The best watch brands for men in 2026, at every budget

The best watch brand for men depends almost entirely on your budget. A £100 Casio and a £6,000 Omega are both brilliant at what they do, but they're not competing. So instead of one list, this guide takes each budget in turn and gives you the brands that are best at that price, and the one watch to buy from each.

Every watch here is sold new by Goldsmiths, a UK authorised retailer. Prices are Goldsmiths' own on the date shown, and they update when we re-check them. Under each brand you'll find a link to every one of its watches.

How we chose

We looked at every brand Goldsmiths sells and asked one question: at this budget, which brands give you the most watch for your money? That means the movement (quartz, solar, automatic or hand-wound), the materials (sapphire crystal, steel, titanium), water resistance, and how well the brand's watches are made and finished. Specifications come from Goldsmiths' product pages and, where we say so, from the brands' own descriptions.

Under £200: Casio and Timex

At this price, a watch should be tough, accurate and good-looking, and nobody does that better than Casio.

Casio (G-Shock). The G-Shock is the toughest watch you can buy for the money. Goldsmiths' description of the G-Shock line says Casio formed "Project Team Tough" to build it in 1981. Our pick is the octagonal GA-2100: a 45.4mm carbon resin case, quartz accuracy and 200 metres of water resistance.

Best under £200Casio G-SHOCK Carbon Core Octagon Series GA-2100-1AER · 48.5 × 45.5mm · Quartz · 200 m water resistant £99.90Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Browse all 81 Casio watches£34.90 to £919 at Goldsmiths→

Timex. If you'd rather have hands and a classic look, Timex makes affordable watches with real character. The Marlin Moon Phase is a 40mm quartz dress watch with a moon phase display for £175.

Browse all 29 Timex watches£55 to £280 at Goldsmiths→

£200 to £500: Tissot, Seiko and Citizen

This is where you get serious watchmaking for sensible money, and three brands lead it.

Tissot. The best-value Swiss brand there is. The PRX is the watch of the moment: a 1970s-style integrated bracelet, a sapphire crystal and 100 metres of water resistance, for £335 with a Swiss quartz movement.

Best £200 to £500Tissot PRX T1374101104100 · 40mm · Quartz · 100 m water resistant £335Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Tissot PRX 55 watches at Goldsmiths, £290 to £1,875. Shop the PRX

Seiko. If you want an automatic, Seiko gives you one for less than almost anyone. The 5 Sports range starts at around £260, and the SKX GMT adds a second time zone for travellers.

Citizen. Most of Citizen's men's watches at Goldsmiths are Eco-Drive: they charge from any light, so they never need a battery. Goldsmiths' description notes that Citizen started life in 1918 as the Shokosha Watch Research Institute. The Promaster Diver is a 200-metre solar dive watch for well under £400.

Browse all 92 Seiko watches£260 to £3,550 at Goldsmiths→

Browse all 90 Citizen watches£190 to £895 at Goldsmiths→

£500 to £1,000: Hamilton and Tissot's automatics

Spend this much and you can have a Swiss automatic with a power reserve of around three days.

Hamilton. Hamilton's field watches come from a long military tradition, and its H-10 automatic runs for 80 hours on a full wind, according to Hamilton. The Khaki Field Auto is the one to buy: 38mm, a sapphire crystal and 100 metres of water resistance.

Best £500 to £1,000Hamilton Khaki Field Auto H70455533 · 38mm · Automatic · 100 m water resistant £640Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Browse all 95 Hamilton watches£375 to £2,265 at Goldsmiths→

Tissot again. The PRX Powermatic 80 is the automatic version of the PRX, with an 80-hour power reserve, according to Tissot. It costs £640. Read our best men's watches under £1,000 for more at this budget.

£1,000 to £2,500: Longines, Oris, NOMOS and Rado

This is where luxury starts. These four Swiss and German brands make watches that look and feel far more expensive than they are.

Longines. The best-value luxury brand of all. The HydroConquest is a proper dive watch, water resistant to 300 metres, in a 39mm size that suits most wrists. Longines' newer Conquest goes further still: Goldsmiths' description lists a silicon balance spring and a power reserve of up to 72 hours.

Best £1,000 to £2,500Longines HydroConquest L37794966 · 39mm · Automatic · 300 m water resistant £1,925Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Oris. Every Oris at Goldsmiths is mechanical, and the Aquis Date is its flagship diver: 300 metres of water resistance and a sapphire crystal, from about £1,400.

NOMOS Glashütte. From Glashütte in Germany, NOMOS makes clean, simple watches with mechanical movements. The Club Campus has the hand-wound DUW 4001 calibre, according to NOMOS's description, and costs under £2,000.

Rado. Goldsmiths describes Rado as famous for its use of pioneering materials, and it makes many of its watches in high-tech ceramic. The Captain Cook is a 300-metre dive watch in a compact 39mm case.

Browse all 55 Oris watches£1,400 to £5,350 at Goldsmiths→

Browse all 34 NOMOS Glashütte watches£1,500 to £5,020 at Goldsmiths→

£2,500 to £5,000: TAG Heuer and Breitling

Now you're buying a watch from one of the famous names.

TAG Heuer. TAG Heuer's range runs from Swiss quartz Formula 1 watches at around £1,550 to automatic Carrera chronographs. Our pick is the Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph. Goldsmiths' description lists a grade 5 titanium case and bracelet, and the Solargraph calibre is charged by light, so it never needs winding or a battery change. It's water resistant to 200 metres.

Best £2,500 to £5,000TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph WBP1190.BZ0003 · 40mm · Solar · 200 m water resistant £3,200Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Browse all 206 TAG Heuer watches£1,550 to £38,950 at Goldsmiths→

Breitling. Breitling is at its best in big, bold sports watches. The Superocean is its dive watch: a 42mm automatic, water resistant to 300 metres. Goldsmiths' description traces its design back to Breitling's Superocean Slow Motion from the 1960s.

Browse all 322 Breitling watches£2,900 to £72,400 at Goldsmiths→

£5,000 to £10,000: Omega, IWC, Breitling and Cartier

These are the watches people save for, and the brands that make them are among the most famous in the world.

Omega. For most people, Omega is the luxury watch brand. The Seamaster Aqua Terra is its best everyday watch. Goldsmiths' description says it's certified by METAS, the Swiss federal institute of metrology, as a Master Chronometer with "extraordinary levels of magnetic resistance", and it's water resistant to 150 metres.

Best £5,000 to £10,000Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra O22012412103005 · 41mm · Automatic · 150 m water resistant £6,200Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Which Omega? Our best Omega watches guide explains every collection, and Omega vs Rolex compares them model for model.

IWC. IWC's Pilot's Watches are clean, legible and beautifully made. The 40mm Pilot's has IWC's own 32111 calibre and 100 metres of water resistance, according to Goldsmiths' description.

Breitling Navitimer. One of the great pilot's watches. Goldsmiths' description says the Navitimer was introduced in 1952, designed to let pilots do their flight calculations in the air.

Cartier. The Santos de Cartier is the original square sports watch. Goldsmiths' description says the collection was first introduced in 1904, in honour of the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont.

Browse all 91 IWC watches£4,400 to £47,900 at Goldsmiths→

Browse all 165 Cartier watches£3,200 to £91,500 at Goldsmiths→

£10,000 and over: Zenith and the specialists

Above £10,000 you're buying from smaller, more specialised watchmakers, and the movements become the main event.

Zenith. Zenith's El Primero is one of the most famous automatic chronograph movements ever made. In the Chronomaster Sport, it measures elapsed time to a tenth of a second, according to Goldsmiths' description.

Zenith Chronomaster Sport El Primero 3600 03.3100.3600/21.M3100 · 41mm · Automatic · 100 m water resistant £10,400Price at Goldsmiths, 28 October 2026 Full specsSee it at Goldsmiths

Browse all 47 Zenith watches£6,090 to £28,000 at Goldsmiths→

Goldsmiths also sells Panerai, Hublot, Glashütte Original and Blancpain at this level, along with independent watchmakers like H. Moser & Cie and Czapek. They're all on our brands page.

Fashion brands: BOSS, Armani Exchange and Tommy Hilfiger

Fashion brands make good-looking watches at friendly prices, which is why they're popular gifts. Goldsmiths' description says BOSS was founded in 1924. But almost all of these watches are quartz, and part of the price is the name on the dial. For the same £150 to £350, Seiko, Citizen and Tissot give you automatic or solar movements and, with Tissot, a sapphire crystal. If the person you're buying for loves the brand, though, that matters more than the movement.

Browse all 68 BOSS watches£139 to £399 at Goldsmiths→

Browse all 45 Armani Exchange watches£119 to £289 at Goldsmiths→

What about Rolex?

Rolex isn't sold online in the UK: you buy it in person from an authorised dealer, and popular models come with a waiting list. Everything in this guide is in stock to buy online today. If it's the Rolex look you're after, our best Rolex alternatives guide matches every famous Rolex with a watch you can actually buy.