Hey ben! Love ur videos as always. Maybe you could consider reviewing the casio lf-20w? Its a bit similar to the casio royale cuz of the digital analogue dial. I was thinking that watch at the metal casio calculator watch review on ur smaller channel(or main) might be superb! Anyways happy new years Ben! Wishing you good health and luck always
Watches in the budget category, especially from AE, have dramatic price changes in short periods of time. No matter what price he quotes, next week you will find it cheaper, unless he quotes a sale price.
ben says in a reply to a similar question: "Prices fluctuate massively over time and vary from country to country. Always hit with a flood of comments along the lines of "it's not that price any more", "price is wrong", "stop lying about the price". Decided there's no point at present."
Ben man, imo, ur the best watch channel. You've got an emotional intelligence for explaining the appeals / faults of these watches. And I always agree with you, too. I was actually kinda blown to see that u weren't in Teddy Baldassare's "Watch TH-camr" video 😢
Love seeing a Vaer at number one! Their C3 Korean Field is one of my all-time favorite watches - the lume, design, accuracy - WAY WAY beyond the price.
My favorite affordable watch is the Pagani Design PD-1731. It looks so classy but can easily be worn for everyday occasions, especially with a silicone band. The original steel bracelet isn’t great, but the watch is perfect for a low budget because it pairs so well with many different types of watchbands and still looks amazing. The dial looks absolutely breathtaking. The case is also very well-made, featuring a double-domed sapphire glass. It’s powered by a quartz movement that makes the second hand tick four times per second, giving it a smooth, high-quality feel.
San Martin could absolutely dominate if they put out some nice and consistent designs. Their build quality is obviously already there, but i have yet to see an original San Martin watch that i'd actually like to own. That SN0116 rootbeer probably comes the closest, but i do wish that it came on a regular three-link bracelet instead of the beads of rice. And the dial of the SN0114 looks interesting, but i absolutely hate the color. And the bracelet looks kinda weird. Still, it seems like their designs are continually getting better, so i'm excited for what's to come.
With shipping, currency conversion, import duties, fees and taxes we are talking about 1000€ here. No idea how this (admittedly beautiful) watch got on a list of affordable ones while others were dismissed for being to expensive.
You're always the best Ben, you are the one that introduced me to this world and I'll always be happy to support you and your greate videos. Thanks for putting up the work
Great video thanks Ben - hit after hit, after hit, in my eyes. Love that Zelos dial and the small seconds Bambino looks a real treat. (You’ve got some grumpy viewers though 😄)
great review as usual Ben! I loved the Nezumi Tonnerre Monochrome! Hadn't heard about this brand and love the sweep quartz Seiko movement. Outstanding!
LETS GOOO BEN! I NEEDED THIS!!! LOVE YOU! all the best in 2025, from your OG fan, from the timea when you talked about mens health, lifestyle and everything😁 where is that channel by the way?
It’s embarrassing how many of these I bought in 2024. My two picks for 1&2 were the Erebus Ascent (I bought the purple fumé and black enamel dials and both bracelet variants, as well as the black leather strap pack), and the San Martin SN0129, but I got the red dial three hander. Both awesome watches punching so far above their price points :) my other top pick for an affordable watch that I purchased in 2024 was the Lorier Neptune (I know it wasn’t released in ‘24). Brilliant little vintage inspired diver that isn’t a direct rip off of any one watch 😊
Random question….does having Number 1 of a short run limited edition of a watch add any notable used market value in the long term? Ask as have secured a number 1 on a watch which I’m not 100% convinced is for me but if it’s a good purchase long term other than being cool talking point….note I’ve no intention of selling said watch but give it to my son on his 21st birthday in a few years time, only asking for general feedback and advice or whether to pay similar price on a main stream brand such as a watch I’ve long term liked Squale 1521 COSC
I ended up getting a Casio Edifice EFR-S108D in Tiffany Blue and EFB-108D in the Stainless Dial. Absolutely amazing watches, for the money and specs they’re extremely hard to beat. I’ve been wearing my Pagani Design AirKing V2 for the past few weeks, hope to get a Rolex AirKing in 2026. Casio Edifice, San Martin, and Citizen are killing it. Steeldive, Addiesdive, and Watchdives needs to seriously rebrand/rename, but they make some of the best homages.
A lot of interesting stuff in there. I've never liked textured dials but this year have bought the nh35 powered version of the sand dial addies watch (with the text not the crappy logo) and the SN0144 and love them both. Pity Omega couldn't match either of them when I first looked at the Aqua Terra.
I couldn't find any videos on venezianico watches from you. They seem to have great finishing for their price. Would be great seeing them from your perspective.
Having 4 Venezianico watches and a VAER in the past (returned for having issues) I would have VAER out of my list and at least 1 or 2 Venezianico in there.. But each person is different.
@RageAgainstTime Well considering their price, they are not as affordable as the watches mentioned. That said if they look as good as they look in videos then they definetely worth the price
@@berkocan2000 true.. Venezianico used to be more affordable until probably the beginning of 2024.. then they raised all the prices on their latest releases
The Timex GMT looks interesting. Quartz is the perfect movement for GMT. An automatic is kind of royal pain to set if you don’t wear it all the time. For this reasons, my GMTs get far less wrist time than they deserve.
I know these lists are subjective but the Citizen Forza chronos should have easily made top five! The quality of the dial/wearability along with the world class eco drive…. Near perfection!!!
Loved the Peren, but 750CHF is not what I'd consider as affordable, not even by a stretch. Would have loved to see UK microbrands Quasar and Makydo on your list - check them out.
AD230 doesn't have a meca-quartz movement, that is, in VH31 there's no mechanical addition like in Seiko VK63 - VH31 is what Seiko calls a member of "Sweep Second Quartz Series". The smoothness of seconds hand is thanks to its step motor that rotates 4 times per second instead of 1 time per second. Meca-quartz movements have a mechanical part allowing chronograph hands to reset momentarily, jumping like on mechanical watches.
Tough crowd! Anyway…fantastic and diverse presentation! I really dig that Timex Q. One more thing - the A700W has a mineral crystal (who’d have thought?).
I'm sure I found my endgame watch with the A1000RCB-1ER. Way too expensive, but I put my money where my mouth was, I said I would by a black A700 and this is the closest thing to that. Sapphire + Black ion plate stainless steel. I LOVE the inverted backlight, it's so great. The only thing missing in the watch module would be a timer option.
Great video as ever. I am always watching your videos when I research for new watches. Among this list my favourite watch is orient bambino small seconds and it just looks soo good. Whenever I have the money I am going to buy it.
I have the Casio A700we in gold it's my favorite watch absolutely love it wear it all the "Casio time" cheers 🍺 looking forward to more great videos and great watches.
Why a lot of people think that titanium is scratch resistant? Titanium itself is pretty soft metal. It is durable, inert(good for implants and hypoallergenic) but soft , so it is used in a lot of appliances as an alloy. Depending on additives- and these additives can be rather expensive, so for watches they clearly would use the cheapest one with enough scratch resistance but in most cases it would be same as inox. Other problem with titanium alloy is that you really can not coat it or paint it easily, that is why for example in dent implants they would not use ceramics on titanium implants but different type of resin or ceramized resin. Titanium is not the best choice if you plan to have it painted/coated with color - see the garmin painted watches that would look like shit after some time because all paint would chip out from titanium housing.
Enjoyed that - thanks. If you like that Vaer, maybe dig into Farer a bit? They do a 38mm diver with similar shouldnt-work-but-do colour combos. All the best for 2025.
The VAER looks great, but the more I stare at what appears to be a misaligned chapter ring, the more it drives me nuts. At first I thought it was a deliberate design choice (and if it is, it's a bad one) but the seconds indices land on a different place under each hour marker. Maybe this is just an illusion due to parallax error, since the hour markers "float" over the rest.
I have the Citizen Tsuyosa (same as the yellow one in your review). While it's an incredible comfortable watch, the crown position makes winding a feat of finger dexterity. Definitely don't let this watch wind down and get a wonder if you don't plan to daily this watch!
Oh, the misery of only wanting quartz watches. So many of these automatic and mechanical watches look utterly stunning, but I really need the accuracy and reliability of a battery-powered watch in my day-to-day life, so I'll have to pass them up.
I wonder if you have a video or expressed an opinion of the Vaer dirty dozen-ish watch with automatic movement that is around $1000? I like the style very much.
damn i liked that casio and i agree if they made a decent one out of real metal i would buy one.ps the dial on that citizen dial is stamped not rose engine
Come on Ben. I really appreciate your communication and reviews but...the Peren is a 300 pieces Swiss Made hand-regulated watch, with a SellIta movement and a price of 750CHF / 825 USD. And do you want to put it in the "affordable" watch tier with Addiesdive, CASIO and Merkur? I don't know what the average salary is there but here with 825 USD / 800 EUR you can buy yourself food for two months at least, including restaurant sometimes.
Never buy a Nezumi watch! I had mine shipped back 3x times because the stopwatch function made the whole watch stop. Got it back the first time with NOTHING done to it, still stopped when using stopwatch (at exactly the same position as before). 2nd time it worked for a while, then back to square one. Last time I got it back the entire watch stopped working. Told them about it again and they told me they had the movement replaced 3 time (yeah right...), and it was a damage to the mainstring from me overwinding it (yeah sure... of all the watches I own I broke this one by overwinding). Nice watches to look at but unusable!
I agree about addiesdive. I can't get over the name/logo on the dial. Same with certain other brands with cr.p names and ugly logos. I would buy the nameless/logo less versions but oh no. addiesdive raises the prices for the no logo version.
You should have included the prices despite the comments about it, its important to see how they are priced in other markets. this is a deal breaker for me to watch a video with no prices included as a 10k dollar watch can be affordable for some people. there is no defining word for affordable as it is dependent on individual circumstances.
Any I should try in 2025?
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Hey ben! Love ur videos as always. Maybe you could consider reviewing the casio lf-20w? Its a bit similar to the casio royale cuz of the digital analogue dial. I was thinking that watch at the metal casio calculator watch review on ur smaller channel(or main) might be superb! Anyways happy new years Ben! Wishing you good health and luck always
Hi Ben, based of your opinion of the Erebus Ascent in your video, I'm wondering if you'd be interested in selling it? Cheers
Good video but where the hell are the prices at ?
Why would you not include the price on each of these?
So that people go and click on the affiliate links.
Annoying to have to look up watches to get an jdea as to price.
That's a big factor for people after value for $.
Yeah that's prob part of it stach.
Improves his chances of getting a kickback from rhe affiliate links.
Because prices fluctuate. RRP and market price can been radically different. No one's forcing anyone to watch it, after all.
Watches in the budget category, especially from AE, have dramatic price changes in short periods of time. No matter what price he quotes, next week you will find it cheaper, unless he quotes a sale price.
why would you not display the prices?
This has nothing to do with price! Newbie Alert... 😃
@@birdshenanigans8506 buying luxury goods always has something to do with price. Snob alert!
@@birdshenanigans8506 🤡the video is literally titled with "affordable", that's directly related to price.
ben says in a reply to a similar question:
"Prices fluctuate massively over time and vary from country to country. Always hit with a flood of comments along the lines of "it's not that price any more", "price is wrong", "stop lying about the price". Decided there's no point at present."
@@punkypink83 since it fluctuates, the affordability of the watch might change, so the video might become irrelevant anyway though.
Great list Ben, I am absolutely picking up that Dan Henry. On a sidenote, the a700 Casio has mineral glass not acrylic if anyone else was wondering.
Ben man, imo, ur the best watch channel. You've got an emotional intelligence for explaining the appeals / faults of these watches. And I always agree with you, too. I was actually kinda blown to see that u weren't in Teddy Baldassare's "Watch TH-camr" video 😢
Great List Ben, damn that San Martin at #4 is a Gorgeous watch 😮. Happy New Year!
Love seeing a Vaer at number one! Their C3 Korean Field is one of my all-time favorite watches - the lume, design, accuracy - WAY WAY beyond the price.
Thank you for this amazing list.
My favorite affordable watch is the Pagani Design PD-1731. It looks so classy but can easily be worn for everyday occasions, especially with a silicone band. The original steel bracelet isn’t great, but the watch is perfect for a low budget because it pairs so well with many different types of watchbands and still looks amazing.
The dial looks absolutely breathtaking. The case is also very well-made, featuring a double-domed sapphire glass. It’s powered by a quartz movement that makes the second hand tick four times per second, giving it a smooth, high-quality feel.
Great perspective. Not driven by status and brand name, yet more by price and quality. Keep it up ❤️
The Nezumi takes the cake for me. Great list!
San Martin could absolutely dominate if they put out some nice and consistent designs. Their build quality is obviously already there, but i have yet to see an original San Martin watch that i'd actually like to own. That SN0116 rootbeer probably comes the closest, but i do wish that it came on a regular three-link bracelet instead of the beads of rice. And the dial of the SN0114 looks interesting, but i absolutely hate the color. And the bracelet looks kinda weird. Still, it seems like their designs are continually getting better, so i'm excited for what's to come.
To each his own, my favorite is the chronograph citizen Forza in white !
Great video and thanks very much for putting in all of the references to the watches in the description
The Vaer DS range is great. I picked up the DS2 quartz as my 'beater' watch.
7:32 - This is 750 CHF!
With shipping, currency conversion, import duties, fees and taxes we are talking about 1000€ here. No idea how this (admittedly beautiful) watch got on a list of affordable ones while others were dismissed for being to expensive.
You're always the best Ben, you are the one that introduced me to this world and I'll always be happy to support you and your greate videos. Thanks for putting up the work
Trust me, if your bracelet on the SN0144 is as amazing as you claim, you were lucky. Mine is utter garbage, rough, sharp and uncomfortable.
You have to review an Islander
Nice recap of some great watches, would have been nice to include the prices but great choices!
Sone great suggestions - thanks Ben! Cheers from Bremen/Germany
Great vid! Thank you.
Great video thanks Ben - hit after hit, after hit, in my eyes. Love that Zelos dial and the small seconds Bambino looks a real treat. (You’ve got some grumpy viewers though 😄)
Great list! That Vaer is a looker but im gonna pull the trigger on a San Martin sn0144 in blue!
The dial on #20 is awesome!
Great video, very well written, new subscriber - can't wait for the next one!
great review as usual Ben! I loved the Nezumi Tonnerre Monochrome! Hadn't heard about this brand and love the sweep quartz Seiko movement. Outstanding!
LETS GOOO BEN! I NEEDED THIS!!!
LOVE YOU! all the best in 2025, from your OG fan, from the timea when you talked about mens health, lifestyle and everything😁
where is that channel by the way?
this could sit further up yours xD!!Got me cracking!
It’s embarrassing how many of these I bought in 2024. My two picks for 1&2 were the Erebus Ascent (I bought the purple fumé and black enamel dials and both bracelet variants, as well as the black leather strap pack), and the San Martin SN0129, but I got the red dial three hander. Both awesome watches punching so far above their price points :) my other top pick for an affordable watch that I purchased in 2024 was the Lorier Neptune (I know it wasn’t released in ‘24). Brilliant little vintage inspired diver that isn’t a direct rip off of any one watch 😊
Random question….does having Number 1 of a short run limited edition of a watch add any notable used market value in the long term?
Ask as have secured a number 1 on a watch which I’m not 100% convinced is for me but if it’s a good purchase long term other than being cool talking point….note I’ve no intention of selling said watch but give it to my son on his 21st birthday in a few years time, only asking for general feedback and advice or whether to pay similar price on a main stream brand such as a watch I’ve long term liked Squale 1521 COSC
I ended up getting a Casio Edifice EFR-S108D in Tiffany Blue and EFB-108D in the Stainless Dial. Absolutely amazing watches, for the money and specs they’re extremely hard to beat. I’ve been wearing my Pagani Design AirKing V2 for the past few weeks, hope to get a Rolex AirKing in 2026. Casio Edifice, San Martin, and Citizen are killing it. Steeldive, Addiesdive, and Watchdives needs to seriously rebrand/rename, but they make some of the best homages.
Peren is another level. The same goes for the Bambino small seconds and the Casio Chronograph.
A lot of interesting stuff in there. I've never liked textured dials but this year have bought the nh35 powered version of the sand dial addies watch (with the text not the crappy logo) and the SN0144 and love them both. Pity Omega couldn't match either of them when I first looked at the Aqua Terra.
I couldn't find any videos on venezianico watches from you. They seem to have great finishing for their price. Would be great seeing them from your perspective.
Having 4 Venezianico watches and a VAER in the past (returned for having issues) I would have VAER out of my list and at least 1 or 2 Venezianico in there.. But each person is different.
@RageAgainstTime Well considering their price, they are not as affordable as the watches mentioned. That said if they look as good as they look in videos then they definetely worth the price
@@berkocan2000 true.. Venezianico used to be more affordable until probably the beginning of 2024.. then they raised all the prices on their latest releases
Most enjoyable Ben. Can’t wait to see what you find in 2025.
thank you for the respectful statement about Michael schumumacher.
San Martin owns Addiesdive
Really?
The Casio EFRs108 is indeed great. The dial looks superb. I just wish the lug to lug wasn't expanded so much by the male endlinks.
i was impressed when my landmaster arrived. huroland F028 is on the way (blue) 6:07 i got the V6 version of that
Great shots and great list!
Yes to the Times Q GMT. Even the bezel color is awesome( I have the Pepsi)
Would you like some dial with those lugs on the Dan Martin?
The Timex GMT looks interesting. Quartz is the perfect movement for GMT. An automatic is kind of royal pain to set if you don’t wear it all the time. For this reasons, my GMTs get far less wrist time than they deserve.
I know these lists are subjective but the Citizen Forza chronos should have easily made top five! The quality of the dial/wearability along with the world class eco drive…. Near perfection!!!
Loved the Peren, but 750CHF is not what I'd consider as affordable, not even by a stretch. Would have loved to see UK microbrands Quasar and Makydo on your list - check them out.
Great list, Thank You!
AD230 doesn't have a meca-quartz movement, that is, in VH31 there's no mechanical addition like in Seiko VK63 - VH31 is what Seiko calls a member of "Sweep Second Quartz Series". The smoothness of seconds hand is thanks to its step motor that rotates 4 times per second instead of 1 time per second. Meca-quartz movements have a mechanical part allowing chronograph hands to reset momentarily, jumping like on mechanical watches.
Geez the Erebus is quite expensive 😅.... Bit of a stretch to include it in a budget list
Tough crowd! Anyway…fantastic and diverse presentation! I really dig that Timex Q. One more thing - the A700W has a mineral crystal (who’d have thought?).
Any thought or feels on Mathey-Tissot? Just ordered their Evasion Auto in Tiff Blue.
I'm sure I found my endgame watch with the A1000RCB-1ER. Way too expensive, but I put my money where my mouth was, I said I would by a black A700 and this is the closest thing to that. Sapphire + Black ion plate stainless steel. I LOVE the inverted backlight, it's so great.
The only thing missing in the watch module would be a timer option.
The Miltado ML08 "Murph homage" could have easily gone onto this list as well.
Great video as ever. I am always watching your videos when I research for new watches. Among this list my favourite watch is orient bambino small seconds and it just looks soo good. Whenever I have the money I am going to buy it.
My favorite light bulb 💡
I have the Casio A700we in gold it's my favorite watch absolutely love it wear it all the "Casio time" cheers 🍺 looking forward to more great videos and great watches.
Why a lot of people think that titanium is scratch resistant? Titanium itself is pretty soft metal. It is durable, inert(good for implants and hypoallergenic) but soft , so it is used in a lot of appliances as an alloy. Depending on additives- and these additives can be rather expensive, so for watches they clearly would use the cheapest one with enough scratch resistance but in most cases it would be same as inox. Other problem with titanium alloy is that you really can not coat it or paint it easily, that is why for example in dent implants they would not use ceramics on titanium implants but different type of resin or ceramized resin. Titanium is not the best choice if you plan to have it painted/coated with color - see the garmin painted watches that would look like shit after some time because all paint would chip out from titanium housing.
Cool video. I’m surprised Ben doesn’t consider the 38mm Seagull 1963 a good fit 🤷♂️
Enjoyed that - thanks. If you like that Vaer, maybe dig into Farer a bit? They do a 38mm diver with similar shouldnt-work-but-do colour combos. All the best for 2025.
what is the name of the device at 2.02 ?
The VAER looks great, but the more I stare at what appears to be a misaligned chapter ring, the more it drives me nuts. At first I thought it was a deliberate design choice (and if it is, it's a bad one) but the seconds indices land on a different place under each hour marker. Maybe this is just an illusion due to parallax error, since the hour markers "float" over the rest.
Seiko Prospex Speedtimer SSC947 ? Just to mention one.
I have the Citizen Tsuyosa (same as the yellow one in your review). While it's an incredible comfortable watch, the crown position makes winding a feat of finger dexterity. Definitely don't let this watch wind down and get a wonder if you don't plan to daily this watch!
Mouth watering
Prices for each would have been helpful Ben.
Oh, the misery of only wanting quartz watches. So many of these automatic and mechanical watches look utterly stunning, but I really need the accuracy and reliability of a battery-powered watch in my day-to-day life, so I'll have to pass them up.
The alarm bell starts ringing when a watch is described as "incredibly unique"😉
I wonder if you have a video or expressed an opinion of the Vaer dirty dozen-ish watch with automatic movement that is around $1000? I like the style very much.
Is the DAN HENRY branding on the logo looking a little dated? I’d prefer something more subtle like a logo.
Ah ! In The Loupe. Good play on words. Now I understand.
damn i liked that casio and i agree if they made a decent one out of real metal i would buy one.ps the dial on that citizen dial is stamped not rose engine
Great list, but surprised the Chameri sweeping seconds quartz isn't on it.
2 Warnings. 1 My beautiful Bambino died just after warranty. 2 My Timex died. I sent it back and it came back to me DOA with a $12 charge to boot.
Interesting.. I had a solar VAER and it broke after 2 months. Had to send it back to them.
Come on Ben. I really appreciate your communication and reviews but...the Peren is a 300 pieces Swiss Made hand-regulated watch, with a SellIta movement and a price of 750CHF / 825 USD. And do you want to put it in the "affordable" watch tier with Addiesdive, CASIO and Merkur? I don't know what the average salary is there but here with 825 USD / 800 EUR you can buy yourself food for two months at least, including restaurant sometimes.
A700 has mineral crystal
No mention of Casio MTS-110? Sapphire for $60
Covered that one a couple of years back 👍
You should rename this “Ben’s Small Wrist Club”
Ok. Here is my watch man. Good vids but I am confused. Do you have two watch channels ?
Was this video a plug for AliExpress. Each to their own
The a700 is a mineral glass crystal, not resin.
Never buy a Nezumi watch! I had mine shipped back 3x times because the stopwatch function made the whole watch stop.
Got it back the first time with NOTHING done to it, still stopped when using stopwatch (at exactly the same position as before). 2nd time it worked for a while, then back to square one. Last time I got it back the entire watch stopped working. Told them about it again and they told me they had the movement replaced 3 time (yeah right...), and it was a damage to the mainstring from me overwinding it (yeah sure... of all the watches I own I broke this one by overwinding). Nice watches to look at but unusable!
Prices???
The 'bland' Orient takes my breath away
6:10 calling this an "original design" is a stretch.
I agree about addiesdive. I can't get over the name/logo on the dial. Same with certain other brands with cr.p names and ugly logos. I would buy the nameless/logo less versions but oh no. addiesdive raises the prices for the no logo version.
Oh wow. I completely forgot about half of these. Damn it… so I need to start off 2025 by purchasing 12 watches?! 🧐
rigged
the new f91w(WB-1A) still beats everything on this list
Makes me sad to see all these Chinese rip off brands.
You should have included the prices despite the comments about it, its important to see how they are priced in other markets. this is a deal breaker for me to watch a video with no prices included as a 10k dollar watch can be affordable for some people. there is no defining word for affordable as it is dependent on individual circumstances.
Baltic Hermetique is awesome for about $600 USD.
Was able to get me a boderry voyager for 73 bucks!
Nah the Casio edifice green dial #1 for me
Timex have cornered the market making overpriced Chinese-made watches look cheap.
Unfortunately, the number one is not available anymore
Not a single seiko?
good picks … 😂 like mine (i have most of them)
Why oh why can I never find the exact models in the video 🤣😭
MERKUR JUST DOING BALTIC HOMEWORK
18:18 My Dyoooon! - The Baron