Teddy Baldassarre
The 15 Best Watches Under $200 for New Collectors
Seeking out the best watches under $200 is not, it’s fair to say, a pastime for many serious, seasoned watch collectors, most of whom have access to a fairly large checkbook and are armed with a wealth of knowledge about all the most coveted brands and models out there. But every watch collection starts somewhere and every watch collector starts out as someone who’s new to the timepiece game, often also young and yet to embark on the accumulation of resources that would enable them to play at the higher echelons of timepiece collecting. With that in mind, we gave ourselves a challenging price limit of $200 and sought out 15 watches worth a look - whether you’re a newbie or one of those deep-pocketed watch veterans who can’t resist a bargain. Orient Bambino V4 Blue Dial Price: $200, Reference: FAC08004D0, Case Size: 42 mm, Case Height: 11.8 mm, Lug To Lug: 48.2 mm, Lug Width: 22 mm, Crystal: Domed Mineral, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Often under the radar of American watch consumers and overshadowed by its much larger Japanese brethren, Citizen and Seiko (which with it shares a corporate connection through Epson), Orient has been making value-oriented watches in Japan since 1950. The Bambino is Orient’s dressy gents’ model, fairly large in diameter at 42 mm with a domed crystal. The dial’s gradation sweeps from a bright blue center to black at the edges. Inside is an in-house movement, the automatic Orient F6724, with a hacking seconds f...
