Fratello Talks: Our Favorite Affordable Watches Vol. 2
Hello, and welcome to this week’s episode of Fratello Talks. Today, we’re bringing back the fan-favorite topic of affordable watches. Nacho, Lex, and Daan picked one favorite under €1,000 from each of their collections. Our first time highlighting affordable favorites, we ended up with three divers — two from Seiko and one from Citizen. Today’s selection is a bit more varied and counts among it an integrated-bracelet steel sports watch, a titanium GMT, and a Bioceramic lookalike of one of the most well-known dive watches out there. Without further ado, let’s check out the watches in this episode’s wrist check.
Wrist check
We start with Daan, who is rocking the Blancpain × Swatch Fifty Fathoms Scuba Arctic Ocean edition. It’s a fun, lighthearted watch equipped with the brand’s Sistem51 caliber. However, its availability is limited to Swatch boutiques, and it’s not exactly cut from the cloth of a solid daily beater. But, at just €400, it is the most affordable of today’s picks. Just like with the MoonSwatch, opinions will vary when it comes to these Bioceramic timepieces, but Daan is a fan, and we agree that (with the right expectations in mind) they can be a lot of fun.
Up next is Lex, who is wearing his Tissot PRX with an ice-blue dial. This is the 40mm automatic version of the 2021 introduction from the Le Loclian brand. Today, the mechanical PRX will set you back €775, which is a slight bump from the initial €670 price, but it remains rather reasonable. We’ve gone on enough about this watch and its variants here on Fratello, but today, Lex shares his story and appreciation for it and explains why the ice-blue version caught his eye. It’s an affordable favorite for good reason.
Finally, Nacho is wearing his Arken Alterum GMT. Splitting the difference between Daan’s Swatch and Lex’s PRX, it comes in at £600 (roughly €715). For that price, you get a titanium GMT watch with a scratch-resistant coating, an integrated strap, a sapphire crystal, a 200m water resistance rating, and a unique solution for displaying another time zone with a 12-hour hand and a day/night indicator. To read all about this watch and its interesting features, check out Nacho’s introduction article here. A restock of these will soon be hitting the Arken website, so if you missed out on the launch and first restock, this is your final chance to get your hands on one.
Fratello Talks: Our Favorite Affordable Watches Vol. 2
As I mentioned last time we covered this topic, we often find ourselves writing about watches with prices ranging from the low four figures well into the five-figure range and above. That means focusing on watches that pack a lot of “bang” into relatively few bucks (anywhere from a couple to several hundred bucks, to be exact) can be a lot of fun, especially as we tend to own the watches we talk about in this price range. Therefore, our thoughts stem from long-term ownership and enjoyment. However, we are fully aware that affordability is a subjective matter. But for the sake of this series, we’ve set a hard upper limit of €1,000. We understand that some of these won’t exactly be affordable for everyone, but in the broad scheme of things, they do remain relatively well priced.
As always, let us know your thoughts on our favorite affordable watches in the comments below. And, of course, share your picks as well. Remember to also leave your questions for the 100th-episode Q&A special coming up in just a couple of weeks!
Tune in next week for a new episode of Fratello Talks.
