget that you can afford. Focus on the value that you give a watch through the way it makes you feel, and the journeys and experiences you have while wearing it. In the eyes of the beholder, a Timex passed down from a father can be worth more than a Rolex in the window of a boutique.
Why You Should Trust Us
To build this year’s Watch Guide, we assembled the best of our longtime writers who’ve covered luxury, style and adventure for Men’s Journal. Plus, these writers—Stinson Carter, Nicholas McClelland, Christopher Friedmann, and Justin Park—have a particular and long-standing love and obsession for those handy timepieces that attach snugly to your wrist.
Watches—digital or analog or even smart—are true miniature marvels of engineering that any of us can acquire and wear and lust over, no matter the price. Our top watch writers took on the impressive task to bring you this year’s Watch Guide, and we hope that their many years of experience writing about men’s lifestyle products and pursuits shine through thoroughout this buyer’s guide.
Read on and enjoy, your next watch obsession may just lurk behind these links.
Bulova continues to make superb contemporary watches and vintage inspired pieces worthy of admiration for their high quality and relative affordability. We especially love our best overall pick, the Oceanographer “Devil Diver,”a fun and funky cushion-case dive watch they recently revived from their archives.
We gathered up the best Citizen watches, from entry level timepieces that cost a few hundred bucks to stunners that cost a few thousand dollars. And our best overall pick, the “Tsuyosa” Automatic, is sure get a few looks from strangers.
The G-Shock watch is a tough cult classic. For the best out there, we give the nod to the light, tough, and titanium Full Metal GMW-B500. But it doesn’t stop there. We rounded up six more of the most trustworthy options that will stand the test of time.
While Movado watches skew toward the more affordable and entry-level, they have more than a few fans out there. That includes us, especially of the Movado Alta Se Automatic Chronograph, our best overall pick of the Movado watches.
With options from high-tech divers to classy dress watches to sporty everyday options, their timepieces are known for being affordable, dependable, sturdy, and well-crafted. The Seiko Prospex Sea 1965 Diver, our best overall pick, embodies that ethos as it’s a recreation of their famous 1965 diver.
In today’s world of athlete celebrities, if you want to be considered a bona fide star, you need the watch collection to match. After all, the bigger the collection, the bigger the star, right? Here are the pro athletes with the best watch collections.
For those of us who don’t have the opportunity to throw down tens of thousands of dollars on a Rolex or the latest Richard Mille, there are still quality watches available, especially for under $500, like our overall pick, the Seiko 5 Sports SKX watch. It’s a high-quality, stainless-steel automatic that’s water resistant up to 100 meters.
You can finally find watches under $1,000 that you’ll own for a lifetime—timepieces that are their own pinnacles of watch collecting. The best watch under $1,000, the echo/neutra Averau, is our favorite as the Italian-designed, Swiss-made moon phase watch is in a class of its own.
Our favorites adventure watches are long-lasting, stylish, and pack in easy-to-use features that enhance your time outdoors instead of forcing you to focus on tech when you’re heading outside to unplug. For those reasons, the Garmin Fenix 7X Pro – Sapphire Solar Edition is our top overall pick.
For watch lovers, dive watches are an alluring way to tell the time—their simple designs look cool and are instantly legible. Plus, divers are mechanically over-engineered to take a beating, so you can knock them around a fair bit without much worry, which is why the Rolex Submariner is our top overall pick for best dive watch.
The wristwatch had become an essential piece of frontline gear by WWII and makers around the world were creating simple, functional field watches specifically for military use—a tradition that continues to this day. That’s why the Rolex Explorer is our best overall pick for the best field watch—it’s one of the most rugged and capable timepieces ever made.
While smartwatches can’t do everything your phone does, they’re close, bringing in loads of health, fitness, and safety features that make them a great complement to your phone. We found that the Google Pixel 2, which works for Apple and Android users, is the best of the bunch.
Men’s Journal aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.
If your current watch just tells time, there’s an entire universe of smartwatches on the market that bring features normally reserved for smartphones right to your wrist. While these smartwatches can’t do everything your phone does, they bring in lots of health, fitness, and safety features that make them a great complement to your phone. We rounded up nine of the best smartwatches on the market, but ultimately found that the Google Pixel 2 was the best of the bunch, mostly because users of both Apple and Android can enjoy the benefits of the smartwatch.
What You Should Look for in a Smart Watch
Operating System
Google, Samsung, and Apple are all big players in this space and the best smart watch for you may come down to which tech ecosystem you’re already committed to. While a Google Watch may work with an iPhone, the integration and learning curve will be better if you stick to the brand you’re already with. (If you like the Apple Watch, you have to have an iPhone for most features.) If you value fitness and tracking features over app support and phone integration, fitness smart watch heavyweights Garmin and Suunto make dozens of worthy options.
Cellular Connection
Some smartwatches (most of the Apple and Samsung offerings) have the ability to access wireless data networks without tethering to your phone. Most fitness-first watches from brands such as Suunto and Garmin do not, meaning you’ll either need to keep your phone on you for messaging and other connected apps and download maps for offline use. Having a data connection for your phone makes it much more capable but it also drains the battery faster and almost always requires an additional line of data on your wireless plan, which usually costs around $10 per month.
Most smartwatches are fairly light, balancing the scales around 30 grams. More robust adventure watches such as the Garmin Fenix 7x we recommend below, however, can be more than double that average. While a few dozen grams might not seem like much on paper, we can promise you’ll notice the size and weight difference if you’re used to a slimline watch such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch SE.
Lightweight watches are comfortable for everyday wear, but the biggest reason to go bigger and deal with the weight penalty is screen size. Reading maps and messages on your phone is just more effective and enjoyable with a large, bright screen. Bigger watches also tend to pack bigger, longer-lasting batteries, so you may be willing to trade weight for fewer charging hassles.
After refusing to wear a watch for a decade (figured my phone had the time), outdoor sports watches made me appreciate using my smartphone less for telling time, navigation, and tracking. Since then, I’ve tested many of the major releases from brands like Garmin, Suunto, Samsung, and Casio. The Garmin Fenix 7x is my current go-to, but I also cycle in the Suunto 9 Peak and Nixon Regulus for certain outings.
I’m one of the few Android users left on Earth, but I test Apple products with my partner’s phone (under protest).
Best Overall Smartwatch: Google Pixel Watch 2
Google Pixel Watch 2 smartwatch
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Google finally entered the hardware market with their Pixel Watch to pair with their Wear OS software that runs on many Samsung and other smartwatches for Android. The Google Pixel Watch 2 is a fairly light upgrade, but the price tag is only about $100 more than the original at most–and you get speed and battery upgrades that make it worth going with Version 2. Google owns Fitbit and so the 2 also brings in several Fitbit health tracking features that are welcome. With tech companies there are always rumors of a new model and the accompanying question of “Should I wait for the newer model?” But with no confirmed release date, we think it makes sense to grab the Pixel 2 unless you want to pick up the original Pixel Watch at a discount for now.
SIZE: 41mm
WEIGHT: 31g
STRAP: Fluoroelastomer Active Band
Best Smartwatch for Apple Users: Apple Watch Ultra 2
Apple Watch Ultra 2 smartwatch
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If you’re an iPhone user, it’s hard to beat the features you get with an Apple Watch, even though there are plenty of iOS compatible options from other brands. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a more fitness-focused Apple Watch but it’s good for closer to a day and a half with normal use which is just enough to let you relax about charging and just wear the dang thing. It also has all the same upgrades and features as the Series 9 but with the addition of lots of fitness features such as compass, run tracking, and built-in cellular so you can leave the phone at home when desired.
SIZE: 49mm
WEIGHT: 61.4g
STRAP: Alpine, Trail, Oceanv
Best Smartwatch for Android Users: Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic smartwatch
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The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic uses Google’s latest Wear OS update and brings back the beloved rotating bezel control that lets you easily scroll menus instead of fiddling with small buttons as on most smart watches. This latest edition of their flagship watch has a bigger battery, but that gain is negated if not overcome by a bigger, brighter screen. The battery runtime still beats most Apple watches, but if you’re prone to forgetting to juice up, previous versions or other models might be worth a look. Because you get the latest WearOS, you’ll get access to tons of third-party apps via the Google Play Store, a flexibility you don’t get with Apple Watches and one of the best reasons to choose Samsung in this category.
Best Outdoor Smartwatch: Garmin Fenix 7X Pro – Sapphire Solar Edition
Garmin Fenix 7X Pro-Sapphire smartwatch
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If you’re more into tracking VO2 Max than step counts, The Garmin Fenix 7X Pro-Sapphire Solar Edition is the GPS smartwatch for the outdoor athletes that want the latest and greatest. Garmin has a bewildering array of full-featured tracking watches for racers and adventurers, but this watch brings together fitness tracking and navigation features as well as any watch to-date. To get the most out of the significant investment here, you’ll need to value the robust fitness tracking features from sleep monitoring to ECG heart rhythm monitoring to stress and endurance scores to help you dial in your training. But for outdoor adventurers, it’s the maps and navigation tools that seal the deal. The GPS uses multi-band tech for maximum accuracy and you get altitude and compass readings like any good outdoor watch. But the mapping stands out with lots of premium features such as golf course maps, ski area maps, suggested routes back to your start, and even turn-by-turn directions for at-a-glance wayfinding when you’re moving fast.
SIZE: 51mm
WEIGHT: 88g
STRAP: Fluoroelastomer Active Band
More Smartwatches We Love
Best Budget Apple Smartwatch: Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen)
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Because Apple doesn’t license its wearable OS to other manufacturers, your options for finding a cheaper Apple watch are limited to sales and considering previous models. The Apple Watch SE 2nd Gen isn’t yet outdated, but you can pick one up for less than half the cost of the Ultra without that drastic of a downgrade in experience. If you’re new to the smartwatch category, it can be tough to stomach spending over a certain amount for a watch. But the SE makes that a bit more palatable. It’s also a great watch to hand down to kids when you’re ready for an upgrade.
SIZE: 44mm
WEIGHT: 32.9g
STRAP: Fabric Sport Loop, Silicone Sport Band
Best Budget Android Smartwatch: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
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The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has the rotating bezel navigation that makes this watch line stand out functionally. The screen isn’t quite as big and bright as the Galaxy 6—and it won’t be quite as future-proof–but the battery life is comparable and it’ll have most of the same functionality. Given that you can get a Watch 4 Classic for around $100 (a quarter or less of the cost of most of the latest Samsung and Apple smartwatches), it’s a no-brainer way to dip your toes into the smartwatch category before splurging.
SIZE: 46mm
WEIGHT: 52g
STRAP: Silicone
Best Fitbit Smartwatch: Fitbit Versa 3
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Fitbit nails simplicity in fitness tracking and the Fitbit Versa 3 watch delivers all the basic smartphone integration you need while keeping a feature-rich but easy-to-use fitness tracking interface in the forefront, with 24/7 heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking. The Versa 3 is compatible with Android and Apple, but not surprisingly, integration is better with Android and you can use Google Assistant with the Versa 3 but no Siri, so iPhone users may prefer an Apple Watch.
SIZE: 40mm
WEIGHT: 20g
STRAP: Elastomer
Best Fitness Smartwatch: Suunto Race Sports Smart Watch
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Suunto and Garmin both make a ton of feature-rich fitness-focused GPS smartwatches, but the price tags creep close to $1000, scaring off most outside of the truly hardcore. The Suunto Race Sports Watch manages to pack in almost all the must-have fitness tracking and outdoor features. The highlights are significantly better battery life than Apple/Samsung/Google and built-in mapping that lets you go off-grid without needing your phone at every intersection. The biggest difference between the Race and pricier options is the lack of solar charging, which can extend battery life almost infinitely.
SIZE: 49mm
WEIGHT: 69g
STRAP: Silicone
Best Classic Style Smartwatch: Fossil Gen 6 Classic
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Google has licensed its Wear OS wearable operating system so select manufacturers such as Fossil can bring some diversity of style to the category. The Fossil Gen 6 Classic has a metal band (silicone strap included as well) which is enough to make this look far different than the most popular offerings from Samsung, Google, and Apple. The Gen 6 Classic works with both Android and Apple phones, but with a Google operating system, it’ll perform best for Android users. Though the latest Wear OS iteration is still only available on a few Samsung watches for now.
