These Are the Most Fun Watches $100 Can Buy

I typically write about watches made for the one percent—luxury goods that can only be acquired through large amounts of cash and access to the right people. So it’s a welcome balm whenever Timex drops a bunch of seriously fun, wildly affordable watches. The trusty American watchmaker’s latest drop is especially solid, loaded with excellent starter pieces and delightful off-duty options. Let’s dive in and take a closer look.

The Peanuts Collab Returns

Much like a great watch, Snoopy never goes out of style. Over the years, the Peanuts pup has starred on timepieces both high and low: You can spend over $10,000 for a snazzy Omega emblazoned with an astronaut Snoopy, find him hiding out in the moonphase complication on a $310 MoonSwatch, or even go bargain-hunting on eBay for a classic mechanical piece starring the beagle and his pal Woodstock. Timex and Peanuts have a long-running collaboration of their own, and this week it returns with two new Snoopy-starring watches.

The new $109 Standard watch finds Snoopy dressed for a round of golf, with a quartet of Woodstocks resting on his club. The golf tie-in is smart, given how much crossover there tends to be between the watch-collecting and links-hitting crowds. Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer literally created an app for golfing! So safe to say that the Venn diagram here is close to golf ball-shaped.

There’s a lot to love about this piece even if you don’t know your handicap, however. The Standard makes great use of the green associated with the sport, dressing up the numerals, seconds hand, and sporty band in a grassy shade. And because one friendly beagle isn’t enough, Timex also threw the whole Peanuts gang on the caseback.

If you’re a watch lover who prefers fast cars to a round of 18, you might be partial to the other Snoopy watch Timex dropped this week. The pooch can be found cruising in a red convertible on the dial of a new Q, the brand’s popular GMT-style watch, with a red-and-blue bezel. It’s slightly more expensive at $269, but still nowhere near bank-breaking territory. Either way, the Timex x Peanut watches are a good reminder that you don’t have to drop thousands—or even many hundreds—on a timepiece to find something you’ll love looking down at every day.

The Marlin Expands Its Offerings

Understandably, not everyone wants to rock a Snoopy watch on the daily. For those folks, Timex dropped a few new versions of one of my favorite affordable pieces, the Marlin, whose classic midcentury looks clock in around the $200 neighborhood.