Buying Your First Iconic Luxury Watch? - 10 Best Value Under $5000: Tudor, Omega, Grand Seiko & More

so today I'm answering one of your frequently asked questions what iconic watch would I recommend as your first luxury timepiece under five thousand dollars well today I'm gonna go with nine of my favorite brands that I highly recommend and a few honorable mentions along the way and don't forget to add your nominations and suggestions in the comments below so without further Ado let's get into it [Music] thank you okay hi guys and welcome to the show I'll get the wrist watch check out of the way wearing the Tudor Submariner there it is on the nylon black and gray in a kind of bondy in fashion uh that's from risk candy watch Club I actually took off my Panerai for a few days can you believe it anyway um right let's start off with the first brand oh and this doesn't go in any particular order and I should also point out guys I'm going to be a little bit day class saying focus a lot on value but guys if you're looking for an investment this is the wrong Channel I do not talk about watches as an investment yes value retention and all of that stuff is important as soon as you start um talking about value and and all of that before anything else that become well you're not a watch Enthusiast anymore you become disqualified you're a money Enthusiast anyway I've had that rant uh many times so let's get on with it through the remains as Rolex found their hands wilsdorf originally intended it to be the little sister brand for those with more taste class and scents and to go with what Roblox offers in my opinion there are essentially two Tudor Brands the Vintage Tudor of the pre-2009 relaunch and the modern watch enthusiasts slash hipster now mainly in house Tudor but both offer perhaps the best value when it comes to buying instantly recognizable design icons vintage Tudor offers a much more faithful to Rolex aesthetic with affordable to maintain eta-based Alternatives and exceptional brand involvement in being military issued historic exploration and of course a multi-racing legacy the prince date dates days and even earlier oyster print swatches can all be found on a used market for several thousand and while Tudor's version of the Daytona the big block is creeping ever closer to the ten thousand dollar Mark as is their classic submariners like my own some of their less desired dull variations and sizes however can still be found for well under five thousand dollars take the largely forgotten Hydro not for example the older palagos models with too much text on the dial or the rarely cool Tudor Chrono time Tigers they're certainly not making any of these ever again of course the modern black Bay with its never ending list and plethora of variations to choose from is probably top of the list but there's so much more to Tudor than snowflake hands and the YouTube black Bay hype shall we say relax Omega beautiful there's one small step for man [Music] beat for mankind I've recently discussed why Amiga is perhaps the best value Swiss luxury brand of all time in a dedicated video so I'm going to be brief here and have a look back in case you missed it the Contemporary new iterations of their heavyweight icons like the moon and bond watches now offer Superior cost levels in testing quality and accuracy with metas but are mainly between the 5 and 10K range at retail however going used it Remains the brand with the widest range of styles and genres available from overlooked gems like the 500 Amiga DeVille tank style ultra thin unisex quartz dress watch I recently purchased for my wife or the 1950s pre-trilogy in-house automatic Seamaster from the literal golden age of Amiga that I snagged for myself for well under 2K there's everything from the pre-World War II period 90s Brosnan era Bond watches speedys both automatic manual wind and everything in between Amiga remains in my opinion the best value Heritage Swiss made luxury brand to buy right now pop culture Fane and cinematic fame or a logical historic achievements Innovation complications they offer styles of their icons very few Brands offer as much in my opinion than Amiga broiling is an interesting brand to consider as it's undoubtedly had some big changes in the last decade Under New Management with a shift away from the oversized and loud to a purer more traditional dedicated luxury sports and pilot watch brand while going new is certainly outside of today's price range like the previously discussed Amiga this new Breitling leaves a treasure Trove of overlooked gems to find on the used Market before the recent Rejuvenation of the brand recently I acquired the new navitimer book which I highly recommend by the way released in tandem with the modern updated models that I also reviewed to celebrate and document this massively iconic watch inside is a whole section which perfectly demonstrates The Sweet Spot to search for the navi timer aside from its later pop culture Fame was revolutionary for the time in the early 1950s Breitling added a circular slide rule bezel to the previous chronomet and in doing so made it a dedicated tool for Pilots to make all kinds of Aviation related calculations and voila an icon was born in 1954 but not only can you find more traditional interpretations of this classic but historic spin-offs like my modded for space Cosmonaut model that I currently own or the equally legendary 80s and 90s Annie Digi Aerospace watches that were intended to replace the mechanical predecessors with more modern tech of the time [Music] foreign so we focused rather a lot so far on Vintage options on the used Market let's look at some watches you can buy brand spank new that are instantly recognizable to watch enthusiasts as being iconic and Nobody Does it quite like the Germans [Music] thank you [Music] when it comes to Bauhaus minimalism there's no doubt the name at the top of everyone's list will be the timelessly elegant Max bill collection from Young hats designed in the early 1960s by Swiss polymath Max Bill using his strict mathematical design theory he pioneered and would later teach its inimitable understated dressy style has been endlessly mimicked by the fashion watch brands in particular and even other German high-end watchmakers at a quick glance to the untrained eye of a cultural Philistine it may look similar but true connoisseurs and design experts can always tell the difference today you can buy a Faithfully reissued Max bill in over 50 variations and well under the 2K Mark especially if you go quartz and there's nothing wrong with that it's about the design here more than uh what's inside pure class all the way especially that anthracite dial one Gear watches the second part of my two German watch choices is hanhart I could have gone with the more obvious lacquer or Stova Brands if you wanted manufacturers of the original World War II highly influential fliegas I'm going to interrupt it bonus mention if you want a World War II looking flieger from a more prestigious brand and lack of and what was the other Stover check out IWC they're all the models of the fliga watches and you can find them ETA based under five thousand dollars on the used market so definitely worth checking out I've come this close a few times to to buying one but not quite yet [Music] the 109s and the Foxworth 190s got into action they were as grimly determined to stop these great daylight thrusts into their industrial heart as our bombers and Fighters were resolved to press them home to the hilt but hanhart in my opinion is a little bit more special and important so let me explain why unlike the previous mentions two Brands who were part of the five historic watchmakers tasked with officially producing the World War II pilot watches during wartime hanhart was given the more prestigious job of producing more complex military chronographs for Germany's Elite pilots and Senior officers this is a very important distinction and the reason why they were chosen was because they had already made world history by introducing the caliber 40 mono Pusher Chrono in the pre-war late 1930s this would evolve into the two pressure caliber 41 Chrono and finally the iconic 417es which used to be one of my Grail watches until that dream finally came true and that was made famous after the war by Steve McQueen the 417 would go on to inspire the later type 10 military chronograph during the 1950s but due to war reparations Brands like blank pan and many others would get all the credit as hanhart had to produce them under a different name hanhart remains a true independent watchmaker producing modern updated 417s to this very day but aficionados know it Remains the original maker of the most influential military chronograph of all time at well under 3 000 brand new in multiple sizes and even a flyback version hanhart is the choice for those truly in the know and who want something iconic but not a painfully cliched one with the equality in terms of production that Germans are renowned all over the world for Han heart had to be in my list so I can imagine a lot of my audience screaming at me now what about Sin what about Sin well Zina fantastic I've owned many as you guys know and they certainly have a whole bunch of heavyweight icons while Zinn have unquestionably achieved so much in a relatively short amount of time hanhart Remains the underrated Heritage Underdog in this domain an honorable mention would be the Zinn 903 their own officially licensed version of the navitimer we discussed before this occurred when Breitling had a financial wobbly in the 1970s and sold them the rights to legally produce it themselves but now let's return to some options you can buy today absolutely brand new [Music] next it's back to the Swiss with Frederick constant a brand that deeply impressed me when I reviewed their in-house fully mechanical High Life perpetual calendar last year what was so insanely impressive was the price tag at under ten thousand dollars which for one of the highest the most complicated of waterology complications is worthy of any watch enthusiasts respect they also produce the most affordable Swiss made tourbillon in-house as well at a mind-boggling price of only fifteen thousand dollars so this begs the question what high-end complication can we get for under 5 000 well FC seems to have no end of its dominance in proprietary developed calibers that undercut almost every Swiss rival FC do a rarely bang-up job of offering that classic world-timer Patek look but with its own distinct style and Technology an amazing price classic Swiss made quality and look and aesthetic and very clean Tastefully done manner recently they gave the world timer I mean it's been out what 10 years now a makeup an update by including it in the High Life range which is just fantastic because you get a more modern sporty magenta-esque look it's still still an iconic look I think but without being a blatant homage which I think is really really important as far back as 2012 they introduced their fc718 world timer caliber capable of automatically synchronizing and tracking the time in 24 cities displayed on the dial if you have missed my several previous videos discussing this type of watch it's a complication that protect Philippe pioneered in collaboration with the inventor of this complication Swiss watchmaker Luis Cartier together they introduced the reference 1415 in 1939 and since then it has inspired along with being imitated by almost every brand with lofty Ambitions to become something like a tech however the look of 24 cities in a rotating disks and often a globe or world map has become synonymous with Patek if the Rolex Day date is emblematic of Captain of industry types then the world timer with its signature closing a dial has become the choice of the private jet set bosses that give them their orders in other words it's a kind of hortorology status symbol and you can begin to see why so many Brands want to have their own take on it and for this year in 2023 it saw another update with the very Tastefully done caramel brown dial variation but what puts FC at the top of the list when it comes to World timers in particular beyond all the other options out there aside from the outstanding quality classic looks and obviously the highly competitive value is that it also packs one hell of a horological punch FC in being able to develop this caliber themselves has refined it technically beyond what Patek has done by adding a unique mechanism meaning adjustment can be made solely by the crown and not another pusher or a recessed hidden Pusher very Nifty indeed so by the end of this year 2023 uh Federate constant is a brand I will be adding to my own personal collection that's how excited I am by what they're doing uh I'm not going to give spoilers away of which particular watch stay tuned but I will try and review the world timer because I think they're just fantastic I have considered the classic many many times I've come so close to buying it pulling the trigger so many times but I think this year I will definitely take the plunge even their tourbillon is tempting I mean that price a Swiss made tourbillon at 15 grand I don't understand hopefully everyone's talking about it right I hope so at least they should be right maybe a new Grail I don't know anyway stay tuned whatever the result is going to be very expensive for me [Music] your teeth not bad right I can't stand fuss and nonsense can you good right I want to make things very clear horses dogs people in that order the house gas Liberty do for mother in the hounds we shall live in Scotland you're quite sweet now how's your jaw it's what can you take a punch well I for me Cartier is a brand that immediately conjures up images of impoverished Aristocrats in poorly maintained stately homes new money Gordon gecko types who wear them in order to buy into the class associated with the brand and more recently Bejeweled oversized versions beloved by many drill artists for too long the watch snobs who ineffectively try to gatekeep this hobby of ours have dismissed Cartier as merely a jewelry maker for Royals old money and iconic pre-social media celebrities but in the recent decade as seen on this channel for several years consecutively they have topped the annual lists in the best of watchmaking innovation Cartier is a brand undoubtedly On The Rise but the best thing is most of their iconic pieces can be picked up for well under five thousand dollars take my gecko era of Santos galbi moon phase I picked it up a year or two ago for an absolute steal and while sure it is quartz without a second hand that ticks I always forget it's not mechanical and it just looks the Kipper's knickers or how about the classic tank XL like the one I gifted my wife and again it's quartz so convenient along with its grab-and-go ease almost perfect accuracy so what if it's quartz the Cartier Santos is not just an iconic watch it's the first iconic watch and that's really really significant I mean it debuted in 1911 that's over a hundred years ago how many Watchers can boast then also not many watches um have stayed well I know it has a ton of variations but if you look at a standard Santos today not the XL or skeleton eyes or any of that stuff but just a standard one you can pair it to the very first one you can see the resemblance I'm going to sneak in a bonus mention on warm suggestion here from Gerard Perego if you want that Cartier Roadster look or that Frank Mueller toenail shaped look check out the rich feel it was a big flop for Jared Perego in the 90s but I think they're gorgeous and you can find them well under five thousand dollars very iconic looking but of course it's Gera Perego which as you guys know very popular brand now but yeah very very cool and highly underrated look I hate to break up the Bromance 20 seconds late now I've talked about Panerai recently a lot after falling head over heels for them so I will be brief here I purchased an older late 90s 40 millimeter Panerai luminor pam048 at the start of 2023 and so far it's still the most worn watch of the year the honeymoon phase shows no sign of slowing down and I even took it with me to wear during my recent Adventure in Italy and the Brand's birthplace in Florence love or loathe Panerai they are a defiant Marmite brand nobody can deny however how distinctly unique instantly recognizable and without a shadow of a doubt how they can be characterized with the most overused word of the video today undeniably iconic with many controversies over the years not to mention those who it was originally made for the oversized watch Trend dying quicker than the villains in the Expendable movies they used Market flooded with difficult to spot fake panerise and it being an acquired taste in general this all translates to many Bargains that can be found on the used market I'll be back you've been back enough I'll be back here like 75 of the luxury watches I've bought in the last few years it was off the used Japanese Market they just offer really great deals and they're very meticulous mine ended up costing about three and a half Grand not bad at all for something sort of fun and versatile last we have grand Seiko unlike the mid to entry-level Seiko range that has seen an upward price adjustment at retail much to the dismay of most of us raised on skxs and flight Masters for dirt cheap GS has stayed with the majority of their watches more or less steady in price and while the Swiss also have upped their prices almost entirely across the board this has made grand Seiko especially post pandemic and more and more competitive alternative to the only partly 60 swiss-made luxury options around the 5K range with techniques in hand finishing and decoration comparable to what you typically see at the Holy Trinity level of Brands as strict design language rooted in traditional Japanese art and culture especially with their mesmerizing nature inspired dial work and then also powered by calibers entirely developed designed manufactured assembled and adjusted all in-house Seiko is one of only two watch companies considered to be completely vertically integrated the other being Rolex of course now there are tons of examples especially if you go used some of the earlier quartz Grand seikos but I'm going to pick one you can buy new just to demonstrate why they Define pure class in my opinion the sbgw283 has a beguiling dial and a delicate Shade of Pale adzuro Blue inspired by the color of the Skies as summer begins a season known as kishun at 37 millimeters and only 11 millimeters thick it's modest yet modern scale houses a decorated manual wind 9s64 caliber Seiko describe it as and I quote the beauty of Simplicity end quote and with those signature razor sharp blade-like hands the uninterrupted symmetrical daithless layout with multifaceted applied markers it's perfectly emblematic of the iconic Grand Seiko style much like Z Germans with their three words made in Germany made in Japan also rarely does mean something here and arguably for both of these countries it has something of a little more authenticity to it compared to the largely compromised made in Switzerland so I'm going to leave it there now of course I could nominate a hundred iconic watches in this price range I just wanted to pick my favorites do share yours in the comments below don't forget to like this video very important indeed specially if you want to see more free and independent content like this right I'll catch you in the next one thank you so much for watching onwards and upwards foreign [Music]

Channel: The Urban Gentry

Views: 160,663

Keywords: tudor, submariner, rolex, omega, seamaster, speedmaster, deville, breitling, navitimer, cosmonaut, aerospace, bauhaus, junghans, max bill, hanhart, 417ES, sinn, 903, frederique constant, highlife, worldtimer, patek philippe, cartier, santos, tank, XL, girard, perregaux, panerai, luminor, PAM048, grand, seiko, SBGW283, best, automatic, chronograph, 38mm, 39mm, 40 mm, watch, watches, collection, review, guide, advice, The Urban Gentry, wristwatch check, pilot, dive, value, affordable, luxury, dress, vintage, new, swiss, history, $5000, under

Id: j3tngQcVUPA

Length: 23min 46sec (1426 seconds)

Published: Sat May 13 2023