Quartz is lighter, cheaper, more durable, vastly more accurate, and more convenient. You can easily change the batteries yourself with a $20 set of case opening tools from Amazon.
Solar powered models are quartz, with tiny rechargable batteries, so "quartz" includes them as well.
Nearly all mechanical watches are automatic; i.e. they are automatically wound by the motion of your wrist so you'll see "mechanical" and "automatic" used interchangably. After you take an automatic watch off, it will keep ticking for about 40 hours. It's almost like a pet you have to take care of occasionally.
Why the fuck would anybody bother with mechanical watches, then?
- You really don't need to, unless it appeals to you!
- In cynical terms, when cheap and perfect quartz watches took over the world, upscale watch manufacturers realized they were obsolete but convinced everybody that mechanical watches were a true coneissiuer thing.
- Correspondingly, if you want a "nice" watch, in many cases this means you just have to go mechanical.
- It is kind of cool and magical to see an amazing little machine on your wrist. If you're into that kind of thing. Most mechanicals have a window on the back so you can see them work.
Personally, I have mostly quartz and then a few special mechanical watches.
It's the one you like.
A general rule? A "nice" watch is one that plays nicely with the light as you view it from various angles - a mix of brushed and polished surfaces and curving shapes, with some nice dimensional elements on the dial to add interest. Not just a shiny hunk of chrome. A Rolex Explorer or Datejust would be a canonical example here.
But, that's a rule that's made to be broken.
Military-inspired watches, G-Shocks, etc. all laugh at that rule.
There is no right or wrong way to do this hobby but many peoples' books, a true watch lover respects the entire history of watches and that includes everything awesome and groundbreaking affordable quartz makers like Casio, all the way up to Rolex and beyond. I think it's cool that you can walk into a Wal-Mart and buy some really cool Casio models..... along with 57,000 really ugly ones. But man, there are gems.
As a rule I am not one of those people who jerks off to how amazing things were twenty or fifty or a hundred years ago. Things were mostly awful. Always! And they'll never get better if we pretend the past was a magical place!
BUT....
...
...it's pretty cool to look at something James Bond or Steve McQueen wore fifty years ago, think about how it still looks amazing today, and how it's still gonna look fucking incredible fifty years from now.
They all tell the time just as well as one another.
A neat thing about Japanese watch makers is that they're vertically integrated. Each one is its own little mysterious Willy Wonka operation.
A Seiko is truly a Seiko. They do everything in house. Movements to cases. They have a neat history!
The affordable Swiss brands are all owned by Swatch Group. Tissots roll off the assembly line next to Alpinas which share movements with 12 other brands. There is nothing bad about that, it's just sort of less cool to me? I'm not going to turn one down if you give me one though!
Casio offer insane value right down to their vintage metal digital watches starting at $17. Their Edifice line has some really sweet tech/racing-inspired watches from $100 and up. Casio are strictly quartz only, with some solar models.
Timex is slaying it lately, like $30-$250. They are an American company, though unfortunately I don't think they do any manufacturing here.
Citizen is a great option. They are essentially solar ("Eco-Drive" in their parlance) only. If you want sporty chronographs $100-$300, they are the main game in town.
Orient is taking over as the value leader for mechanicals under $250 as Seiko migrates a little more upscale. Fantastic models.
Seiko owns the midrange mechanical game from $250 and up to, let's say, $500? Their sub-$500 lineup used to offer redonkulous value vs. the Swiss, as their name didn't command the same respect. Finally, that has begun to change although that has ramifications for pricing as well.
Grand Seiko. Seiko are essentially a 125 year-old family operation and there isn't really anbody to tell them "no, that's a bad idea." So, they sell GRAND SEIKOS that are priced as direct competitors to Rolex, Omega, and the like. It's like if Honda sold GRAND HONDAS instead of Acuras in America, because fuck you we're Honda and we're proud of it, suck our dicks. It's endearing. The Grand Seikos are motherfucking legit, by the way, if you ever have five or ten grand to burn - I do not really covet watches in this price range, but a GS would be my ultimate watch I suppose.
Everything Else From ~$500+ Well, I'm glad I can't afford this shit, because the choices sure do multiply! I would however say that roughly $500-$1000 seems to be the point of diminishing returns IMHO. It's like buying a $60,000 car. Things just don't get that much nicer from there on up, unless you have some highly specific needs or love the mystique of a certain brand... which is of course fine because all of this is fun and none of this is essential, so if a $5000 James Bond Omega Seamaster or $10,000 Patek is your thing then that's your thing.
Well, people who nerd out over watches like watches from makers that just make watches. A Michael Kors or Daniel Wellington or MVMT or Calvin Klein watch from a company that also makes jeans and purses? I mean, okay, but that's a little bit like buying a Chevrolet sneaker. Or even a Lexus sneaker. It's like, what? They have clearly outsourced it. That is not necessarily a bad thing. But not necessarily where you want to put your money either.
Quartz watches are pretty hard to mess up so theoretically these will work fine and many of them look pretty nice. Although, I also have to say, most of my Fossil/Diesel watches fell the fuck apart.
In lieu of trying watches on in person before buying I generally just watch videos. 😅
Just One More Watch - Probably my favorite, and a lot of peoples' favorite.
The Urban Gentry - This guy is insane and lives like two miles from me.
Jenni Elle - Only woman I know of. Focuses on high end luxury but I like her style.
https://twobrokewatchsnobs.com/
"Watch Reddit" is bizarrely positive and supportive.
- r/JapaneseWatches
- r/Watches
- r/Casio
- r/Seiko
- etc.
Amazon is worth mentioning just for their insanely liberal return policies. Bezos isn't hurting for money, why not demo a watch on his dime?
I have had good experiences buying on eBay from sellers with high feedback ratings.
Quartz watches are indestructible and will never need service so no worries about buying used or grey market.
For mechanical watches, warranty (and therefore buying through authorized resellers) may be something to think about.
However, IMO, if you are going to have problems with a mechanical watch it will either be (a) within the retailer's 30 day return period or (b) years after the warranty has expired anyway so I'm not sure what a warranty is worth.
https://www.longislandwatch.com/ - Mark is a big part of the community, making great YouTube videos and just being awesome at answering questions. In recent years he has pivoted to more of a focus on his in-house brand, but his customer service is awesome. I will buy my next watch from him if at all possible. Mark is an authorized Seiko reseller.
https://www.ebay.com/str/Officialwatchdeals - Here's a little secret. This is Citizen's official factory refurb channel (as far as anybody's been able to tell) with a sky high eBay feedback rating. They handle some other brands as well. I've bought a few and the watches are immaculate and like 66% off retail. I bought a couple in here by looking at their selection and then looking for YouTube videos about those models to see what they actually look like, because lord knows they never have decent photos on their damn storefront.
(@Dtron or anybody else if you're interest in sporty solar chronographs, this is your goldmine ☝️)
WatchUSeek - This seems popular? I have no experience.
Jomashop - Gray market, no warranty, good prices, returns are either painless or painful depending on whom you ask.
Watches hold their value pretty well. A lot of people seem to buy a watch and then sell it to finance their next buy six months later. Not my personal style but seems viable.