How to Buy a New Watch？——5 Tips for You

Ever wish you had a watch but just don't know what to buy? Or did your old watch break and now you are looking to buy a new one? The ideal watch will be different from person to person, depending on the features, materials, and components desired. This can be an overwhelming process, but once you know your options and follow a few methods, you can pick the ideal watch for you every time.

1. Consider Who Are You Buying for

Before you opt to buy a watch for yourself or for someone else, think carefully about that person’s interests, hobbies, style or fashion direction, likes and dislikes. Is the person a sports enthusiast, a business exec, a fashion maven or a have-fun type of individual? This should influence the type of watch you choose for them.

Here are some suggestions:

● Sport watches – Breitling Navitimer and the Zenith Defy

● For the fashionistas – Hermes Galop

● For business ware – Patek Philippe Calatrava

● For creatives and artistic folks – try a Hublot Orlinski watch

● Minimalists – try watches from brands such as Nomos, Casio, or Citizen

When you know who you buy it for, you know what type of watch they suit. When you are picking out a watch, you should understand the different types you can buy. There are three main types of watches: analog, digital, and analog/digital. An analog watch holds hour and minute hands with the hours depicted with numbers, marks, or roman numerals. Digital watches display time in numerical form on either an LCD or LED face. Analog/digital watches combine the two other types into one watch.

Analog watches are typically considered traditional and are good for business and formal occasions as well as dates. Digital watches are very casual. Analog/digital watches are practical because they can be worn everyday and are also good for work, but they aren't for formal occasions.

2. Set a Budget

Even though you know the likes and dislikes of the person you want to buy for, you still have to think first of your own wallet. There are timepieces out there for every budget, whether it is $100 or $100,000. You may be the type who will spring for a little more when you find just the right item, but having a preset notion of what you want to spend is critical. There is no need to jump to higher (or lower) retail prices.

Of course, this budget also includes the maintenance costs after you buy the watch. The service life of the watch is related to whether the wearer uses and maintains the watch correctly. For example, wearing the watch to take a bath, the appearance of the watch is dirty, the length of the watch strap is not suitable, the use environment is bad, etc., which can easily cause damage to the watch and shorten the service life.

Mid-to-high-end watches should be maintained every two to three years. Waterproof components should be replaced, time performance and power consumption of the movement tested, movement cleaned, and appearance maintained. Such maintenance services will effectively extend the use time of the watch.

Of course, the more expensive the watch, the higher the maintenance cost. For example, the washing oil price of ROLEX watches is generally more than 2,000 yuan. There are also fragile appearance parts such as watch straps and glass. Therefore, when buying a watch, you must also consider the after-sales service of the watch and the supply of accessories. Generally speaking, there is no problem with the movement of the popular market, such as the watch of the ETA movement and the watch of the big brand.

3. Know the Movement & Material

Movement types are the power sources for the watches. Watches use three basic movement types: battery, quartz, and mechanical. Battery movement utilizes batteries as the only source of power. Quartz movement runs when the power of a battery is sent through the quartz on the inside of the watch. Mechanical movement relies on the wearer winding the elements, which is either manual or automatic.

Battery watches are the cheapest and least luxurious. Digital watches and watches bought at department or clothing stores are typically battery watches.

Quartz watches are slightly more expensive than traditional battery watches, but are the most accurate of all the different types. They require little maintenance aside from occasionally replacing the battery and are not prized by collectors due to the simplicity of their design.

Mechanical watches are either wound by hand (manual) or are wound throughout the day by the movements of the wearer (automatic, or self-winding). These watches are the most expensive, most luxurious, and are prized most by collectors due to the intricacy of their design.

4. Choose a Brand

The concept of brands is a bit more complex. But before you read further, understand this: you do not have to buy a specific watch brand. However, being aware of the better brands – across all prices points – is helpful. Do a little research online before making your purchase. If you are buying in an affordable price range, bigger brands that are more well known may have a stronger cache. When you get to the more expensive watches, personal taste comes into play, as well.  Some people are very brand conscious and lust for a big name brand, while others want to tread off the beaten path and look for a lesser known brand that can deliver a lot of bang for the buck and also keep others wondering, “What is that watch on your wrist?” Again, some of this decision-making harkens back to knowing who you are buying for and what your budget it. 

5. Understand What Function You Need

When you are picking out the ideal watch, you need to know what feature you need and want included on your watch. All watches have basic models and more elaborate models. You can buy anything from a dress watch that only tells time to a casual watch that has a computer in it to a sports watch that will tell you your heart rate, the distance you've traveled, and calories burned, just to name a few. The more impressive the gadgets, the more expensive the watch. It truly depends on what your need your watch for. For example, if you are going to be doing a lot of international travel for business, you might think of buying a dress watch that allows you to tell time across multiple time zones. The possibilities are vast and varied.

One main feature you may want to consider is the level of water resistance. The level of resistance needed depends on the amount of water that you want to wear your watch in. Generic water resistance will handle spills and rainstorms. The upper levels of water resistance vary from 50 meter to 1000 meter resistance, which covers washing dishes to deep sea scuba diving and everything in between.