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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.

Best Bulova Watches of 2023

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.

Best Citizen Watches of 2023

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.

Best G-Shock Watches of 2023

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.

Best Movado Watches of 2023

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.

Best Omega Watches of 2023

Omega Speedmaster was the first watch worn on the moon. Which is why, not coincidentally, the modern version is our pick for the best Omega: the Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional. 

Best Seiko Watches of 2023

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. 

Best Watches Worn by Top Athletes

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.

Best Watches Under $500 of 2023

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.

Best Watches Under $1,000 of 2023

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.

Best Adventure Watches of 2023

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. 

Best Dive Watches of 2023

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.

Best Field Watches of 2023

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.

Best Smartwatches of 2023

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.

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