Swiss automatic watch under £500?

[SmokingSideways]

Hi guys

I am looking for a Swiss automatic watch for under £500. I could stretch it to £1k for something real nice. I like sport style watches but I am open to other styles. I would prefer new but if I could get something a bit more special second hand then I will.

I look forward to your recommendations.

[bigalx]

Have a look at Eterna. They have some nice looking and good quality (in my opinion)watches - the Kontiki's are especially nice. Plus they seem to be a good price from reputable sellers on ebay.

[PJ S]

Best thing you can do, is look on chrono24 at the myriad of watch brands, many of which you’ll probably never heard of, and see what floats your boat.
A number of brands won’t be listed, so you’d need to search for them by name.
A few to get you started, and who have their own website/direct sales:
Steinhart
Pequignet (French)
Michel Herbelin

Happy researching.

[SmokingSideways]

PJ S said:

Best thing you can do, is look on chrono24 at the myriad of watch brands, many of which you’ll probably never heard of, and see what floats your boat.
A number of brands won’t be listed, so you’d need to search for them by name.
A few to get you started, and who have their own website/direct sales:
Steinhart
Pequignet (French)
Michel Herbelin

Happy researching.

I just went onto their website and there are so many brands I have never heard of. I will defiently be having a look around and see if anything catches my eye.
Is chrono24 like eBay for watches? Is it a good place to buy them?

[TeaNoSugar]

You'd probably get a Longines or Oris automatic (used but not too old) for your budget. Chrono24 has loads of options. All Oros watches are automatic Swiss watches and they use the ETA movements I think. They do loads of sports (divers, pilots, motorsport) style watches. Longines are more dressy watches but also they have the Hydroconquest divers watch which is nice (and the original version would be in budget as a used buy). I'm currently really
Tempted by a Longines Legend diver watch because it looks superb in my opinion and available for around £1000 used on chrono24.

There's loads of options really. Stowa do some great dress watches for around £1000. Also plenty of "homage" style divers watches available (Steinhart maybe?). Hope you find something nice.

Don't discount non Swiss stuff too. There's a beautiful seiko divers watch called the "shogun" recently discontinued but it's available used (or the very similar replacement). I think it's SBDC007 and about £600 but it's a lovely titanium divers watch as nice as anything I've seen from Swiss brands for under £1500.

[GC8]

Id be looking for a nice Glycine Combat Sub. Available under budget in Italy.

[hilly10]

If you can run to a grand then Oris or Longines are where your money should go. They are value for money

[GC8]

Longines are cheaper at the lower end. Id suggest a Hydroconquest. List is higher but you can buy them for £500.

[Theoldman]

Do you like this one?

Tissot a lot of history, very underrated.

http://www.watchshop.com/mens-tissot-prc200-automa...



I personally have a Visodate Tissot.

[GC8]

Id disagree and say very overrated. Tissot do indeed have a lot of history and were a great brand, but they have been 'repositioned by Swatch (massively downmarket) and cheapened as a result.

Swatch will not give a straight question to questions about the watches origin and refer only to the 'made in Switzerland' rules, which mean that a Chinese watch can be fettled in Switzerland and called Swiss.

This has happened within the last 15yrs, sadly.

[battered]

Widen the search to German, French or, horrors, Japanese and you get loads more choice. The Swiss do it well but it's not exclusive.

[Sheetmaself]

Talking of german


https://www.stowa.de/en/shop/

Very well thought of close to the £500 mark, for some reason i keep recommending these stll need to get one myself.

[battered]

Some nice watches there. The Flieger models however look almost identical to the Seiko (SNK805 and similar) that I have on my wrist and that you can pick up for £60. Yes, I know there may be other differences but a Seiko with the 7s26 isn't exactly junk and when £60 plays £500 it's a bit real.

I also prefer the older logo, the one with the larger offset "S". The Antea models look nice, they're different from other people's offerings.

[Debaser]

SmokingSideways said:

Hi guys

I am looking for a Swiss automatic watch for under £500. I could stretch it to £1k for something real nice. I like sport style watches but I am open to other styles. I would prefer new but if I could get something a bit more special second hand then I will.

I look forward to your recommendations.

How about a Swatch Sistem51? Way under £500.

[battered]

I don't think the Swatch brand sits well with automatics. It just doesn't work. It's as if Morgan were to launch a cutting-edge hybrid or Tesla went old-school and came up with a 60's roadster.

[PJ S]

SmokingSideways said:

I just went onto their website and there are so many brands I have never heard of. I will defiently be having a look around and see if anything catches my eye.
Is chrono24 like eBay for watches? Is it a good place to buy them?

Sort of – you still have Paypal for protection, if the sellers accept that method of payment. Otherwise, if you buy from sellers with the Checkout option, then you have a certain level of protection there as well.
Spend time reading the “small print” to understand things better, and as always, do your due diligence with any seller.

[mikeveal]

GC8 said:

Id disagree and say very overrated. Tissot do indeed have a lot of history and were a great brand, but they have been 'repositioned by Swatch (massively downmarket) and cheapened as a result.

Swatch will not give a straight question to questions about the watches origin and refer only to the 'made in Switzerland' rules, which mean that a Chinese watch can be fettled in Switzerland and called Swiss.

This has happened within the last 15yrs, sadly.

GC8 is right, Tissot have been moved down market.
However, whilst the majority of their watches are little more than cheaply made fashion tat, there are still one or two models in their range that represent excellent value. The two pictured above are examples.

I'd say for a budget Swiss auto, Tissot Visodate or Hamilton Thin-o-matic.

Both are re-releases of 60's watches. The Hamilton is the nicer watch, but it should be, it's dearer.
Go and handle these two. They are much nicer than their photos make them seem, especially the Hamilton.

The Hamilton is available as a 38mm or a 42mm. Get the smaller watch. The bigger one doesn't look right, the movement doesn't fill the caseback, the date window is in the wrong place and as a re-release of an older watch it just doesn't look right in a big modern case.

Neither of these fit the sporty brief, but both are absolute bargains for what you get.

[mogli882]

GC8 said:

Id be looking for a nice Glycine Combat Sub. Available under budget in Italy.

Involve a weekend away or available online?

I really like the Combat Sub, have you heard the stuff re Glycine and Tkmax? There is a thread on WUS questioning the source of the movement (whether its Swiss or Chinese), made me a little weary of the brand.

[GC8]

Not only did I hear - I bought one!

The Combat Sub was a Goldeneye and they were available from a couple of Italian dealers who advertised online. The price was £350 from memory but it was a couple of years ago now and a quick glance more recently failed to find them again. Im not giving up hope though as Italy is a regular source of bargains.

The 42mm Combat from TKMaxx was £200 I think, or possibly £250.

[GC8]