Best watches for £2000

Water Cooler
#1

The new in laws would like to buy me a watch as a wedding gift, they have a max of £2k to spend.

I would like to propose 3 which are just under £2k… Any ideas what brands are good for that sort of money?

#2

Hamilton is a good choice. If your budget goes up to £2k then you may also want to consider Longines or Omega (likely secondhand, but you never know what you’ll find).

#3

Ball Red Label oozes class out of every orifice. grey or black dial is luscious.

#4

If I can ever justify spending this much on a watch, and assuming I don’t fear the chance that someone on the subway will try to slice my wrist and steal my stuff, this is what I would buy:

#5

Get a vintage Omega Seamaster Deville. Classy and is a timeless piece IMO.

#6

return the watch, get a replica, keep 1700 cash

#7

Most watches trade at a discount to MSRP. In the US, you should be able to get a new Omega Speedmaster or Tag Heuer 1887 for around $3200 (roughly £2000). I’m not sure what the market is like in the UK though. I’m also assuming that your parents in law are not thinking of buying you a used watch.

Also, what kind of watch are you looking for? Think about style (sports vs. dress), materials (probably stainless steel at this budget), size (how big is your wrist?), functions (date/chronograph/GMT), or any other feature that might be important to you.

For £2000 or less MSRP, here are a few suggestions:

  1. Baume and Mercier Clifton: this is a nice, unpretentious design from a well known Swiss company.

  2. Frederique Constant Slimline: This is relatively young company, so they don’t have 100 year heritage like some other brands (if you care about that). However, they do have good in house movements and nice styles. Maybe they resemble JLC too much, but it’s still pretty tasteful.

  3. Tudor Glamour Date/Day: Tudor, in case you don’t know, is a sister brand to Rolex. The two brands use different movements but the same cases. So in general with Tudor, you get the same fit and finish and a less stuffy reputation for the same price.

Edit: if you do go the Frederique Constantin route, I recommend that you invest in the moon phase version. Not only is the moon phase valued as a complication, but its superfluous nature is consistent with the spirit of buying a watch for thousands of dollars in the first place: “Why do you need a moon phase?” Well, why do you need such an expensive watch to begin with?

#8

At a very quick glance, the watch above has many characteristics of a patek moonphase

#9

Most moon phase watches probably look similar - at least they generally use the same design for the moon part. This specific watch, however, resembles the JLC Master version (see below) - just the features are a bit softer. JLC, of course, is a much more expensive brand whose name I only learned to pronounce recently (yay-grrr-lah-cole-tray).

B&M, in my opinion, resembles IWC, especially with their use of blue hands, the font they use for the numbers and their habit of using gold markings on dark dials. Tudor looks like Rolex for obvious reasons.

#10

Watches? Don’t get it. For $3,200 I’d take a trip and maybe splurge on something really memorable while traveling.

But if I were really filthy rich - and no I didn’t win the lottery - I might go for a Breguet, simply because that’s the watch used by Stephen Maturin, one of my favorite literary characters.

#11

^^ Ah, good eye, that’s pretty spot on. Someday, hopefully soon laugh Going to keep rocking the Seiko till then!