Any purchases made on this website may earn us a small commission, please click if you want to learn more.
Thomas Sabo is a German designer who is the chairman of his namesake company – Thomas Sabo which he founded in 1984. The brand is most famous for making fashionable jewelry and watches. These products are sold both online and throughout worldwide boutique stores. Currently, the company has over 1500 employees worldwide and shops in over 80 countries.
The brand is best known for making silver-based jewelry and watches with fairly loud designs. The logo of the company is always found on the case back of its watches, featuring a heart and the year 1984.
Like many fashion brands, Thomas Sabo produces a wide variety of watches in a collection that is ever-changing and evolving. Currently, the brand releases 2 collections per year which are released during European fashion week and NYC fashion shows. Thomas Sabo is headquartered in Lauf an der Pegnitz, a small German town with a population of 25000 people.
One nice design feature of Thomas Sabo watches is that they are usually well matched in each gender. So when a new man’s watch is released, a woman’s watch of a very similar style is released alongside it. This allows couples to buy similar watches in pairs.
Table of Contents
Where Are Thomas Sabo Watches Made?
Thomas Sabo watches are assembled in China. The brand uses Miyota (Japanese) quartz movements in most of its watches and has used automatic Miyota movements in its mechanical models.
This is fairly common for fashion brands. Almost all brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, and Michael Kors make their watches in China and use the same movement.
Is Thomas Sabo A Luxury Watch Brand?
No. Thomas Sabo are a fairly high-end fashion brand. The company is certainly not a luxury brand based on 2 main reasons. Firstly, they do not price their jewelry or watches extremely high. It is very difficult to find a Thomas Sabo watch that costs over $700, so it certainly cannot be considered a luxury brand. Typically luxury watches sell for at least around $5000 and can cost over 10x this amount.
Secondly, Thomas Sabo does not produce watches of significant horological importance. Almost all of their timepieces contain standard Japanese movements and are not anything special. The watches do not even contain entry-level Swiss movements, so certainly cannot be considered luxury.
Are Thomas Sabo Watches Good Quality?
Thomas Sabo watches are fairly good quality and are extremely well finished. As previously discussed, the brand does not use particularly good movements and is very average within the industry for this metric.
In terms of producing robust watches in an individual style, the brand does quite well. Almost all of its designs are very original and you can tell that they have spent a great deal of time and money on design and development.
Overall, due to their price Thomas Sabo watches are pretty expensive for what you’re getting. They’re made to a similar standard of brands such as Fossil, Michael Kors, and Emporio Armani, yet cost around double the price. If you are caught in two minds between buying Thomas Sabo or a rival brand, you will usually get better value for money from their competitors. However, if you’re a big fan of the Thomas Sabo brand, this is the price you will have to pay.
How To Tell If Your Thomas Sabo Watch Is Real
As Thomas Sabo releases new watches every 6 months, it is somewhat difficult to keep up with the new styles and designs. However, there are still a few ways to keep on the safe side of buying the real deal.
Firstly, all Thomas Sabo watches will have a model number on the case back. This is not a serial number but will correspond to the correct model. This model number usually begins with WA and will have several numbers afterward. If this model number does not match the correct watch through a google search, your watch is not real.
Secondly, Thomas Sabo always finishes their watches with supreme accuracy and quality. Although TS is not a luxury brand, they are a high-end fashion brand. Thomas Sabo would never tarnish their own reputation by making poor products. Thomas Sabo watches use Miyota movements, they will not use Chinese movements or any materials of inferior quality when making their watches.
The Best Thomas Sabo Watches For Men
Rebel At Heart Chronograph
The Thomas Sabo rebel at heart chronograph is one of the more expensive watches that the brand makes. Considering it is a relatively simple miyota quartz watch, it really is quite expensive when compared to both rival brands and also other Thomas Sabo chronographs.
With that being said, the design is somewhat atypical and is reminiscent of the late Karl Lagerfeld collection. The watch draws a lot of inspiration from oversized triangular spikes including the silicon band and even the crown.
Spirit Cosmos
Spirit Cosmos is one of the newer releases from Thomas Sabo. The dial features a silver star and there are various gold markers and hands in the middle of the dial. This watch is available to buy with silver hands and markers, but this makes it quite difficult to read the time since everything is the same shape and color.
Due to the watch having a Milanese bracelet, this means it is quite lightweight considering that it’s a stainless steel watch. It should be noted that this is also one of the least expensive watch models Thomas Sabo has for sale.
Rebel Spirit 3D Skulls
Obviously, when looking at this watch for the first time, you can see that it’s not going to be for everyone. Skulls are a primary image used in the Thomas Sabo brand, but not everyone will want 3 giant ones on their wrist.
The 3D effect used on the skulls is quite cool and is helped by the fact that it has both matte and gloss finishes. This allows the skulls to stand out a bit more and look somewhat realistic. It should be noted that this watch is also available in gold if you do not like the silver color.
Rebel Icon
The Thomas Sabo rebel icon mixes a fashion watch with a dive-style bezel. The dial features a skull in the center of the watch with 2 luminous hands. This is quite strange since the hour indicators do not have lume, making it difficult to tell the time in the dark.
Overall the watch is quite robust and not bad value given that it is a fairly sizeable and durable watch. Lastly, two oversized crown guards will ease your mind since they offer a lot of protection.
Rebel With Karma
The Rebel with Karma is another Thomas Sabo watch that is heavily themed by skulls. Perhaps the first thing you will notice is that the skeleton crown is on the left-hand side of the dial. This means that this watch is ideal for left-handers, who will not have to reach over to the other side of their wrist to change the time.
Overall, this watch is quite unremarkable and it’s only real original feature is a left handed skull crown.
The Best Thomas Sabo Watches For Women
Karma
The Thomas Sabo Karma is available in a variety of color schemes, its main feature is an oversized spherical crown. The patterned crown matches the inner textured dial, which also works wonderfully well with the overall two-tone scheme of the watch. This continues throughout the feminine bracelet which matches the dial perfectly.
It Girl
The Thomas Sabo It Girl watch is an unashamedly loud chronograph. The bezel of the watch is studded with very small black diamante crystals which shine under the light. The silicon strap allows the watch to fit your wrist very well even though the dial is somewhat oversized for a woman’s watch.
It should be noted that this watch is available in both black and white color schemes.
Glam Spirit
The Thomas Sabo glam spirit has a very busy and detailed dial. Each hour section is divided into its own area with a different icon instead of a number. This can sometimes get a bit confusing but is easy enough after you’ve been wearing the watch for a long time.
The watch is reasonably heavy as it is made of stainless steel and has a pure steel bracelet. The fluted bezel keeps the watch looking feminine.
Soul
Pretty much the most minimalist watch in the entire collection is the Thomas Sabo soul. It features a feminine-sized 33mm black dial which is a nice stark contrast to the rose gold-tone of the watch.
The bracelet of the watch features a nice butterfly clasp, so you won’t have to worry about catching your skin when taking the watch on and off.
Divine
Perhaps the best alternative to a ladies’ Rolex datejust is the Thomas Sabo divine. The two-tone watch really has similar elements to the datejust, but is quite obviously its own design. The crystal hour markers are a nice touch with a singular date window at the 3 o’clock position.
There are two large crown guard which make sure your crown won’t be knocked around whilst wearing and the fluted bezel completes the overall design and feminine look of the divine.
Arizona Spirit
The most original and atypical watch in the Thomas Sabo collection is the Arizona spirit. There are a variety of different dials within the Arizona spirit collection, but all feature a turquoise based primary color in connection to Native American style jewelry. This theme is continued throughout the watch onto the Milanese bracelet which also has a native style pattern.
Lastly, the watch features an adjustable clasp, which means you won’t have to bother taking this watch to the jewelers to remove links. The clasp can be moved up and down to get the perfect size for your wrist.
