Watches

250 Watches<br /><br />A man needs a watch, but most of us can justify taking out a second mortgage to finance our horological investments. Lucky for you, weve created a series of guides to help you get the most watch for your money. Whether you have a $250, $500, $1,000 or $1,500 to spend, weve got you covered. In this installment, were looking at watches for the tightest budget.<br /><br />You looking for a watch, and you got $250 to spend. What can you expect for your hard earned green? There are a lot of great watches to be found in this range, but there are definitely specific features you need to look for.<br /><br />Typically the movement the internal mechanism of the watch will be from Japan or China. It usually be quartz it say so on the dial. A quartz movement keeps time by using the electronically charged vibrations of a quartz crystal and needs its batteries replaced periodically. You find mechanicals here and there springs and gears and tick tick tick, both hand wound once a day, please and automatic wound from the motion of your wrist, especially in watches of Chinese make.<br /><br />One note: If you need accuracy, forget mechanical. Unless it a very cheap, poorly made movement, quartz is miles ahead in accuracy until you spend a lot of money, that is<br /><br />You see mineral glass crystals, occasionally sapphire the crystal is the over the face, or dial, of the watch. Mineral glass isn as hard or tough as sapphire when we say sapphire, we mean a colorless man made version of the gemstone, but you don need sapphire in a dress or casual watch.<br /><br />But if your watch will see the pressures and rigors of, say, scuba diving or a hard day at the construction site dive watches are a good choice for situations prone to abuse, you need the toughness of sapphire. You find mineral glass in some dive watches, but that your signal to keep looking.<br /><br />A push pull crown the knob on the side of the watch works great for casual and dress watches. Pull it out to set the time. Push it back in to let the watch run. If you going in the water, though even in light swimming and snorkeling situations go straight to the watch with a screw down crown. A screw down crown actually screws onto the side of the case, sealing one or more gaskets in the process. Anything less is asking for your watch to get flooded, and no one wants that.<br /><br />Metal bracelets and clasps should be tight, strong and easy to operate, with minimal rattling. You know a bad one when you pick it up. The quality or lack thereof shows itself instantly. If you looking for a leather or rubber strap, make sure the seams are well sewn, that there no mold flashing on the rubber and no sharp corners on the buckle. Rubber straps are great for a casual look. You see them on some dive and sport watches.<br /><br />Finally, a word about digital numbers vs. analog hands displays. Timepieces intended for use in the outdoors and backcountry have so many functions and indications barometer/altitude, compass direction, temperature, timers, etc. besides telling the time that an analog display is impractical. If you spend significant time in the backwoods or mountains, you going to need to go digital.