Treating Yourself To A Watch For Christmas — Featuring Omega, Bulova, King Seiko, And More

Christmas and New Year’s are a wonderful time for many. The holiday season is often a chance to reconnect with family or celebrate and reflect on the year. It is also a fantastic opportunity to treat yourself! Buying a watch for Christmas is always a good idea, so today, I’m sharing five attainable watches that I’d recommend and even consider as a gift to myself.

The options are both pre-owned and new. Affordable secondhand timepieces can offer incredible value, and the variety of styles and designs is enormous. As part of this exercise, I restricted myself to options I would genuinely consider for my collection. Another important factor was recognizing that we live in challenging economic times, so I wanted to keep them relatively affordable. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

No, a Rolex Day-Date is neither affordable nor on this list, but RJ’s is rather Christmasy, is it not?

Buying a watch for Christmas

The concept of treating oneself is nothing new. Today, we call this self-care, but the notion of getting a personal gift to mark an important date is a long-held tradition for many folks. What better way to do this than to seek out a watch? A reliable timekeeper seems like a fitting gift for the holiday season.

This is not to say there aren’t plenty of other options. Fratello recently compiled a gift guide for watch enthusiasts looking to buy something else at this time of year. You can see that guide here. I, however, have a weak spot for watch hunting, so let’s do some of that. Fratelli, let me know your recommendations in the comments. I look forward to reading them.

The Omega Constellation Manhattan ref. 398.0864

Omega Constellation Manhattan

The Constellation series provides some of the best value among vintage Omega watches. Named after the eight stars emblazoned on the case back and launched in 1952, the Constellation has been a staple of the brand’s catalog ever since. The designs have varied dramatically over the decades, reflecting changing tastes. One of my favorite eras for vintage Constellations is the 1950s, and pie-pan-dial models like RJ’s CK2648-1 are particularly lovely. However, the best value is found in the 1980s quartz Constellation Manhattan models, which have integrated bracelets and sleek designs. You can typically find these in the €1,000–2,000 range.

For that sort of money, you get a well-made timepiece with an excellent heritage from a big-name brand. Throw in the sleek and slick design, and it’s a no-brainer. Live your best 1980s life this Christmas by picking one of these up. Omega’s Constellation series deserves much more attention, but in the meantime, it represents great value on the secondary market.

Wittnauer ref. 4000 — Image: Analog:Shift

Vintage Longines, Wittnauer, et al.

Vintage Longines, particularly from before the Quartz Crisis, is a fascinating rabbit hole. The challenge is surveying the vast array of options when starting your search. Do you want to pursue something with a square or rectangular case shape? Perhaps a classic Calatrava-style dress watch? Or maybe you want something wackier or more Art Deco. Longines will likely have you covered in all respects, even if you limit your budget. But this is actually where Wittnauer comes in. Wittnauer was a leading American watchmaker in the 20th century. It had a 125-year relationship with Longines. This means you can find many fantastic vintage Wittnauers that share design language and parts with Longines watches but for less money.

Image: Analog:Shift

While the specific watch in these pictures has already been sold, another is currently listed on Chrono24 for €1,050. It’s a 38mm vintage Wittnauer skin diver with a timelessly attractive dial and a luscious case profile. Exploring all the available options is half the fun, but this skin diver will do it for me!

King Seiko 44-9990

I am a huge fan of vintage King Seiko watches. One of these would be my top contender when considering a watch for Christmas. I’ve covered this particular watch before, so it might be cheating as I already own one! For many newer enthusiasts, the King Seiko name is more familiar in the context of the current Seiko brand. That modern context has King Seiko as a product line that sits somewhere in between Grand Seiko and Seiko. But in the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, King Seiko represented some of the best of what Seiko had to offer. King Seiko and Grand Seiko were essentially in-house competitors, each with a separate factory. The idea was that internal competition would create better products and encourage ingenuity. The King Seiko 44-9990 provides the beautiful design language of Grand Seiko but at a friendlier price.

The King Seiko 44-9990 has a 36.5 × 43 × 11.5mm case with a 19mm lug spacing. Thankfully, it’s stainless steel, not chrome-plated metal like some watches of the same era. This King Seiko also houses a 25-jewel 44A movement, which features hacking and runs at a stately 18,000vph. It features a screw-in case back adorned with a gold medallion, an attractive feature for us vintage enthusiasts.

Bulova Wrist Alarm

The Bulova brand still exists today under the ownership of the Citizen Group. However, vintage Bulova watches offer a veritable plethora of incredible options. Of all the ones I could explore today, though, I have decided to focus on the Bulova Wrist Alarm. The Wrist Alarm is an excellent and affordable option for those seeking a mechanical alarm watch. It came in numerous iterations, including date and no-date models with different dials and case designs.

Image: MoneyShopMXN (via Chrono24)

Rather than the cushion-cased Wrist Alarm options from the 1970s, my favorite versions come from the previous decade. Some of these Wrist Alarms even had a small whale on the dial, indicating their (then-)water-resistant cases. It is that sort of playfulness in design that makes the 1960s such a fun decade to explore when hunting for vintage watches. For well under €1,000, you can pick up a Bulova Wrist Alarm in excellent condition. This gets you a well-built mechanical alarm watch that can fulfill the same role as something more expensive and famous, such as a Vulcain Cricket, Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox, or Tudor Advisor. Buying a watch for Christmas should be fun, and these Bulova Wrist Alarms certainly are!

Citizen Tsuyosa

This line is a great example of Citizen’s recent strength (which is fitting because its name means “strength” in Japanese). Not long ago, I wrote an article about whether Citizen was taking the mantle from rival Seiko for best entry-level watches. The support for Citizen was clear in the reaction to that thought piece. Today, I’m recommending the Tsuyosa, one of the brand’s most successful collections in recent years.

The various Tsuyosa models are an affordable entry point into mechanical Citizen watches, and they pack decent specs. Not only that, but they also look excellent with their sporty designs. In particular, I love the clean, crisp dials. If I were picking one up right now, I’d certainly get the yellow-dial NJ0150-81Z. It’s a festive color that suits a summer Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere.

Nacho’s festive-looking Chronographe Suisse, another brand for budget-mindful collectors to check out

Concluding thoughts

The amount of options that we could continue to explore is almost endless. There is a particular type of fun, though, in chasing down watches that aren’t going to break the bank. I also recognize that Christmas can be a time of financial stress for people. I hope I’ve provided some interesting examples for our readers to explore.

But what do you think, Fratelli? What would or will you splurge on for Christmas? I’m looking forward to reading your suggestions in the comments section.

Header image: Vintage Masters