TGIF: Stepping Up Your Watch Collection

Long, long, ago when real stereos with speakers, tape decks, and turntables and, maybe, CD players, there was a magical place called Circuit City. If you bought stereo speakers there, you could trade them in for full store credit towards better stereo speakers during the next year. Ultimately, you could step right up to a mondo pair of stereo speakers that would rock your whole block. I know a few people who did. Sometimes, I wish we could do that with watches. 

This Van Heusen has the look of more famous chronograph watches

I suspect that some savvy sellers on ebay, Etsy, or Poshmark might be able to do just that and work their way up through the ranks of watches. I could see a progression of stepping up from fashion watches to Timex to Nautica to Bulova to Tissot to Movado to Tudor and beyond. Alas, more pressing economic concerns hold me back from that pursuit for now. That's a whole lot of buying and selling. Plus, there are many accessories that surround a watch like a Rolex. The accessories might include a rental property empire, a successful restaurant or two, or an actual executive position. It's not enough to just afford the watch. It's to build the economic success needed that the watch just comes naturally. In a world of global competition, that can be quite a challenge.

This Timex Waterbury Traditional 41mm Chronograph watch (Amazon photo)

However, you can step up your watch collecting one watch at a time. If you are interested in stepping up from a false subdial watch with a chronograph look to a bona fide chronograph, the step up from the Van Heusen with non-functioning subdials at the top of this article is about $100 to this Timex Waterbury Traditional 41mm chronograph. You can check out this Timex using my Amazon affiliate link here!

Watch Spotlight: The Caravelle Tradition Quartz Day-Date Watch

There are many broader social and economic forces at play in our world. We can't do much about that big picture. Sometimes it seems like little personal luxuries become more and more difficult to attain. Sometimes it seems like an elite European timepiece might be attainable. Sometimes economic instability threatens and you need to play it safe. When it comes to the world of watch collecting, we get to make our own rules. The look, the aesthetics, the functionality of a good timepiece can be presented in a number of different ways and at a number of different price points. Good design and good taste isn't exclusive to Europe. For an example, let's a take a took at an  affordable watch from Caravelle.

Caravelle Traditional 3-Hand Watch

This Caravelle Tradition 3-Hand Watch with Day, Date, and Backlighting is a great example of a nice looking 40mm watch that would be right at home in any business casual environment. It's a practical, readable watch, with backlighting at the push of a button (located at 2 o'clock). You can see the elements of a basic field watch in the design. The black case, black strap, and blue dial are all strong traditionally masculine design elements.

Caravelle Tradition Watch for Men (Amazon Photo)

You can take a look at this watch here via my Amazon Affiliate link. As of January 2026, this Caravelle is being offered at a nice sale price on Amazon. As an offshoot brand of Bulova, the Caravelle name carries a bit of the parent brand's prestige and history. It has class without a crazy price tag.

Watch Spotlight: Bulova Marc Anthony Sport Classic Watch

Ordinarily, a celebrity collaboration watch is more exciting for a celebrity's fans than for watch collectors. What can a celebrity bring to the table? Well, when it comes to the Bulova Marc Anthony collaboration watch, a celebrity can bring some quite refined design sensibilities.

The Bulova Marc Anthony Sports Strap Quartz watch has a stylish WW2 aviation watch look and the strap inserts into a leather attachment to convert it into a nice bundt strap. You can see the squiggle of Marc's signature on the watch strap just below the 6 o'clock position.

Bulova Marc Anthony Collaboration

The numbers 1, 3, and 5 on the dial are a bit of a mystery as the Bulova site notes that they are numbers of personal significance to the singer. I think the numbers may have to do with the dates of some significant musical awards. On 11/3/2005, Marc won two Latin Grammy Awards. One for Best Latin Pop Album and one for Best Tropical Album. But, that is just my personal theory.

Bulova Marc Anthony Collaboration with Bundt Strap

Even if you aren't a big fan of Marc Anthony as a music star and celebrity, the Marc Anthony Sport Classic watch certainly is easy to love! For a classic look, check this one out here via our Amazon Affiliate Link.

Watch Deal Alert: Casio MDV-106 Duro on Sale!

 In tight economic times, people tend to gravitate towards watches that deliver real value.  The Casio MDV-106 Dive Watch might just be that watch. Popularly known as the Casio Duro and sometimes called a Casio Marlin, this watch is the leader in low priced dive watches. It has the right look, the right performance, and the right price. It offers 200-meter water resistance, a unidirectional rotating bezel, a fish right on the dial, a reliable quartz watch movement, and classic dive watch looks.

Casio MDV-106 Dive Watch (Amazon Photo)

Right now (as of January 6, 2026), the Casio Duro is being offered with a resin band for 30% off on Amazon. In these inflationary times, it's a great deal at less than $70. There are many styles to choose from and all are less than $100.  You can check this watch out using my Amazon affiliate link here. 

Wristwatch Review: Tahari Quartz "Datejust Homage" Dress Watch

Do you like the look of a fluted bezel like the one on the famed Rolex Datejust "Presidential" dress watch? I've been playing around with fluted bezel watches for awhile. On the one hand, I like the way that the fluted bezels catch the light, but on the other, I typically wear more utilitarian watches. Before plunking down big money on a Rolex, it's worth exploring the look a bit more thoroughly.  That's where a watch like the Tahari Quartz Datejust Homage comes in.

Tahari Datejust Watch Features

The Tahari Datejust has a quartz movement made in Singapore. It is a dress watch with a domed crystal, a magnifier bubble (or cyclops) over the date window; a gold-tone fluted bezel, case, bracelet, and hour markers; and the number 12 at 12 o'clock. It's a simple watch.

Tahari Datejust Quartz Watch

Tahari Watch Style

The Rolex "Presidential" Datejust is a watch that has long been associated with presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders around the world. With the Tahari, the style is a bit more relaxed. You don't need to do any of that leadership stuff. You just need to take $20 or so down to Burlington. Other than that, the Tahari mimics a traditional Rolex Datejust--without actual gold, diamonds, or crowns here there and everywhere.

Tahari "DateJust" Homage

On a more serious note, the Tahari does give an approximation of how a datejust might look on your wrist. It's not a substitute for a Rolex, but it is a placeholder. It'll help the wearer figure out if they like fluted dials or not.

Tahari Watch Construction

The Tahari Datejust is made by Accutime in Asia (most likely in China or Hong Kong). The watch has a stainless steel case back, a base metal case, and a Chinese stainless steel bracelet. Over the years, I've been satisfied with other watches made by Accutime over the years. The company makes many watches under license for sports teams and store-brand watches. 

This Tahari watch does have a few little things that reveal its low price point. For example, the bracelet is very light weight and there are a few brush or tool marks on the case. None of these minor things are showstoppers for a $20 fashion watch.

Tahari Watch Dimensions

The Tahari "Datejust" case is 39mm in diameter and 10mm thick. Without the room requirements of Swiss, antique-style, mechanical works, the Tahari (not counting the 1mm cyclops) actually comes in a little thinner than a 41mm Rolex Datejust which measures 11.6 to 12mm thick. The lug-to-lug measurements come in at about 47mm. The stainless steel bracelet is 19mm wide at the lug and tapers slightly to 15.5mm at the clasp.  It's  long enough to fit my 7 3/4-inch wrist perfectly without adjustment.

The Tahari Datejust Bracelet tapers significantly

Overall Impressions of the Tahari Datejust Homage

The Tahari Datejust Homage is a comfortable, cheap, watch that has allowed me to experiment with the fluted bezel watch look. It's a nice looking watch for casual wear. However, I probably wouldn't wear this watch in a professional setting. While it does mimic the look of a far more expensive Rolex, it doesn't have the brand reputation or high quality look that we expect from more expensive brands like Bulova, Seiko, or Timex. Still, its a fun bang around watch for the weekend.

[Do you want to see five more alternatives to the Rolex Datejust Presidential watch? Read my blog post here!]

TGIF: Is this US Polo Assn Watch orange enough?

 As a Florida Gators fan, it's time to address a fundamental question about this watch. Does the orange color of this US Polo Assn watch match my team's orange color? I think it comes close, but the color is, perhaps, too pale. This is an important question because our college basketball season shifts into conference play tomorrow (January 3, 2026).

A US Polo Association watch is inspected by the Florida Gator logo

Ultimately, I think the orange of this US Polo Assn watch would probably match well enough to wear to a game watch party or a sports bar to see my team play. After all this watch handled a recent trip to Mambo Italiano with style and flair. You can read my review here on this blog.

Is your watch collection keeping you poor?

Tricks for Saving, Investing, and Still Buying Cool Watches

As we enter 2026, thoughts turn to New Years resolutions and personal finance. I find that it's always tempting to grab the latest, best looking, shiniest, most technologically advance watch you see online in a given month. But, having witnessed the recent meteoric climb in silver and gold prices over the past year, I have to wonder and wish that I'd have invested more in precious metals or mutual funds. When I look around, I have to wonder if my watch collection is keeping me poor.  Perhaps, our watch collections are keeping all of us poor. If so, how can we change that?

One thought I have had is to make a game of watch buying and investing. Here are three things you can do to make sure you are growing your wealth while still enjoying your watch collecting.

1. Match your watch with an investment purchase.  It is easy to do.  If you want to buy a watch that costs $500, invest $500 in a financial asset when you buy your watch. It's a simple concept. You have an incentive to save up $1000 so that you can buy that $500 watch and a matching investment. If you have $500, but saving up $1000 seems far, far, away, you have an option. Find a watch that is roughly equivalent to the $500 watch at $250 and then you invest the $250 into a financial instrument of some kind. This way you have an incentive to save up for a watch purchase and, if you can't be patient, you have an incentive to save money on your watch purchase so that you can invest an equivalent amount appropriately. For example, a Movado Calendoplan watch costs just over $500 on Amazon. You can see it on my affiliate link here.

Movado Calendoplan (Amazon photo)

Now, the challenge becomes finding a suitable substitute for the Movado. For example, would this Bulova Men's Classic fit the bill? It's quartz, but it doesn't have lume. It's normally a bit over $300, but it's 31% off for a price that would meet the $250 savings goal. Now, you have a watch a few ounces of silver bullion or another investment notch towards fully funding the Roth IRA for the year.

Bulova Men's Classic Quartz Dress Watch (Amazon photo)

You can see this Bulova Men's Classic quartz dress watch here via my Amazon affiliate link. There is no lume on this watch, but does it provide the same satisfaction? This isn't to pick on the Movado. It may well be a substitute for a $1000 watch. The point is to play the game well.

2. Substitute and save. An alternative strategy is to substitute a less expensive watch for the one you want to buy and invest the difference.  For example, if you want a field watch like the Rolex Explorer, but find that an MVMT Field II watch (below) can accomplish the same mission for you, buy the MVMT and invest the difference between the Rolex Explorer price and the MVMT. It can be a substantial amount of money.  You can see the price of the MVMT Field watch here at my Amazon affiliate link.

MVMT Field II Quartz Field Watch (Amazon photo)

With these first two strategies, you have a nice watch collection and you've tricked yourself into saving and investing money along the way. If you want more watches, you have to invest more.

3. Buy Investment Grade Watches. Finally, if you already have significant wealth, you could buy investment grade timepieces from reputable brands like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Rolex, Ulysse Nardin, and Vacheron Constantin. Classic timepieces from these brands stand firmly at the intersection of technology, art, and social status. They have values that are closely tracked and that can fluctuate with economic conditions. But, these sorts of watches are assets and can retain or build value. For a middle class investor, I suspect that much wealth would be concentrated into just a few watches that might have the risk of being counterfeit, getting damaged, or getting stolen.

Watch Collecting for Beginners by J.S.

I'll have to read up on the watch collecting topic before getting started with any sort of serious timepieces. I suppose one could flip their way to nicer and nicer watches by buying low and selling high. But, it's hard to know where to get started. In the new year, I'll try to start with the book "Watch Collecting for Beginners" by J.S. You can get it here via my Amazon affiliate program link. 

Ultimately, finding cool watches and meeting investment goals is just a matter of time and consistency.