Sunday, May 8, 2016

The Best Men's Japanese Watches for Under...Part 2

I am a fan of the Japanese watch market, I am going to announce that right up front.  I have announced it before, and I will continue to announce it.  It's an important thing for the readers of the best men's watches under blog to know that I might be a little more excited about a Japanese watch than I may be for one that is made by the Swiss, but may look and be spec'd exactly the same.  And I also think it is important for all the readers here to realize that Japan is not China.  That the Japanese watchmakers are world class, and are companies that have been in business for a very very long time.

Seiko and Citizen are some of the largest watchmakers in the world.  Orient is a company that does all their work in house.  Movements and all.  Even Casio has a certain level of value that most watch companies don't offer.  The Casio G-Shock series of watches are some of the toughest watches around, and for some of the lower cost G-Shocks, you can have a virtually indestructible watch for around 25 dollars.

The unfortunate reality with the Japanese watch market, is, Citizen Seiko, Orient and Casio pretty much are all there are, so, we will be repeating the companies from earlier lists, just with the more higher end watches.


The Best Men's Japanese Watches for Under... Part 2

The best men's Japanese watch for under 2000

Casio
G-Shock
Model: MTG-G1000D-1AJF
Case: 54.7mm, Stainless steel/Resin
Band: Stainless steel/Resin
Movement: 
Functions: HH, MM, SS, Date, GPS based time
Battery: Solar Powered
Water resistance: 200M/660ft

I never ever imagined I would have found a Casio watch for more that 100 dollars, let alone, find a Casio watch for over 1000 dollars.  And on top of that, found a place for it on one of my lists.  This Casio G-Shock is not like the G-Shocks we used to have when we were younger.  This watch is has some serious abilities and features and on top of that, you could probably run it over with a tank and still keep time with it.

The G-Shock MT-G is a GPS hybrid watch.  Meaning it keeps time base on the GPS location of the watch, and time is set to the GPS Satellite time and date.  It is solar powered, and it has LCD lighting.  This G-Shock sports a 54.7mm stainless steel and resin case, it has a guarded, stainless steel crown located at the 3 o'clock position.  IT has a screwed down bezel and a sapphire crystal lens.  The dial face is black, it has block indexes marking off the hours.  There is a date window located at the 4:30 position and there are 3 sub-dials on the face.  One at the 3 o'clock position, one at the 6 o'clock position, and one at the 9:30 position.  The band of the watch is a stainless steel, and resin construction, with a folding style clasp.

The watch sells for around 1200 dollar on may online retailers.  It is a whole lot of unique watch for the cost.  It has exactly what I would expect to get from a high dollar G-Shock.



The best men's Japanese watch for under 2500 dollars

Orient
Pro Saturation
Model: SEL2003HO
Case: 45.4mm, Stainless steel
Band: Stainless steel
Movement: Orient 40N5A, automatic
Functions: HH, MM ,SS, Date
Battery: N/A
Water resistance: 300M/1000ft

Orient is a company that I really enjoy.  They are probably my second favorite Japanese watchmaker, right behind Seiko.  they make their own movements, and they make some pretty good looking watches.  On top of that, I love their pricing.  It's some of the best pricing around.  The Pro Saturation is all those things and more.  It is a serious dive watch, with an in house automatic movement, and it reminds me a little of the Seiko orange monster.

The Orient Pro Saturation is a 45.4mm stainless steel cased watch.  It has a crown at the 4 o'clock position, which is not unheard of on dive watches.  It helps to keep things from getting hung up on it at the 4 o'clock position.  The case has a crown guard.  The stainless steel bezel is a functional dive bezel.  It is unidirectional and marked with a 60 minute count down. It has a sapphire lens covering a red dial face.  The dial face has a inverted triangle to represent the 12 o'clock hour, and it has index marks at the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions.  It has circles marking the remaining hours, and they are all imbued with a illumination.  The date window is located at the 9 o'clock and the large black hands are also imbued with illumination.  The band is a stainless steel, linked style band with a folding clasp.

The suggested manufacturers retail price for this watch is 2,495 dollars.  They have been making it for a while now, and you can find some used ones a bit cheaper.  But a new one may be hard to find, anyplace other than the official Orient website.  Orient watches are not one of the most popular watches in the states, and I tend to believe that is because they really do not push there products here very hard.



The best men's Japanese watch for under 3000 dollars

Seiko

Ananta
Model: SPB027
Case: 42mm, Stainless Steel
Band: Stainless Steel
Movement: Seiko 6R21, automatic
Functions: HH, MM, SS, Date, Day
Battery: N/A
Water resistance: 100M/330ft

The Seiko Ananta is a really nice looking watch.  It is stainless steel that has been coated in Japanese Urushi Lacquer, to give it a matte black finish, similar to a PVD coated watch.

The case measures 42mm, and as I said above, it has a Japanese Urushi Lacquer coating.  It has a crown at the 3 o'clock position with a crown guard.  And it has a sapphire lens on both the front and back of the watch.  The dial face is black and the hours are marked with white indexes.  The indexes are imbued with illumination.  There is a date sub dial located at the 6 o'clock position and a day sub dial located at the 3 o'clock position, along with a power meter, located at the 9 o'clock position.  The hands of the watch are rose gold and also imbued with illumination.

The movement in the Ananta is a Seiko made, automatic.  Model number 6R21.  It has 29 jewels, and runs at 28,800 bph.  It has a 45 hour power reserve, and also allows hand winding.

This watch can be found through the online retailers for around 2700 dollars.  I made another special class for this.  Generally I would have made a under 5000 dollar price point.  It is a great looking watch.  I like it a lot.  One of the nicest Seiko watches I have seen.


Wrap Up

The list is a short one today.  But, there really is not much to choose from once you start breaking the 2000 dollar price point with the Japanese watchmakers.  I tried to get some of the best watches I could find for the price, and think that these three men's watches are wonderful examples of what the Japanese market has to offer.

Thank you for reading the best men's watches under blog.

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