It’s not the fanciest name in the watch game, but in terms of bang for your buck, Timex is hard to beat. It does make cheaper watches, but this one has a steel bracelet, an automatic movement and a chunky 43mm case. A hell of a lot of watch for the money.
£180; timex.co.uk
Originally an American company, now under Swiss ownership, Hamilton has a huge range that includes a lot of military influenced pieces like this retro styled field watch. With in-house automatic movement in 38mm stainless steel case. Water resistant to 100m.
£925, hamiltonwatch.com
The Germans know a thing or two about elegantly simple engineering, and the Bauhaus inspired Nomos has some of the cleanest designs around. Powered by a hand wound mechanical movement in a 38mm stainless steel case, comes on a vegan leather strap.
£1,920; nomos-glashuette.com
People see Rolex and think ‘fancy’, but the Explorer is one of the brand’s no nonsense tool watches. If you insist, you can have it in a steel and gold combo, but this is its purest form: automatic movement, steel case and bracelet, all engineered to the very highest standard.
From £6,400; rolex.com