Feature: Attainable watches with next level quality

The dream of owning a ridiculously expensive and high-quality watch is usually extinguished by the very fact that high-quality watches are ridiculously expensive, but if you look around and do your research you’ll soon find that’s not exclusively the case. Through some clever thinking, there are some watchmakers that have found ways to get you more of the good stuff for less—and here are five of them.

Furlan Marri Havana Salmon Ref.1031-A

At an entry point of around $500 or so, it’s very hard to expect anything of any real quality. If you want a well-rounded watch for that price, you shop more with your head than your heart, looking to tick as many of the practicality boxes as possible.

Well, if you’re willing to overlook a few little things, that $500 can go a fair bit further than you think. It’s all a matter of priority, really. Let’s say for example that you could stomach the idea of owning a quartz watch instead of a mechanical. A reliable quartz from Seiko, mind, but a quartz nonetheless.

That’s a cheap movement, which means more of the budget can be divvied up into the areas that matter more to you: chiefly, the quality. Quality, I believe, is a combination of how a watch looks and feels, and so a watch from Furlan Marri should satisfy both those requirements.

First, just look at it. In its 38mm steel case, it’s a picture perfect throwback to mid-20th century design, just ornate enough to feel special without going so far as to look like nana’s curtains. Every detail is nicely considered, from the broad, but shallow crown, knurled pusher ends and intricate dial. There’s plenty of colours and textures going on there, and more to choose from besides, plus hands that glimmer with a deep shine and a pleasing curve.

All because it has the Seiko VK64 mechaquartz. It also gets such niceties as a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating piled on in more layers than mum used to make you wear in winter. You get a decently splashproof 50m of water-resistance and cuff-snuggling 11.3mm of thickness.

This watch style is very popular on sites like Ali Express for even less than this, but really Furlan Marri represents a sweet spot in the compromise between cost and quality. Wearing one really feels like a far, far more elevated experience than the price suggests.

Maen Manhattan 37

If you can do without the chronograph entirely and want something altogether more 1970s, then spend a hundred dollars more and you’ll get this, the Maen Manhattan 37. It’s a svelte watch at the 37mm the names suggests, but the almost rectangular case makes it wear a touch bigger than perhaps you might expect.

This watch obviously benefits from the success its entire category has enjoyed over the last few years, but in this case without taking the massive price premium too. If anything, what the watch brings to the table in terms of quality leaves the $700 price feeling surprisingly generous, especially for a watch that can boast being Swiss made.

Unlike the Furlan Marri, there aren’t many niceties here that you have to forego to enjoy the Manhattan. The crystal is sapphire, the movement mechanical—a Swiss Ronda R-150—the clasp a double deployant and the water-resistance 50m.

But where the watch really shines is in its design and execution. It’s been kept thin so it doesn’t feel top heavy, less than 10mm. The mix of brushed and polished finishing across the case and integrated bracelet is crisp and bright. The feel in the hand is neither excessively sharp nor dull.

The real wow-factor comes from the dial, striped in layers like you’d expect to see on a movement plate and set with polished markers. You can choose with a date or without depending on your preference, and to be honest the only real quibble would be the printed brand logo, which doesn’t quite feel as elevated as everything else.

Put it altogether in a package and it’s a rare moment where a Swiss watch, that isn’t a bland old ugly diver, feels like remarkably good value. You don’t see that too often.

The First Pitzmann

If your watchmaking tastes tend towards the classical, then you’ll know that a simple watch like that is all about the execution. Every detail must be exceptional, no matter how seemingly plain, and as such these straightforward three-handers can end up being some of the most expensive watches out there.

The First Pitzmann, as the watch made by Seoul-based brand Pitzmann is confusingly called, can lay claim to some interesting excesses that might lead you to believe its cost is great than it really is. Let me share a few examples so you can see what you think—and don’t just guess cheap because you know I said it was cheap…

The simple white dial could, at a distance, be perceived to be lacking, but upon closer inspection, a translucent shine reveals something tantalising: enamel. Enamelling is an old and very traditional approach to dial-making, producing a smooth, high-shine surface that gives print a crisp and bulbous finish.

And the hands, deeply blued, can seem almost black at a glance, but catch them in the right light and a bright, royal blue glows like the hands themselves are illuminated.

Okay, so the enamelling is done via the more affordable cold process rather than the low yield, high failure hot process, but it’s still a traditional approach that offers a much higher quality dial finish than straightforward paint, like so many other dial manufacturers get away with. The hands themselves are indeed heat blued, a painstaking process that takes time to produce a matching set.

Put all that in an unobtrusive 39mm steel case with a sapphire crystal and a Swiss Sellita SW261 movement and you’ve got yourself a watch that visually punches way higher than its $899 price point. It’s really all about the attention to detail. For example, that Sellita SW261 was chosen specifically because the seconds sub-dial sits further away from the centre, yielding much better proportions.

Atelier Wen Perception

If you really want to up the ante in quality then perhaps you’ll be thinking about some of the ancient techniques, for example the art of guilloche, hand engraved on a rose engine. A rose engine is a bit like a spirograph in three dimensions but with an exponentially higher chance of getting it wrong and ruining the work. Most brands these days will produce an inferior version with a CNC machine, but for Atelier Wen, that just wouldn’t do.

Here's the rub. Atelier Wen wanted to combine affordability with hand craftsmanship, and so they had a brainwave: find skilled craftsman in China, where quality and cost could be appropriately balanced. Perhaps you’d never thought of it before, but China doesn’t just host the factories that produce most of our stuff. It’s also a nation of skilled artisans.

And so the Atelier Wen Perception received a dial hand engraved on a rose engine. Each one is made slowly, uniquely, by a master craftsman who learned the technique over many decades. What you see here is a prototype in fact, with the final product even more impressive still.

It’s such a rare skill that even in Switzerland it’s dwindling. There’s a handful of people who can do it well. Want a hand guilloched watch from the Swiss people and it’ll set you back $10,000 or so. This is less than three.

The watch it’s packaged up into is, although not as striking as the dial itself, surprisingly impressive. There’s a unique take on the integrated sports watch style to accommodate the unusual dial, with 100m of water-resistance and centre-button activated micro adjust clasp. Carrying on the theme of Chinese craftsmanship, the movement is a Dandong SL1588, which is finished to an impressive degree.

Louis Erard Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB Gold

Topping out our list of high-quality attainable watches is one of many collaborative offerings from affordable Swiss brand Louis Erard. First established as a purveyor of watches you wouldn’t get out of bed for, the brand quickly realigned itself with its Excellence range, aimed at giving customers an eyeful of something they ordinarily couldn’t afford.

The Louis Erard Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB Gold is not only the owner of a ridiculously long title, it’s also the partnership between Louis Erard and legendary designer Massena Lab committed to watch form.

The 42mm steel case, sealed to 50m and packing a Sellita SW266-1, isn’t necessarily going to float any boats. It’s really about everything front and centre, the regulator dial. That’s where hours, minutes and seconds are separated up into separate dials, traditionally used at observatories to make it easier for the local time-fetcher to set their clock. That’s right: towns used to send a guy to the observatory, where the most accurate time was kept, to check and make sure the town clock was running right.

It's a very unusual display, and is executed in the Louis Erard with a level of finish that you’d expect in watches much more expensive. This is the most expensive watch here at $4,000, but I challenge you to find a dial of this quality for anything near that. That’s what you get when you put all your eggs in the dial basket.

What do you think is the best quality watch for the money out there?