Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Wind Watches for Under... Part 1

Mechanical, hand wind watches are as classic as you can get with any sort of time piece.  I am fascinated by not only just mechanical watches, but even more so with mechanical hand wound watches, so it was almost a forgone conclusion that I would be making the best men's mechanical hand wind watches for under list at some point in time.  They are like a step into the past, and I take some enjoyment out of winding up my watch every morning.  I don't know why, but it is an irresistible enjoyment, and one that I will do even if I am not wearing that particular watch on that particular day.


The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Wind Watches for Under...


The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Watch for Under 50 Dollars

HMT
Pilot
Model:
Case: 35 mm, Stainless steel
Band: 18mm Leather
Movement: HMT 0231 Mechanical
Functions: HH, MM, SS
Battery: N/A
Water resistance:
Best men's mechanical hand wind

I think this is a awesome watch.  The problem is finding it.  Chances are you will not be finding a new one, but being mechanical, as long as you can get an authentic one, you can pretty much be assured that if it has any issues, a good watch repairman should be able to fix it.

The HMT Pilot made my 5 Best Men's Watches for Under 50 dollars list, because it is seriously cool to me.  Made in India, super cheap (not as cheap as they were), and basically the same watch that they have been making for over 50 years.  That is really cool.

The Pilot sports a 35mm stainless steel case with the crown at the 3 o'clock position.  The dial face is usually black, I have seen many listed on Ebay with all different color faces, but I do believe these to be, at the bare minimum, newly faced watches.  They have the Hour, Minute and second hands, the hour and minute are polished stainless, with Indiglo inlaid and the second hand is red.  There is also indiglo in the hour markers,  The watch also comes with a leather band with a buckle clasp.

The HMT 0231 Mechanical movement is a 17 jewel movement with a 38 hour power reserve.  I have heard that it doesn't keep perfect time, but you will seldom get perfect time out of a mechanical timepiece.  It is just the nature of the beast.

You can often find these watches for well under the 50 dollar price range.  Sometimes you will see them creep up to around 70 dollars, but there was a time when you could pick these up for around 15 dollars all day long.  Awesome buy.




The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Wind Watch for Under 100 Dollars


Vostok

Komandirskie
Model: 861641
Case: 40mm Stainless steel
Band: Leather
Movement: Vostok mechanical, 2414A
Functions: HH, MM, SS, Date
Battery: N/A
Water resistance: yes
Best men's mechanical watches under

I think this is fun, I will give you some obscure company that most people will have never heard of and tell you that they make nice watches then send you on a wild goose chase to try and find them.  Vostok is a Russian watchmaker that has been making watches since the 1940's.  They make basic, but durable watches.  Most people who own Vostoks would be willing to drive over them with a car and would expect them to  still be running.

The Komandirskie has a 40mm stainless steel case with the crown located at the 3 o'clock positions, the case has a squarish look to it.  It has a black and blue face with Arabic numerals for both the hour and minute, alternating with even hours shown in Arabic and odd marked with a simple dash.  The hour and minute hands are polished stainless and the second hand is red.  It has a leather band with a standard buckle clasp.

The Watch is powered by the Vostok 2414A mechanical movement.  It has 17 jewels, and has a 36 hour power reserve.  Ir runs at 19,800 vph.

I love the uniqueness of this watch, similar to the HMT, it's not everyday that you will run into someone who owns one.  And on top of that they are good looking too.  The price on this watch varies, from about 55 dollar to about 80 dollars.  Kevin's russian time, Ebay, or chistopolcity.com are probably your best choice at the moment.



The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Wind Watch for Under 200 Dollars



Quite honestly, you can get Invictas, or Stuhrlings, or Ingersoll at this price range all day long.  With all of them your getting a decent looking watch with a decent running Chinese mechanical hand wound movement.  They are all basically the same, they will just all look a little different.  I wanted to find something unique for this price point but I just didn't happen.

So, I am not saying all the watches are junk at this price point.  I am saying, look at a Invicta, or maybe a Stuhrling or Ingersoll.  You should find decent watches, and Amazon is loaded with them.




The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Wind Watch for Under 500 Dollars

Hamilton
Best men's mechanical watches under
Khaki Field Watch Handwinding
Model: H69419363
Case: 30mm, Stainless steel
Band: Canvas
Movement: 2804-2
Functions: HH, MM, SS, Date
Water resistance: 50M/164ft

I like the Hamilton watches.  They have a very American look to them even though they are no longer american watches.

The Khaki Field Watch is a military style watch with a 38mm stainless steel case, and the crown at the 3 o'clock position.  A sapphire lens covers the dial.  The dial is black with Arabic numerals marking the hours in both the primary 12 hour format and the secondary 24 hour format.  The Date window is also at the 3 o'clock position.  The hour, minute and second hands are polished steel with indiglo imbued for easy night time reading.

The Hamilton Field watch uses a ETA 2804-2 movement.  This makes sense because Hamilton is owned by Swatch.  The ETA movements are generally quality movements, and the 2804-2 is no exception.  It runs at 28,800 vph, and has 17 jewels, it also has a 42 hour power reserve.

I am a fan of the Hamilton watches.  They may be my favorite mid range Swiss watches on the market right now.  If I could have found this watch for under 200 it would have easily won the 200 dollar position, but the cheapest I could find it for was about 265 dollars on Amazon.  Which is way under the 500 dollar limit for this price point.



The Best Men's Mechanical Hand Wind Watch for Under 1000 Dollars

Dievas

Vintage 3646
Specs:
Case: 47 mm, Stainless steeel
Band width:
Movement: Unitas Mechanical 6497 (Hand winding)
Functions: HH, MM
Battery: N/A
Water resistance: 30M/100ft.

The Dievas was an easy pick.  It made my 5 best men's watches for under 1000 dollars list, and was the only hand wound model on that list.

This is a very minimalist watch.  It has a 47mm stainless steel case with the crown at the 3 o'clock position  The case has a sapphire lens on bothe the front and back of the watch.  The black dial has Arabic numerals at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions, and it has dash marks at the other hour positions.  Both the dial and hands have luminous material imbued in them.  And the leather band has a standard buckle clasp.

The Dievas Vintage 3646 is a German built watch, with a Swiss made Unitas 6497 movement.  The movement is also ETA.  It is a 17 jewel movement that runs at 18,000 bph.  It also should have about a 48 hour power reserve.

I dig this watch, it has a certain look to it that really hits the spot for me.  I have found it for right around 890 dollars.  It is a really really cool watch for that price.




Wrap Up

I am not really going to call this a wrap up, but a to be continued.  This is only part 1 of the best men's mechanical hand wind watches for under..., Click here to read part 2 of the best men's mechanical hand wind watches for under...

Thank you for reading the best men's watches under blog.  I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I do.

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