Some watches are earned—immaculate heirlooms you spend years saving for, inherit, or blow your bonus on. The best watches for men on Amazon are not those. Which is no shade: There’s a lot to like about an easily-sourced, fast-arriving watch, and the 15 brands we’ve honed in on below are as reliable (and reliably handsome) as any you’ll find IRL, with the added benefit of next-day shipping.
With a nigh-unparalleled selection of affordable tickers from brands like Timex, G-Shock, and Citizen, to say nothing of the elite Swiss units from the likes of Hamilton and Tissot, the best watches on Amazon offer a mind-boggling variety of styles, movements, and price points.
Many of our picks are under $100; a few are even under $50. Hell, a sleek Casio we’re eyeing can be yours for just $16. Add one—or three!—to your cart alongside a six-pack of white crew socks, a cast iron skillet, and a bottle of Terre D’Hermès, and you’ll never stress a naked wrist again.
7 GQ-Approved Watches Available on Amazon
Citizen
Over the last 50 years or so, this Japanese brand has refined its design language, technology, and material palette into a collection with a uniquely sporty, modern vibe. Citizen has created some true classics over the years (like the Orca-inspired “Eco-Zilla” diver) but it’s most known for its pioneering use of titanium cases (like the one on the aviation-inspired Garrison) and the world’s most popular solar-powered movement, Eco-Drive, found in both of these watches. Pro tip: Citizen’s cases tend to be on the beefier side, but its women’s collection has plenty of enticing sub-38mm options if that’s more your scene.
Timex
The first name in American watchmaking hasn’t been American-owned for a long time, but its watches are still a powerful nostalgia play when worn with boat shoes, white crewneck tees, and straight-leg jeans. These days, Timex spends equal amounts of time dredging up bangers from its deep archive of historic designs (like the perfectly mid-century, hand-wound Marlin) and creating blockbuster riffs on best selling models with designers like Todd Snyder (whose gray-on-gray field watch is the perfect accompaniment to khakis and a knit polo). Thanks to its position at the dead center of the price/style/quality matrix, there’s room for a Timex in any respectable watch collection.
Seiko
Consider yourself warned: No other brand can match Seiko’s reputation for turning casual watch wearers into die-hard collectors. With a true sports watch design, tidy range of color variations, and solid automatic movement (meaning you’ll never have to wind it or replace the battery), the Seiko 5 GMT is one of many flex-worthy Seiko timepieces on offer under $500, and the perfect place to begin. The office-ready Presage line, meanwhile, offers a more refined take on the brand’s signature aesthetic, including a sapphire caseback and a selection of finely detailed dials.
Breda
Most watch microbrands tend to follow a similar playbook of putting their own spin on tried-and-true archetypes like dive watches, field watches, and GMTs. Breda, however, has earned the respect of style-minded collectors by creating watches with a glam-infused look that’s entirely their own. In the Pulse, that means a quirky “digital” display set inside a brick-like stainless steel case, while the Virgil provides a minimalist counterpoint to classic Tank-style watches. You won’t find anything special in the movement department (it’s Japanese quartz across the board here), but you will find an elevated level of design that makes Breda’s watches look far pricier than they are.
Casio
There’s often more performance to be found in a $50 watch than there is in a ticker that costs thousands, and no brand proves it better than Casio. This is where you go to find a sturdy, functional, and not-at-all-bad-looking diver (complete with 200m water-resistance, a screw-down crown, and rotating bezel) for as little as $50, a feat that has made the humble MDV106 the GOAT of ultra-affordable sports watches. It’s also where you’ll find cult classics like the (Tyler-approved) MQ24, which—thanks to a peak-1980s design and a sub-$20 price—has earned a similarly elevated place in the affordable watch canon.
Swatch
This fun-loving Swiss brand invented the cheap-and-cheerful watch category long before anyone had heard of a MoonSwatch, and has been going strong ever since. Nowadays, early 1980s classics like the delightfully postmodern Clearly Gent (known to its fans as the “Jellyfish”) maintain their spot in Swatch’s wide-ranging collection alongside newer additions paying homage to cultural heavyweights including Matisse, Basquiat, the Simpsons, and Charlie Brown. Swatch is at its best, however, when it’s at its loudest, and the XXL ‘Neon to the Max’ Chronograph serves that up in abundance.
Orient
Before mechanical watches became synonymous with luxury, they were everyday tools for the masses. Orient is one of the few companies still holding down that end of the market, with a tight lineup of mechanical dress and dive watches boasting impressive specs and prices far below any other reputable brand. This has made Orient the first stop for countless folks who want to add an automatic desk diver (see: the RA-88) or office watch (see: the Bambino) to their wrist, without blowing a month’s rent.
Armitron
Legacy American-owned watch brands are few and far between, which makes Armitron— headquartered in Little Neck, NY and a longtime sponsor of the Yankees—the best kind of exception. Armitron doesn’t do collabs or limited-editions, just ultra-affordable watches that look good and are built to take a beating. The brand makes a whole range of budget-priced tickers, from burly shock-proof digitals to dressier units, but the best are the ones that pay homage to the bold design and energy of their 1970s and 1980s heyday, like the Retro Digital Chronograph and Easy Read.
G-Shock
G-Shock watches are a universe unto themselves, with hundreds of models to explore and a dizzying array of materials, colors, and features to choose from, all with the brand’s legendary toughness baked in. Amazon is one of the best places to find them, thanks to a solid array of quirky Japanese imports and mainline models. Nothing says “quintessential G-Shock” quite like the 6900 series, a ’90s banger still beloved by god-tier collectors, or the newer 2100, nicknamed the “CasiOak” for its resemblance to a certain Swiss grail. Needless to say, any of these will weather a fall from a second-story window with aplomb.
Marathon
There’s a reason so many of the world’s most collectible watches were initially conceived as military instruments. For one thing, military watches are designed to be far more durable than their civilian equivalents. For another, much like field jackets and aviator shades, their utilitarian looks lend them a swagger that’s hard to resist. This Canadian brand does most of its business supplying militaries around the world, which makes its no-nonsense designs like the Pilot’s Navigator and 34mm General Purpose Mechanical a foolproof way to add a dash of ruggedness to your off-duty fits.
Hamilton
It may fly a little under the radar compared to its Swiss cousins, but Hamilton specializes in combining classic designs from the golden eras of the 20th century with Swiss-made quality, all for a relative bargain. That special sauce makes its WWII-inspired field ticker a perennial contender among the world’s best mechanical field watches (particularly in its smaller 38mm size). The PSR, meanwhile, offers a link to the dawn of the digital age with a chonky steel case and an old-school display straight out of the ’70s.
Fossil
Crocheted bucket hats and baggy jeans aren’t the only great survivors of 1990s style. In the pre-Y2K era, Fossil was one of the world’s biggest watch brands, with a massive catalog of styles spanning 1940s retro tickers through avant-garde digital watches. These days Fossil is a bit more grown up, but still retains the value and style of its heyday—and continues to put out essential models like the Blue diver’s watch, along with jaunty new additions like the motorsport-inspired Sport Tourer chronograph.
Bulova
You won’t get far in Amazon’s watch selection without encountering this erstwhile American brand, whose best 21st-century wares—like the Devil Diver, so-nicknamed by fans for its 666 feet of water resistance—capture vibes of the swinging 1960s and 1970s. Go a little further down the Bulova rabbit hole, though, and you’ll discover the brand’s longstanding connection to NASA, and the many timekeeping instruments it supplied to the agency over the years. The most famous of these is the Lunar Pilot, a modern recreation of a chronograph famously worn on the moon by Apollo 15 Commander David Scott.
Tissot
If you’re familiar with this Amazon mainstay, it likely came to your attention via the PRX, Tissot’s best-selling 1970s re-release. But despite the PRX’s unbeatable combo of collector-approved styling and Swiss-made quality, it’s not the only banger in the Tissot stable—and it’s just one of many worthy Tissot models up for grabs on the ‘Zon. Case in point: Amid the brand’s diverse offering of refined-yet-affordable office watches, vintage-style chronographs, and tunnel-ready NBA collabs, you’ll also find the Seastar 1000 36mm, a rock-solid diver (check the 300m water-resistance and sapphire crystal) with a just-right 36mm case.
Vaer
Vaer is one of the best additions to the American indie watch scene (and to Amazon’s marketplace). The homegrown imprint combines the styling of classic 20th-century tool watches with high-end specs and a wide range of case sizes and strap options. There’s much more to this brand than what you’ll find here, but the selections in its Amazon store are textbook examples of what Vaer does best. Two favorites are the WWII-inspired S3 field watch, and the solar-powered DS4 diver, both featuring ocean-ready screw-down crowns and available in small and mid-sized cases.
How to Watch-Shop on Amazon
There are scant online retailers that can match Amazon’s selection or prices, but getting the most out of shopping for a watch here still requires a bit of savvy. If you’re buying a $20 Casio or Armitron, the stakes (along with the odds of receiving a fake) are pretty low. Once you start getting into more expensive models and brands, though, the safest bet is to make sure your listing is being shipped by Amazon (or a watch brand’s Amazon store) whenever possible.
If not, a quick perusal of the retailer’s seller profile and a look at their ratings will give you a sense of who you’re dealing with. Whoever you buy from, always make sure you’re covered by a no-questions-asked return policy, and make note of how much time you have to change your mind. And—as with any watch purchase—if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
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