The Best Cheap Watches You Can Afford to Buy – Our Favorite Budget Watches for Men

Great watches can easily cost thousands of dollars. But wouldn’t it be nice to just wear a watch that won’t cost you more than a hundred dollars and still feel like it costs a fortune?

With an inexpensive watch, you won’t have to be overly concerned if you get it scratched or damaged. If you lose it, it’s not going to give you a heart attack. Imagine losing a Rolex Submariner! Most of all, you don’t even have to worry that you’ll get mugged because of your watch.

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But it doesn’t mean that you have to settle with a watch that looks cheap. In fact, when you buy an affordable watch from a reputable watchmaker, you can be assured that it looks great and it will last a long time.

Here’s our list of the 5 best cheap watches you can choose from. With these great prices and features, these budget watches give you the best bang for your buck.

Casio MDV106

Let’s start with the Casio MDV106, which is a great example of how an affordable watch can actually be impressive. It uses quartz movement but comes with an analog display. But what it really is, many ways, is a diver’s watch!

Just take a look at its features. It comes with a screw-on crown, and that helps make it water resistant for up to 200 meters. The bezel moves counterclockwise. The dial is very readable, and the hands and markers are luminous. The crystal is tempered glass.

The stainless steel case measures 45 mm, which makes it even more readable. The band measures 22 mm.

This thing is absolutely tough and you can take it anywhere. And since it has a quartz movement, it tells time very accurately than automatic movements.

Seiko 5 SNK809

Now if you’re not a fan of water activities and you don’t even want to wear a watch when you’re at home, the Seiko SNK809 is a viable alternative. It’s not so water resistant at all, but it should be good even if you get caught in the rain.

Its dial design is patterned after pilot watches, so you have the minute markers on the outer ring, and the dial is black while the luminous hands feature a pointy end. The 21-jewel automatic movement is quite accurate, and the automatic mechanical movement powered by the movement on your arm keeps time accurately. But if you don’t wear it at least 8 hours a day, you can still manually wind it up. It will keep time for about 40 to 48 hours after you’ve worn it, so if you wear it every other day you won’t have to wind it manually.

So what we have here is an affordable pilot watch. A great design coupled with a great price tag – that’s a combination that’s hard to beat.

Timex Expedition Scout

The Timex Expedition Scout exemplifies simplicity and toughness, which is what you really want, right? It’s resistant up to 50 meters, which in practical terms means you can wear it in the shower or even swim with it for short periods of time, but you can’t submerge it continuously underwater for long.

The stainless steel case with the mineral dial window measures 40 mm and is 11 mm thick. The hour markers are all numbered, with an inner ring showing military time. The date window can also be adjusted separately, which is convenient.

The leather strap is actually rather nice, which is a pleasant surprise. But if it’s not to your taste, you can always replace it. There’s also an indiglo feature to help you see the time in the dark. The movement is quartz for accurate timekeeping.

For going out and about, this one’s a keeper. It’s simple and cool, and it’s very practical.

Casio G-Shock DW5600E-1V

The G-Shock DW5600E-1V is a digital watch that’s water resistant up to 200 meters and has an accuracy of +/- 15 seconds per month. It’s a no-nonsense watch for those who don’t care about non-essentials. What it offers you is a way to tell the time at a glance, along with the date and the day of the week. You can use a single alarm so you don’t have to fiddle with it for too long. And you also get a stopwatch while the time of the day is still on display.

It’s a tough watch and soldiers have brought it to the battle field and it still kept time accurately until the battery gave out. It’s even water resistant for up to 200 meters.

Timex Weekender Chrono

Except for the rather flimsy leather strap, this Timex watch is a keeper. The analog display is all in black with 3 sub dials underneath the mineral crystal. It looks good enough even for semi formal wear, and the quartz movement gives you accurate time. It’s simple yet classy, it tells time accurately, and it’s affordable. For many guys out there, that really hits the mark.