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Dress watches are the most simple and minimalist formal watches for men. They are not worn to attract attention – either wanted nor unwanted, are not oversized, and do not make a statement. Instead, the purpose of a nice dress watch is to compliment or finish off a professional outfit such as a business suit, or any smart-casual attire.
In a world that is populated by so many watch companies, it is actually not too difficult to find the best dress watches under $500. In fact, the only problem with looking for a decent dress watch on a budget is that there are sometimes too many choices!
These can be affordable automatic dress watches, quartz models, or even elegant, thin hand wound timepieces. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what makes a dress watch. Of course, it cannot be over the top or extremely loud and oversized, but other than this, there is a lot of options provided you stick to the primary dial colors of black, white, dark blue and green.
Table of Contents
What Makes A Dress Watch Guide
Size & Thickness
Whilst there are no solid rules about what makes a dress watch, they are never oversized. A Rolex Submariner is not really a dress watch (although is arguably becoming one). This iconic timepiece is a 40mm dial size and is 13mm thick. You cannot have a dress watch that is larger than these dimensions and ideally, you want something a little smaller. Typically you want something in the region of under 40mm wide with under 11mm thickness.
Case Material
Case material generally does not matter too much although is generally stainless steel or titanium. You can have subtle, vintage looking dress watches which are gold, but with that being said, they must have a very plain dial to truly be a dress watch.
You should avoid rose gold, black or any other non-basic color. Two-tone metal cases are also not really suitable to be called dress watches.
Dial
The dial of a dress watch should be loud and uncomplicated. Other than a day-date function, you cannot really have a chronograph, moonphase or anything else to be considered a dress watch. Secondly, you must stay away from loud color schemes and only really stick to black, dark blue, white, and dark green. Anything else then becomes fashion or sport style models.
Movement
This is the one factor that doesn’t really matter. Due to the history of watches, traditionally all dress watches had mechanical movements. However, nobody is really going to stare at your wrist and guess if what you’re wearing is automatic or quartz. Provided you don’t have a skeleton watch or some kind of Bulova spaceview quartz showing the insides of the watch – any movement is OK.
Strap
When looking to purchase a dress watch, you are available to choose from a variety of straps. When choosing a leather or crocodile strap, you should really be looking at black or brown. You can probably get away with a dark blue, but you’re beginning to push the boundaries of what a dress watch truly is.
For metal watches, stainless steel and titanium straps are fine. If you have a lot of money, platinum is also ok, but you are wasting your time reading an article about sub $500 watches.
Straps you want to avoid are silicon, ceramic and wood. These are all nice materials for a watch strap, but not at all suitable for a dress watch.
Do You Need A Dress Watch?
If you work in a corporate job then it makes sense to have a dress watch. Another reason for buying a dress watch is if your watch collection is full of sports, field, or tactical models. By purchasing a dress watch, you add a bit of diversity to your collection, rather than just having too many dive watches for example.
Of course in modern day, nobody needs a dress watch, or any other watch for that matter. In short though, it does finish off a professional look very nicely and works very well with a suit. You will always see high level executives wearing a watch that is both smart and elegant (a dress watch). This doesn’t have to be expensive, but it is never loud and over the top like a Richard Mille or any other garish brand.
Can A Dress Watch Be Worn Every Day?
This is lifestyle dependent, but if you have an average 9-5 then it is appropriate to wear a dress watch almost every day. Exceptions would be if you have a manual job such as a plumber or garbage collector, obviously with these jobs you are going to damage your watch no matter how careful you are.
Can You Wear A Dress Watch Casually?
Provided you are not wearing a watch for something like rock climbing, you can’t really go wrong with wearing one. They are suitable for most weekend activities such as going to the mall or eating at a restaurant. As long as you’re not a very active person on the weekends and exercising non-stop, a dress watch is fine. Whilst a dress watch is certainly suitable for the office, it is not really functional for hiking, swimming, or any other physical sport.
Who Makes The Best Dress Watches?
There are a variety of both Swiss and Japanese brands that make affordable dress watches for men. These watches are both automatic and quartz, so there is something suitable for everybody.
Traditionally the best dress watch brands are luxury Swiss manufacturers such as Rolex & Patek Philippe.
However, at the under $500 price point, there are many dress watches that fit this budget from a wide range of brands. You will notice that there are still very well known Swiss-made names such as Raymond Weil, Frederique Constant & Tissot. On the other side of the world, the best dress watch manufacturers from Japan are companies such as Seiko, Citizen and Orient.
Best Affordable Dress Watches Under $500
Seiko – Presage
The presage series has a variety of Seiko dress watches, which are a clear step up in quality from the various sports quartz models and also the Seiko 5 series. This is reflected in both the quality and the price of the timepiece.
Making use of the in-house 4R35 movement, the Presage is a very useful dress watch with a power reserve of 40 hours. To be 100% honest, this movement is certainly not the most accurate and is in the +6/-10 per day range after it’s broken in, it won’t however let you down. One final point is that this watch has an exhibition caseback, although you can get away with this feature for a dress watch since it’s not visible whilst being worn. Also remember, Seiko watches are built to last, no matter the price point.
Tissot – Powermatic 80
Without a doubt one of the best dress watches you can buy in terms of specification for under $500 is the Le Locle from the powermatic 80 series. Powermatic 80 shows that this watch has a gigantic 80 hour power reserve, in turn, this means it can last for over 3 days without being worn.
The dimensions (39mm wide, 10mm thick) color and materials are all perfect for a dress watch. Not to mention that Tissot makes use of its close relationship with ETA to provide an exceptional movement for the price. Overall, this is pretty much the best Swiss-made, automatic dress watch you can buy for the price. Once you start to put higher specification movements inside the watch case, the price starts to rise significantly.
Citizen Eco-Drive
If you were to picture a quintessential stainless steel dress watch in your mind, it’s likely that you would come up with something like this. Citizen are a very respected Japanese watchmaker who is well known for making a variety of both quartz and mechanical watches across a wide variety of styles such as pilot and dive watches.
Their range of dress watches are pretty well done too, removing all of the complications from the dial and settling on something very simple and elegant. Eco-drive technology is very suited towards a watch that you’re going to be wearing in a 9-5 setting. Offices are well lit environments ensuring your watch will get all the power it needs and will never stop. It should lastly be noted that Citizen eco-drive dress watches are well within budget and don’t cost anywhere near the $500 maximum spend.
Victorinox – Alliance
Victorinox are a brand that is better known for their Swiss army knife production than watch manufacturing. With that being said, they make some very solid timepieces – all of which are made in Switzerland.
In terms of dress watches, there are not too many to choose from Victorinox, since they mostly make field watches. Although with that being said, the Alliance model is available in both black and navy blue, a color which is very synonymous with dress watches. The only real issue would be finding a dress watch from Victorinox if you didn’t like this style. Lastly, it should be mentioned that this watch is well under budget.
Frederique Constant
Thanks to online marketplaces such as Chrono24, Amazon and eBay, you are now able to pick up brand new watches from brands such as Frederique Constant for a lot less money. Before these existed, you had to go to the nearest local authorized dealer. This means that 20~ years ago, this watch would have not been affordable given the criteria.
Frederique Constant is one of the best brands for men’s dress watches within the price range. Granted, gold is not necessarily a color you would associate with a dress watch, but the dial has a classic layout and the watch is saved by its dimensions. With a 37mm dial and 6mm thickness, you can rest assured that this watch is suitable for the work environment and certainly not something loud, oversized, and garish.
Mondaine
One of the most recognizable watch dials ever to be made, the Mondaine brand has built itself from licensing the iconic clock face from the Swiss railway company. As you can see, the lack of bezel combined with the thin stainless steel case makes the watch look quite a lot smaller than it actually is.
Well within budget, this classic variation of the Mondaine design is certainly not a boring dress watch. A rounded, red seconds hand differentiates it from the rest of the competition. Lastly, a solid day-date window at the 3 o’clock position helps round off the dial design nicely.
Hamilton Jazzmaster
Although it may look like a simple dress watch, the Hamilton Jazzmaster pushes the boundaries a little bit on what is acceptable for this genre of watch. For a start, the Jazzmaster has rose gold hands and numbers around the dial, this is not at all usual for a dress watch. Secondly, the date window is positioned at the 6 o’clock position, which is also pretty unusual for a watch like this.
In short, the watch just about falls into the category for what is OK as a dress watch. It is also made in Switzerland and is available to buy for a price well below $500. This alone makes it a welcome addition to the list as Hamilton is a high quality and well known brand.
Bulova
Once a very well known and powerful Swiss-made brand, Bulova is a shadow of its former self. With that being said, it is still a respectable brand, just not in the same luxury category that it was 60-70 years ago.
Now owned by Japanese brand Citizen, much of the Bulova production has been relocated to the far east, which isn’t such bad news for consumers. Bulova now produces extremely affordable quartz dress watches such as this day-date piece pictured above. Before this transition, this watch would have cost around 2-3x the price it is now.
Even though the production is no longer in Switzerland, you can rely on the Citizen subsidiary to make an accurate and reliable watch for a great price.
Raymond Weil – Maestro
Another Swiss-made brand that is in the nice situation of being family owned and operated. Raymond Weil are a watchmaker that mostly has a traditional range of timepieces, often outsourcing movements from respected companies such as ETA and Sellita.
As this dress watch is a Swiss-made automatic, it goes without saying that it’s relatively expensive. With that being said, it’s still relatively good value for money as not many Swiss automatics can be found for under $500 – especially from an entry level luxury brand.
In short, this has perfect dimensions for a dress watch (39mm dial, 9mm thickness) and is protected by a sapphire crystal. It is near the top end of the budget, but quite a good deal for the price.
Orient – Bambino
A very cheap dress watch – and I certainly don’t mean that in a bad way. Orient offers some of the best value entry-level automatic watches there are. Costing under $200, you will find watches built to similar specifications with the same movement for around double this price.
Available with either a white, blue, or black dial, the Orient Bambino is suitable for pretty much anyone. In a brief summary, you’re pretty much getting an elegant looking Seiko watch for around half the price that you would usually pay. This is the best value for money automatic watch you can find.
Movado – Museum
One of the oldest and most consistent Swiss dress watch designs out there is the Movado museum. This is a watch that was first introduced in 1947 and hasn’t changed a great deal since.
Although a very simplistic and basic design, as a dress watch should be, the Movado museum is globally recognizable from the simple circle at the 12 o’clock position. In terms of quality, Movado are a brand that is pretty solid, but nothing special. They make quartz watches in Switzerland and are a very traditional company that has stuck to their ideals and values. You can find better value dress watches for the money, but none of these watches will have the design acumen that Movado holds.
