The easiest way to spot a cheap watch is to look on my wrist. :)

Should rename the vid "how to spot a Daniel Wellington"

3€ on Aliexpress "I wonder if that's a cheap watch..."

Not sure I agree with you about Miyota Japanese movements being inferior in any way to Swiss quartz movements. The Japanese ones cost less, but in my experience they perform just as well if not better than entry level Swiss quartz movements. Other than that I think you're pretty much right on when it comes to the other points, if a watch has 3 or four of those flags, it's probably a cheap watch.

Hamilton Orient Seiko Citizen Tissot Boluva These brands provide great watches that are under $500 and are worth every penny.

Yes! Let's see a video on "decent brands at each price point."

6th - It's being promoted by self-proclaimed influencers

I like the pun, " keep watching"

“Affordable luxury” = cheap

Some really good points about the red flags. Makes me angry how overpriced many of these fashion brands are. However I’d never recommend a watch with a mechanical movement to someone unless they knew what they were getting in to because: Mechanicals are far less precise timekeepers than quartz and often need to be adjusted regularly because of this; they stop running after a couple of does when not worn and then need to be reset (unless you are able to wind them manually or keep them in a watch winder); they can be fiddly to reset and expensive to maintain (servicing by a watchmaker or having the movement replaced every 5 to 10 years). I’m writing this as a mechanical watch enthusiast who nevertheless still prefers them over quartz. 😉

My friend was about to buy a Daniel Wellington. I immediately sprung into action and asked him to just give me a few days before he purchased the watch. Within a week I had bought an immaculate Tissot Everytime including its original leather strap and box for just £35 delivered from ebay. Then I bought an assortment of 4 different classic nato straps from Amazon for 28 quid. For just £68 quid he had a far superior watch than anything daniel Wellington offers with the same fashion style and design. Except he now had a watch with a heritage from a reputable watch brand and 5 different interchangeable straps to choose from to match his attire. The watch will never be an expensive watch, but it will always be worth more than any Dan Wellington 👌

Sapphire is definitely more scratch resistant however it is more likely to shatter than mineral glass keep that in mind.

Two more things to look for: 1) screw down, vs snap on back 2) 100% stainless steel or titanium case, vs plated case.

‘Most watches under £200 use a quartz movement’ Seiko: hold my batteries

I own a Seiko 5 automatic, have owned it since I was 18. I'm over 40 today.. Not that is quality, however, the price then was around 1200:- ( about 126US$ ). Still the same price today, different design on the bezel etc. Best one I have ever owned.

“These automatics also have a smooth sweepings seconds hand” Laughs in Spring Drive

Japanese Miyota quartz movements are actually quite decent even though they are inexpensive.

Vincero's advertisements are everywhere. 😂.

Usually the best advice for anyone looking for something cheap: Buy a Seiko 5, a Vostok Amphibia, a Casio G-Shock in a color you like and you're pretty much done with the cheap end of collecting.

Funny that Rolex’s Oysterquartz ticks loud too, and the beating per second features also in “dead beat” mechanical movements. Yet, you’re right about everything you said, and I agree with this video, just wanted to spot those unusual facts.

Vostok komandirskies mark none of the boxes and can be found for like $40

Another sign of a cheap watch: the second hand misses the indicator on the face (Ben's peeve from Braun)!

While watch shopping for my mother, I was handed a Coach branded watch at a jewler's to compare to other watches on display. I gave it back and noted that their $450 marked Coach watch had a crooked dial. Bought her a nice little Citizen Eco Drive instead.

Nice little video Ben. Straight to the point, accurate and useful. Well done.

Some folks in China are taking notes, to make a perfect flawless watch, thanks to you!!!

Hey Ben, regarding the straps, could you make a video about how to take care of watch straps? What products to use to clean them and moisturise etc?

I bought a Seiko Presage Automatic for only 250€ in an Outlet Store in the Netherlands. Great price for such a nice watch with a good automatic movement

if you first see it on an instagram ad, boom its not a quality watch

Also Ben I would love to hear your take on some of the brands using mechaquartz movements, For example Yema (the French company making watches since right after ww2) they offer the rallygraf in mechaquartz. Also Nezumi has some great offerings. So many of these fashion brands push upwards into the 2-300 ranges at times and for that often you can get great designs from other companies, some with real heritage and pedigree.

I would love to see a video where you talk about brands to look out for

Some quartz movements are high end and very interesting, like Grand Seiko makes

About point 5: well known clothing brands that rebrand cheap watches like Armani, Gucci or Diesel. Generally a bad choice.

Myota Automatics aren’t bad !

Also if the date wheel/complications are too centralized and out of proportion to the dial (mvmt and vincero come to mind). It shows the size is out of spec and looks even more outrageous when the case is made too oversized. There are times when even a quartz movement can be a big selling point for inexpensive watches like seikos vk series mechaquartz but a huge tell is his out of scale any complication subdails could be.

Fantastic video. I’ve personally been getting into micro brands lately such as Jack Mason and Phoibos which are two brands doing some really cool work. Love your channel!

Great stuff to keep in mind! thanks!

Buy a Casio or Timex if you have to be low cost. Couple other good ones too

good video, straight to the point and staying as close to facts helps keep personal opinions from affecting your reviews. well done

I bought a "clayton" quartz dive watch from one of the local op shops. The watch cost me $20AU. I opened the the screw down case back to find that the movement was a Seiko. For a watch that weigh 146gms, 35mm case, 39mm to crown, 45mm lug to lug, solid bracelet links, date window at the 4 o'clock, and a unidirectional bezel that clicked around very nicely with no slackness. It even had lume that lasted for a couple of minutes. Unlike the traditional dive watches with water resistance of over 200m, this pretend dive watch was only 30m water resistance. Dive, dive, dive whilst having a shower. Not even that. The tip here is that you can find some bargains at the ops shops, or even at the pawn brokers, especially when they are having a huge reduction on their original prices. Mainly to keep their inventories moving. Oh yes. The name of the watch brand on the dial...My Leave. Dinkum!

I always love your videos showing dani welldingdong when you talk about cheap materials and bad quality.

I envy first world country. As a simple 3rd world peasant, Timex is all I could afford. So 80 dollar Seiko after conversion to my currency, tax and shipping fee basically cost as much as 2 months salary. Please appreciate the watch you have on your wrist.

"Our unique selling model cuts out the middle-man to pass the savings straight on to you!"

Been rocking my San Martin Diver watch which has a Hi beat movt 120 click bezel domed sapphire crystal screw down crown screwed links and thick C3 superluminova for $195 us! It's running +4! It's what a Seiko diver should be!!

orient Bambino is a great beginner watch it's just too bad that they are a little big at 40.5. mm .

DW lol!!! i’m so glad it is on the list

I once brought a watch for $5, and it's great. I can't seem to find them anywhere, but it's a WMC, and brought secondhand, but never used, still had tags and such. Had to change battery for $15, and then I had to change straps for $25, and then the glass broke, and it was $40. Could I have gotten a nice watch for that amount of money? Sure, but I liked the design, and it's been on my wrist everyday since I brought a few years back.

I was considering buying the swatch 007 watch. It's £186. Now I know it's well marked up because of it being special edition. It says quarts, but I assume swiss quartz? Also, you can see the internals. Only thing I don't like are a few plastic cogs. It looks great though

I like how your back drop looks like the blue of a sunburst of a watch face. Nice job.

Ben may I ask which watch you're wearing on this video? Also if u can make a video in the future about straps. Thanks

Good idea I'm looking forward to best brands.

"Genuine Leather." :) I had only ever received genuine leather straps on the watches I had purchased in the past. I just purchased a Seiko Presage, and it came on a calf leather strap. What a difference! So much better than "genuine leather!"

Nice, solid advice. Thanks for sharing.

where'd you get that casio sapphire watch? It's neat!

Great video! The Casio Sapphire LTP is beautiful. Sadly, it's not available anywhere.

Just get a seiko 5 people. You can mod it to basically uncheck every check on his list for under $250

I'd love the video on the best brands! Man, I want an Orient

You should have mentioned finish as well. Much of the cost in high end watches is down to hand finishing, which can take months in some cases. Cheap watches have very little if any finishing, let alone hand finishing.

The "Vincero" ad before the vid made me smile.

Good vid! Would you also agree that when the second hand is not aligned with the marks and bounces back after ever second (see 7:50) it's inferior?

Hi Ben, go for it. A bit of consumer advice is always welcome.

Hi, I really enjoy your channel. I actually have the f91w from casio and the a159w that i absolutely love. I was checking because I am really new when talking about watches and I happened to found the casio mtp 1095q 9a. Do you have any idea if the watch is any good? I know it is really cheap but honestly I do not have that much money so I just want to make the right decision. Thank you so much

wow this is really good and quality content you should have 50x the subscribers that you have right now

Good content. Liked this one ☝️. DW needed to be called out. 😁

I’d love to hear what you think of Tayroc.

Random question but what brand is that shirt you’re wearing? I’d like to buy one for myself

Yes!!! That’s sounds like a good idea.

I bought a Spaghetti Scametti watch on eBay for £23,095. It had great write ups. I like colour of the watch face but I’m sure it shouldn’t lose 23 minutes every hour. I do love how when you shake it the second hand spins round inside. As complications go that’s something I’ve never seen before. 😊

At 1:07 an Invicta automatic watch is being shown. In fact it is a Seiko movement. Used a lot but a soild Seiko movement.

Hilarious when considering the "Japanese quartz movement" costs less that a couple of quid to purchase directly 😂

Could you do a video on shinola? They look like good quality watches but would love to hear what you think

Yep, a video on value for money brands, at different price points sounds like a good idea,,,,,,

Good review thanks

Montblanc is really good now, I bought a sport, and it's awesome,

What about reviewing Christopher Ward (British) Swiss Made watches

Hi. You should check out this Swiss brand called Roamer, they were very popular before quartz crysis. But they are coming back to the game with some of most affordable Swiss made automatic watches. I found Roamer Searock on sale for £311/$408 for that price you get - Swiss made, stainless steel case, saphire glass, ETA 2824, aesthetically case reminds me Grand Seiko. There is nothing similar to that on market.

Best brands video is a good idea!

Some other notes If they say sapphire glass than it’s probably cheap. Glass is generic, sapphire glass can be impure sapphire which means it’s less scratch resistant. If you want pure sapphire, look for sapphire crystal.

Ive been on a watch journey for the past few months and I got suckered into buying a poor quality watch for my dads birthday - Luckily he doesmt know and loves it all the same.

What is your opinion on the Seiko Hardlex crystal?

I am happy with my sub c. It’s the only watch I’ll be wearing for the next decade.

Helpful

Excellent!

I'm looking for a small vintage looking watch. Its square and has a leather strap. Any recommendations

Great video

Hi Ben, what do you know about the Casio MTP-VT01L watch? I know that Casio has a good reputation but I've seen that model on various sites for anything from £20 to £65

great vid

Genuine Leather is to leather as Spam is to ham on the bone.

:-) It does seem that my watch brand is check marking all the points, except for me using a Miyota movement. 1. Miyota movement (Tbh, I have not had a single days' problem with the Miyota in my watch design. ) 2. All in-house design (casing, case back, movement holder, crown, dial, dial ring, strap, hands) [yep, making molds for all this was expensive] 3. Good quality leather from reputable supplier 4. Domed mineral glass 5. We just make watches. Why did we start this endeavor? We got tired of similar-looking watches when we stood in front of a shop window. Let's see what happens when we launch in about 2 months' time. (hold thumbs!)

If you’re unsure about watches one reliable fact is a Citizen watch is a great watch, good parts, reputable and they have tons of different designs to choose from. I have a titanium eco drive satellite wave promaster skyhawk and an eco drive promaster altichron and both are great. I also own Rolex , Bulova , Apple, Waldhoff Tourbillon and my Citizens are my go to daily wearing watches

Could you do some videos on some sterile dial watches? Maybe dress and/or flieger style? I like cheap watches of ok quality and nice design but with no weird brand on there

Good idea!

So which are the safe good-value cut-out-the-middle-man Our Story microbrands? Are there any at that price range?

What do you think about contemporary (Chinese made) Ingersoll Automatic watches in terms of quality versus cost?

Hi Ben, i'd love to see a review of the Giorgio Fedon 1919 Brand. Much love.

Thanks for the info. I mess up and bought a Vincero. Never again

Also watch for the brands that market the use of “high quality polycarbonate crystal”.

Nice educational video

At the end you always get what you pay for. Dont buy watches from designer brands like Fossil, Hugo Boss, Diesel, CK etc... only buy from brands which only produce watches. For 200 bucks you can already get a pretty good watch which will last a long time. Orient is one of the best if not the best regarding price and quality ratio.

If you are looking at a watch on a web site, save the image and do a reverse image Google search. That will often show you who else is using the same exact photo.

Timex uses cheap leather, but Timex doesn’t charge $200 for those watches either. They charge around $30 to $40.