The Best Men's Watches for Under 50 Dollars in 2017

I have done a best under 50 list before, but it does feel like it is about time to refresh my lists, and since my very first list ever was The Best Men's Watches for under 50 Dollars, I figure that is a great place to start.

Previously, the best men's watches for under 50 dollars included a Momentum Torpedo, a Canadian based watch maker, who specializes in diving watches, it included a Vostok Komandirskie, a Russian watch maker who has been making the Komandirskie for a very long time.  It also had the Timex Weekender, Timex is not the company it used to be, but they still make decent budget watches that are readily available, and stylish looking.  It included a Casio G-shock, which, just about everyone has heard of the G-Shock watches, they are some of the most durable and multi functional watches around, and for the price they are hard to beat.  And it included a HMT pilot.  HMT was a Indian company, they made the Pilot watches for around 60 years, before recently going out of business.  I have to warn you, I am biased to the the HMT's, I own two and I love them as everyday knock around watches.  You can still find them on Ebay, although they are refurbished and usually have repainted faces, they are still decent watches.

So, I am here again to give you the best men's watches for 2017.  I hope you get some use out of these posts.  They take a bit of research, but are a lot of fun!

The 5 Best Men's Watches for under 50 Dollars

Invicta

Pro Diver

Model: 10917

Case: 44mm, Stainless Steel

Band: 22mm, Polyurethane

Movement: Japanese Quartz (Hattori PC23)

Functions: HH, MM, SS, Date

Water resistance: 100M/330ft

Invicta is, technically, a fairly old company.  They began as a Swiss company in 1837 by Raphael Picard, and stayed in the family until the 1970's.  The company was later purchased by an American investment group in 1991 and have been an American company since.  I generally don't spend a whole lot of time looking at Invicta watches, but I like this watch at this price point.  I think it is a decent value for what you are getting, and it looks pretty good too!

The Invicta Pro Diver shown here is a 44mm stainless steel dive watch with a stainless steel bezel.  The crown is located at the 3 o'clock position, the case has a built in crown guard.  It has a flame infusion crystal with a fish eye lens over the date window, located at the 3 o'clock position.  The hours are marked with white tick marks.  The bezel is a dive bezel, and has Arabic numerals in intervals of 10, and it has a polyurethane band.

I could not get a Momentum on this list this year, the price has increased substantially.  But I do believe this Pro Diver, by Invicta is a good alternative.  In a lot of ways they are very similar to the Momentum watches.

I currently do not own a Invicta.  I have so many other watches I feel the need to purchase before I get around to this brand, I will most likely never own one, but I like this one, and at about 45 dollars, I think it is a pretty good buy.

Seiko

Series 5 Sports

Model: SNK809

Case: 37mm, stainless steel

Band: 18mm, black leather

Movement: Seiko Calibre 7S26 Automatic

Functions: HH, MM, SS, Day, Date

Battery: N/A

Water resistance: 30M/100ft

I am cheating a little bit on this watch.  Amazon sells it for 55 dollars, and that is really the cheapest I can find it, but it is a really nice watch for around 50 dollars.  I expect this to be the next watch that I purchase, and maybe it would be a really nice Fathers Day gift (wink, wink)  I didn't include it on the first list of best under 50, mostly because I did not think it was a great idea to break my limit on my very first blog post.  But now, I am gonna get a little reckless maybe.

Seiko is a big dog in the watch world. They are one of Japan's premier watch makers and have been making watches for well over 100 years, and continue to make some of the best looking Japanese watches I have ever seen.  I lean toward Seiko more than Citizen or Orient watches, I think they are far the best bang for you buck.

The Seiko 5 is a automatic watch  It is housed in a 37mm stainless steel case, and this particular model comes with a black face and band, but other colors are available.  The movement is a Seiko automatic calibre 7S26.  It has 21 jewels and runs at 21,600 bph, and has a 40 hour power reserve.  

The watch has a black dial face with white Arabic numerals marking the 5 minute markers.  It has a triangle located at the 12 o'clock position, and a inner ring of Arabic numerals to mark the hours.  The watch has a day/date window located at the 3 o'clock position and a crown located at the 4 o'clock position.

The band for the watch is black nylon, giving it a very utilitarian look.

I said at the beginning of this description, this will be the next watch I own.  I have wanted one for years and will get around to finally owning one, I believe.

Timex

Weekender Collection

Model: TW2P714009J

Case: 40 mm, Stainless Steel

Band: 20 mm, Nylon

Movement: Quartz

Functions: HH, MM, SS, Day, Chronograph, Light

Battery: Lithium metal battery

Water resistance: 30M/99ft.

The Timex Weekender Chrono made the list last time as well, only with a slight model change, otherwise this post is a copy from the previous best men's watches for under 50 dollars...

Timex Group USA is the current rendition of the long lived company, which began as the Waterbury Clock company, in 1854.  The Waterbury Clock Co. was located in Connecticut, USA.  The company was one of the largest producers for both U.S sales and Europe. 

Down on their luck, the Waterbury Clock Co had a very tough time, after the great depression, until a license agreement was reached with Walt Disney, resulting in the production of the Famous Mickey Mouse watch.

In 1943 the company was renamed, the United States Time Corp., and by 1950, with some very exciting innovations, the company released the first Timex brand watches, marketed as inexpensive, yet durable watches.  The Timex history is long and always in a state of flux, but they continue to make quality time pieces, and the Weekender series is a perfect example of what they are capable of.  Giving us a stylish, yet well priced men's watch for under 50 dollars.

This Timex Weekender is a Chronograph with a gun metal black 40mm round case. The crown is located at the 3 o’clock position and the two chronograph buttons are located at the 2 & 4 o’clock positions.  The dial face is black with white numerals and chronograph sub dials.  The hands are black.  It has a screw on stainless back and a 20mm black nylon band, with buckle clasp.

The watch features Indiglo Arabic numerals and Indiglo piping on the arms, along with chronograph, and a crystal mineral dial window.  It is water resistant up to 30M.  The case is stainless steel finished with a gun metal style.

The Movement for the Timex Weekender is quartz.  It’s all I can seem to find out about it.  That, and that it is probably manufactured in the Philippines.

The Timex Weekender is a good looking watch, with a list of nice features for a watch for under 50 dollars.  It looks great, and is produced by a well know company.

Casio

G-Shock Multi-Function

Model: DW9052-1BCG

Case: Hardside/ABS Plastic

Band: 

Movement: 

Functions: HH, MM, SS, Day, Date, Stopwatch, Alarm

Battery: Lithium metal battery

Water resistance: 200M/600 ft.

I am going to go ahead and keep this watch on this list as well.  The G-Shock is going to last you a long time, no matter how hard you are on your watches, I think it is an excellent buy at about 43 dollars.  I may have to own one at some time...

Casio has been around since 1946 in Japan.  But they did not get their start as a watch company.  Originally, they produced something called a yubiwa pipe, a ring that would hold a cigarette.  But this was just their beginnings.  Shortly after the success of the yubiwa pipe, they set to develop their own electric calculators, and by 1954 and was Japan’s first electro-mechanical calculator.

It was during the 1980’s when they became one of the first manufacturers of quartz watches, both digital and analog.  And by 1983 they released their first G-shock.

The G-Shock looks like most G-Shocks.  It is not to my personal liking, but I will not judge a book by its cover.  The watch has multiple digital displays and 4 buttons, set at the 2, 4 8 and 10 o’clock positions, it is made of black ABS, and the band is a black resin with a buckle clasp.  It looks like it could be run over and still keep working.  Toughness is an important feature for a watch that will cost less than 50 dollars.

The G-Shock has a ton of features on it.  It is shock resistant of course, it is water resistant up to 200M. It has a backlight with afterglow.  It has a daily alarm and a countdown timer that can be set for up to 24 hours.  It has an auto repeat function and a 1/100 second stopwatch.  It has an hourly time signal and a calendar that is pre-programed until the year 2039.  Like I said, a lot of available features.

The watch has a quartz movement, as to be expected from Casio, and despite my qualms with the looks of the G-shocks, and digital watches, in general.  I have to say, I am rather impressed that you get all this for less than 50 dollars.

HMT

Pilot

Model:N/A

Case: 35 mm, Stainless steel

Band: 18mm Leather

Movement: HMT 0231 Mechanical

Functions: HH, MM, SS

Battery: N/A

Water resistance:

This is another that I am just copying from my previous post.  I love the HMT watches, and I will probably buy more when I get bored... 

HMT has been making watches in India since 1961 in a collaborative effort with the Citizen watch company.  Producing watches for the Indian military.  They had a scare in 2014, when they intended on closing their doors, but they received a flood of orders when the word got out, and instead, minimized production.  This is not to say it will be easy to get one of these.  It will take some searching, and it is possible to get a fake or frankenwatch, meaning one built from pieces.  You will need to do your research before purchasing.

The HMT Pilot is fairly small, the stainless steel case measures 35mm.  It has a screw on back that has the model and other information etched on it.  It has a black dial face with the numeral 12 only.  It has the tick marks for the other hour markings.  Its crown is located in the standar 3 o’clock position.  And it comes with a black leather band, with a buckle clasp.

Features-wise, well, you don’t really get any features.  This is a old fashioned timepiece.  You have your hour, minute and second hand.  I am not even convinced it has any luminous feature.  I have had a hard time verifying that.

The movement is a HMT 0231 hand wind mechanical.  17 jewels and a 38 hour power reserve.  It supposedly keeps adequate time, but it’s not a precision time piece.

The main purpose of owning this watch is that you are getting a watch that has been almost the same for over 50 years.  It is a piece of history and a conversation starter.  It is a nice looking watch in my mind as well.  And it’s usually found for under 40 dollars.  Sometimes, lately I have seen them for as much as 70.  I believe that is a supply and demand issue though.  This is a watch I intend on owning in the very near future.  I love it.  From the 5 best men's watches for under 50 dollars list, this is by far my favorite.

Wrap up

I hope you have enjoyed my first post on The Best Men's Watches for Under... blog.  I intend on writing a lot more posts over the next few  months to get this blog populated well with all kinds of men's watches.  I hope you find the blog helpful in your personal search for the perfect watch for you or a loved one.

Thank you for reading The Best Men's Watches for Under...