How to choose

The decisions that actually change what you end up with.

1 guides

Novelty wristwatch with a small round dial mounted on a tooled tan leather cuff with silver conchos — A western-style cuff watch, where the strap carries more of the design than the dial does.Photo: Joe Haupt from USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Open source page

Chrome-cased novelty wristwatch on a white strap, dial printed with a cartoon girl whose arms point the hours

How to choose

Quartz, automatic or hand-wound: which watch you will still be wearing in year five

Three movements, three different jobs for the owner. What a chronometer mark certifies, what the water-resistance line permits, and the yearly running cost.

Updated 11/3/2026 · 11 min

Photo: Joe Haupt from USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons