The Best Cheap Watches Owners Love

The trouble with searching for cheap watches is, everyone’s got a different definition for “cheap.” Luckily, this article has you covered no matter what cheap means for you. The table below lists the best cheap watches in any price range, including under $20, under $100, under $200, the cheapest non-rolex luxury watches, cheapest smart watches, cheapest Apple watch and the cheapest Rolex.

We’ve also broken out some of the cheap watches in the meat of the article, highlighting our top picks in each category. How did we pick the best cheap watches in all the land? We performed an analysis of the top ten media reports and review sites, then backed that up with a study of reviews on the big shopping sites like Amazon and Google Shopping. Every watch listed below gets a 4.5 or 5 star rating. We paid special attention to those watches with thousands of reviews, since those are both more popular choices and less likely to fall prey to review fakery. As the watches below get more expensive however, it’s more difficult to find a broad swathe of reviews listed online.

1. Casio F91W: Best Cheap Watch for $10

If $10 is just too cheap for you, keep scrolling. Our most expensive “cheap” watch is a $5,000 Rolex Airking at the article’s bottom. If you’re just looking for something to put on your wrist that tells time, but that won’t pop apart the first time the wind blows, the Casio F91W is about the best cheap watch on the market. It’s got thousands of positive online reviews. It’s stuffed with the right functions, it’s durable and long-lasting. It’s beloved by basic training recruits and nurses and other pros who don’t have wads of cash lying around but need something that works. It’s basic, basic, basic. It’s not going to make anyone say, “Wow, you must be important,” but it’s not going to crack open and leave its circuitry guts trailing out either. It’ll last for seven years of normal use, and the light is bright enough to read the time in dark hospital rooms. It’s not waterproof, but it can handle winter sports like snowboarding without wilting. An all around cheap GI-Joe of a watch.

2. Timex Weekender: $27

Up out of the gumball machine category, the Timex Weekender is a respectable cheap watch at just $27. It’s not going to turn any heads in a boardroom – at least, not in a good way. Still, can 1,400 Amazon reviewers be wrong? Not if hardly any of them give this watch low marks. The watch is simple and durable with a slip-through band. It’s water resistant to three atmospheres. Owners like its clean, classic look and its comfortable feel. A bright light and high quality glass ramp up the attraction.

All 30 Best Cheap Watches in One Table

Here are all the 30 best cheap watches in our list. We’ve included everything from the super-cheap to the cheapest of the luxury watches. The list includes Swiss, American, Japanese and several other nationalities. It’s got everything from Swatch to Citizen, Seiko to Movado. We’ve even tossed in smart watches, the cheapest Apple watch and the cheapest Rolex.

3. Seiko 5: $72

In the under $100 category, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than the Seiko 5. This cheap watch has got it all. It’s popular, insanely reliable, good looking, durable and lasts for decades. Stainless steel and silver tone, it’s not a dive watch but it’s water resistant to 30 meters. It’s manly but not overly so, looks elegant but not too jewelry-like. It’s self-winding, with a decent light. It’s not the most accurate watch out there, but those who own it love it.

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4. Bulova Stainless Steel Dress: $84

The Bulova Stainless Steel Dress is one of the best cheap watches out there. It’s very popular and departs from the traditional stainless steel band look of so many cheap watches. It looks a lot more expensive than it is, with a Roman numeraled dial and calfskin band with buckle-closure. It’s water-resistant to 30 meters, which makes it fine for washing dishes or being out in a rainstorm but not a good choice for diving. The face has a nice silver sheen to it and it doesn’t look out of place at all with a tuxedo.

5. Citizen Stainless: $90

Many watch buyers equate heft with quality. If weight was really a herald of craftsmanship, you could set a watch face in a hunk of granite and be done with it. Some people like their watches light and large. If that’s you, this might just be the best cheap watch option you will find. The Citizen Stainless has a 42 mm steel case with a mineral dial window, Japanese quartz movement and a stainless bracelet. It’s water resistant to 30 meters and is made to last a lifetime. It’s extremely accurate, light and thin with a big face.

6. Fossil Grant Chronograph Fs5184: $115

Taking a step back out of stainless steel band land, the Fossil Grant Fs5184 is available in eight different band and color styles. There’s a rose goldtone option with a brown leather strap and navy blue dial. There’s a chrome and brown leather option, navy dial with navy leather band, silvertone or plain gray for the traditionalist. The watch is water resistant to 50 meters and goes well with everything. Looks and feels amazing on the wrist and draws a lot of compliments. For a cheap watch, this is one of the best options anywhere.

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7. LG Watch Urbane W150 – Smart Watch with Heart Rate Monitor: $180

Those looking for the best cheap smartwatch don’t have to look any farther than the LG Watch Urbane. LG is known for knocking anything with electronics out of the park, from smartphones to refrigerators. The same goes for their smartwatch. It looks like a regular luxury watch on the wrist, but the watch faces change with a slide of the finger. It’s dust and splashproof, and it’s bright enough to stand out even in bright sunlight. Like the Apple Watch, aside from telling time, it can notify its wearer about calls and texts, give flight updates and even scroll through real time Facebook feeds.

8. Hamilton Men’s H64455533 Khaki King Series: $349

Getting up into the too-expensive-to-be-cheap but too-cheap-to-be-expensive category, our top pick is the Hamilton Men’s Khaki King. It’s a beautiful watch, very high quality with the look of a luxury watch but without the several thousand dollar price tag. It has a leather strap and black dial face, plus it’s self-winding and water resistant to 50 meters. It’s made in America, originally for the U.S. military. It has a well balanced design and a powerful lume. Goes great with everything except a full on tuxedo. The biggest complaint is that the bezel could be more scratch resistant.

9. Movado Men’s 0606502 Museum Stainless Steel Watch: $495

For those who want to stand out from the ordinary without being gaudy, the Movado Men’s Museum watch is a great cheap luxury watch. The best thing about it is the eye-popping design, but it doesn’t overpower formalwear. The $495 price point seems a bit high, since the watch has been known to go on sale down in the mid $200’s. Hunting around will reward the shopper on this beautiful timepiece.

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10. TAG Heuer Men’s WAZ1112.BA0875 Formula 1 Stainless Steel Watch: $895

A true TAG Heuer coming in at $895 is a great deal, since luxury watches can easily run up over two or three thousand. This one is water resistant to 200 meters and good for every marine activity except scuba diving. It has a classic stainless band and works with both a t-shirt and a suit and tie. It’s thick enough to look rich, but not so thick it will look awkward. The watch is great for daily wear, a classic fit for anyone who needs a luxury watch but doesn’t want to pay the Rolex premium.

Cheapest Apple Watch: $299

The cheapest Apple Watch brand new sells for $299. The Apple Watch is an incredibly popular smartwatch that not only looks great on the wrist and tells the time, but also adds a ton of other functions. It serves up notifications about texts, phone calls and emails as well as motivation to get in shape by counting steps and calories burned and even tracking sleep patterns. At the $299 price point the 38mm Apple Watch Sport comes with Ion-X glass, Retina display with Force Touch, a heart rate sensor, Wi-Fi and bluetooth. There are other versions of the Apple Watch available all the way up to the 18-Karat gold Edition.

Best Cheap Rolex

Rolex isn’t about cheap, it’s about showing others in the high-stakes business world that you can play ball at their level. Still, sometimes someone who’s just stepped into the big leagues needs to make an impression without having an impression made on their credit balance. When that’s the case, the Rolex Airking is the cheapest of these coveted luxury watches available. It’s true a real Rolex can cost more than $60,000, and even middle-of-the-road entries in the Rolex canon come in at $10,000 or more. The Rolex Airking is the lowest priced among an elite club at $5,000. Anyone looking for the cheapest Rolex they can get should probably check out local pawn shops. The one huge caveat with buying a used Rolex is the knockoff factor. Shelling out over $1,000 for something that isn’t actually a Rolex is a costly blunder. Real Rolexes come with a certificate of authenticity from the factory. Some fake ones do, too, but those can be spotted. Ebay has put together an excellent piece on how to spot a fake Rolex. Of course the people who make fake Rolex watches have probably read it too.

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