Unique budget watches.

The main requirement I have towards my many watches is that the bezel does not catch on the welt of my pocket when I dig into it to get my phone out to check what time it is.

A good source of cheap interesting watches, if quite cheezy at times, is a brand called Chase Durer.
They tried to wing it for close to three decades, spewing cheezy PR and unrealistic origin stories, but they used mostly Swiss movements (never too expensive ones though).

The Fighter Command has always been my favorite, comes with an ETA Cal. 251.265 quartz movement, and I simply love it in black with a black watchface. Can't hurt that it has different variants with different face colors too.

It's bigger brother, the Combat Command, comes with an automatic ETA Valjoux 7750 movement, but it's still holding prices that I don't agree with. I'm cheap.

Then there's the Special Forces 1000XL UDT which was heavily product-placed in the Burn Notice series. Probably a good unit, but well. I still have a broken one somewhere in my drawers.

The brand has since folder, bought by Invicta, and given a new, cheaper life. Movements are now Japanese, designs are still decent and I'd say they are absolutely great value for the prices they fetch (usually around $50 on Fleabay for a CDW Flight Commander (not to be mixed with the Fighter Command and Combat Command mentioned above, which are older, different and better animals.
 
I prefer something more traditional I guess. I used to wear a Caravelle that my grandmother bought me when I was young but it's long gone now. Then I stopped wearing watches but had the itch a couple years ago and bought a Hamilton Kahki automatic. I love it, especially with a NATO strap.

For a budget watch I keep telling myself to get an Orient for when I'm doing chores or working on stuff but haven't got around to it yet.
 
thinking the original goal here is a low-priced watch,,I go to Walmart or any farm type store, and you can find a good $20/40 dollar watch ,that works perfectly fine is all I do, they last a good number of years, only to change out battery.
 
thinking the original goal here is a low-priced watch,,I go to Walmart or any farm type store, and you can find a good $20/40 dollar watch ,that works perfectly fine is all I do, they last a good number of years, only to change out battery.
And if you can get them on clearance, even better. I see people post on Facebook about scoring watches on clearance at Walmart for well below the original price. And the Walmarts I visit barely even stock watches anymore, never mind clearing out stock.
 
The day I retired 19 years ago I also retired my wrist watch. While I still sometimes have need to know the time like when traveling, and I don't have (or want) a cell phone, I opted for this pocket watch. It is made in Germany with a quartz movement, extremely accurate, and pretty cheap at $145. It resides in my front pocket with the chain connected to a belt loop, barely visible.


1768573869798.webp
 
The day I retired 19 years ago I also retired my wrist watch. While I still sometimes have need to know the time like when traveling, and I don't have (or want) a cell phone, I opted for this pocket watch. It is made in Germany with a quartz movement, extremely accurate, and pretty cheap at $145. It resides in my front pocket with the chain connected to a belt loop, barely visible.


View attachment 320055

Cool X 2!!
 
The day I retired 19 years ago I also retired my wrist watch. While I still sometimes have need to know the time like when traveling, and I don't have (or want) a cell phone, I opted for this pocket watch. It is made in Germany with a quartz movement, extremely accurate, and pretty cheap at $145. It resides in my front pocket with the chain connected to a belt loop, barely visible.


View attachment 320055
Ruhla. Fun.
East Germans. They used to make the rear fog lights on the East German domestic market Wartburgs and Trabants. Boy were we jealous when DDR tourists would come our way - this thing was the size of an iPad mini, low to the ground under the rear bumper and it looked so insanely cool.
 
Back
Top Bottom