Reddit reviews Wristwatch Annual 2010: The Catalog of Producers, Prices, Models, and Specifications

I'm going to upvote and pick on zanonymous a bit here (apologies in advance z) because I think it might help you and others to see how opinions differ and multiple people can give you good advice that is in conflict.

>The longevity of a watch doesn't relate strongly with its cost. I am sure your Casio will last you a few decades if you change the batteries and aren't too rough with it.

Agreed

>A luxury watch, which you seem to be after, will last you for the rest of your life, and the life of your children if properly maintained.

Actually any watch can be made to last a long time, the question is whether it's worth the cost of repair. Lots of cheap mechanical watches can be had for $100 or so used, but they're more than that to service and repairs can run $500+ I've got several display only watches that I won't repair at this time because I could replace them for less than the repair would cost. Oris and Eberhard with ETA movements for example.

If you're interested in new watches you should buy the wristwatch annual. I buy them a year old to save some money and just buy a new one every year as they have good information about who manufactures which movement for which watch, etc. If you want to buy used the Cooksy Shugart book is often used but prices are off--you're better looking at the big auctions for better watches and small auctions for inexpensive watches. Also blogs and forums can be very helpful. Hodinkee as a blog and the vintagerolexforum if you like Rolexes (I do they're great watches).

>If you want to impress the average person, you should probably look for a watch with great name recognition. In this price range, the most well known are probably Omega, Cartier and Rolex. (Although you would most likely need to find a used Rolex.)

Again, the average person won't notice anything but a flashy watch and you've indicated a preference for something understated. For factory built watches, watch aficionados look at three brands: Patek Philip, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin. These are followed closely by Rolex, IWC, Jaeger Lecoultre. Rising but a step below that are brands like Omega, Tissot, Tag, Ulysse, etc. Some will take exception to my putting Omega below Rolex, but Omega has done much to hurt it's brand, mixing cheap watches with very good and allowing their product to be sold at outlets like Costco. There are great Omegas but a lot of junk as well.

>Dressy luxury watches tend to have alligator/leather straps. Look for those. The most recognizable/signature dressy lines from each of these three watchmakers are the Omega DeVille, Cartier Tank and Rolex Datejust.

Agree with the leather straps. The Omega Deville is not a name I'd want in general--older models are $400-$700 and new models like the Deville with the coaxial escapement have a simple ETA movement that makes it not justify its price for me. The Cartier Tank unless you go back more than 50 years is just a jewelry watch with a poor movement and if you go back that old you'll not wear it every day. It's also rectangular, which is generally considered a more formal watch, but to my eye they don't look good on larger men--make sure you really, really want a rectangular watch before you buy one. The datejust is Rolex's most common watch. Spend sometime at the vintagerolexforum before you buy any Rolex.

>Good luck :)

Seconded and enjoy!