I inherited a Rolex, and it has spent more time in the shop than on my wrist. Way more time.
I guess I should have been more explicit. It seems to me there are at least five reasons why one might wear a watch: (1) To tell the time (2) To wear as jewelry (3) To impress others (4) As a reminder of how far you have come in the world (5) Some combination of the first four. If all you are interested in is number one, you can get an extremely accurate watch for $10.
Personally, (not scientific analysis) I didn’t find my Fossil to hold up over time. I destroyed it fairly quickly in my daily activity, but it was an inexpensive one. I’m probably not their target market though.
I currently wear an Invicta Diver which I bought for <$100 on Amazon, and it’s fantastic in many ways. It’s been very tough, though I’ve had to replace, several times, the pin that holds the band to the crown. It looks great, and other “watch people” have commented on it. It’s waterproof to 200M (deeper than I’ll ever go, or need), winds automatically, so will never need the seal broken to replace a battery. It’s not entirely accurate though. I have a few minutes of drift monthly, so have to adjust it. I’m near a clock at all times, so it’s easy to readjust to a more accurate source once it’s drifted far enough off. It has the 3 standard hands, a date indicator, and the rotating bezel (my favorite and only required feature). Simple, classic.
Matching the watch, to the needs is key. I wear my watch 100% of the time. It really never leaves my wrist. Work, sleep, shower, play, and it’s on my wrist. +/- a few minutes at any time is “close enough” for me. I don’t have a schedule that requires “to the minute” timing. My watch meets all 5 of the above requirements as such:
- Accurate enough.
- Looks good. Matches everything from a swimsuit through business wear and into a suit.
- Looks like a class of watch well above it’s actual price.
- It’s not a black plastic digital watch, which I wore in high school, and college. It’s a “grown up” watch. A good, standard, well built, classically styled, no frills watch. Just like me.
- See 1-4
I love watches, and would gladly own a drawer full, but they’d likely all be of similar style to the one I own now.
Most people here are suggesting classy, dress watches, but we don’t really know what your husband’s hobbies or tastes are. For some people (like myself), a dress watch would never get worn. I wear a Casio Sea Pathfinder. It’s an enormous watch with a plastic band. But it has a compass, thermometer, barometer, yacht timer/stop watch, tide indicator and shows the phase of the moon. And oh yeah, it tells the time just fine. For someone who’s outdoorsy, it’s a great watch.
So I’m just saying – a nice dress watch will look good and will keep very accurate time. But if you want to give him a watch he can play with…
I haven’t scanned every single recommendation but most of the suggestions have not been dress watches. You don’t have to be big and plastic to stop being a dress watch.
Holy crap, look at all those responses! I’m not ignoring y’all, I’m just out shopping. And I appreciate all the help, because I don’t know the first thing about watches. I’m looking for something similar to what he has now, a small dress watch with a metal band.
Ronald, Fuzzy: I can’t explain the whys and wherefores to you. I’m a female who doesn’t wear jewelry. I’m just really glad Mr. Beetle told me what to get him this year. If he had asked for a pet lemur, that’s what I’d be shopping for!
I think my point is valid, even if you choose to quibble. You can pack a lot of functionality into a watch nowadays, and for the geekier or more outdoorsy type of guy, they may get may appreciate a multifunction watch better than one with more strictly aesthetic appeal.
I wasn’t trying to argue against spending a lot on a watch the way Ronald was. I was just asking, what do you get at $500 you don’t get at $50? I thought it might be useful information if there were a factual answer other than aesthetic style and brand name. For instance, I think Movado makes gorgeous small dress watches with metal bands but I don’t know why they cost 3 times as much as Skagen, who makes small dress watches I don’t personally find as attractive but are still sort of nice.
I’ve owned Skagens - I’ve found them to have durability problems - particularly with the finer mesh metal bands. And the bands generally are integral to the watch design for these models - they can’t easily be swapped out.
It’s no secret that you pay for style and name recognition.
Some people don’t mind doing so.
Some people think $500 is a heap of money. Some people think $5,000 isn’t.
It’s all relative. Apparently, the OP is looking for some name/style for a watch/present, and is looking for some ‘good brands’. 500 bucks is going to give the buyer some nice options. No one is going to fall over when they see a 500 dollar watch, because it won’t have the clout of a 36,000 dollar Rolex.
Watches are more than just time-pieces. We can’t break everything down to a 25 dollar Timex from Walmart. I mean… we could, but who wants to?
Why come in here and crap on the fun? OP: take the 500 bucks and get all the style and name recognition you can get for it! ENJOY! 
I’ve got a Casio solar atomic that sets itself by radio from an atomic clock and charges the battery with room level lighting. Mine is gold tone and they don’t have that currently, but here is an Amazon link for other models http: //www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=solar+atomic+watch+men&x=0&y=0 I’ve disabled the link so as not to be advertising. I’ve had my watch for five years and it has never been anything but a working watch.
I just thought I’d mention if you happen to be in the NYC area, Tourneau has a warehouse sale (every year I think) where they offer watches at 50-75% off. Here’s a link to this past years back in September (so you sort of missed this year’s :().
Mostly they had a lot of Breitling, Rolex, TAG, Omega, and a lot of brands I never heard of. They seemed to have all price ranges (no $10 K-Marts though), but most seemed to be around the $1,000-$10,000 range (before discount) so it’s a bit pricey.
Tourneau does offer some decent watches under $500 though.
Hamilton
Raymond Weil
Tissot
If you can go a little higher in price, you might also want to look at Montblanc.
One brand I would stay away from is Festina.
You know what? I’m pretty sure when someone starts a “can you recommend me a good brand of _________” thread, they aren’t looking to hear about some $10 utilitarian piece of crap.
I have had a Raymond Weil watch. Nice, but not as reliable as I would have liked. Lasted 2 years.
I currently own a Baume and Mercier Capeland which, I think, is a beautiful watch. I’ve had it 3 years and have only needed a battery.
I also own an Invicta watch. No problems here either. Check their website, they have an astonishing amount of watches. DO NOT buy them from Invicta, though. The watches are 1/2 to 2/3 cheaper when bought thru ShopNBC.
Steve
My boyfriend has a really classic-yet-understated Bulova that I like; retail it was a few hundred but he found it for $150.
Regarding movement, I know 0 about watch movement, but my parents own a few Rolexes; my mother’s was a gift for getting into medical school (it was a tradition in her family that once you were accepted to professional school you received a Rolex).
When we were on a family vacation a few years ago in the Carribean (famous for their inexpensive jewelry because of a lack of taxes) we visited, among other jewelry stores, an expensive watch shop. I browsed, largely unimpressed. Toward the end of the store, one watch caught my eye, and I literally stared at the movement for what seemed like hours. A salesperson approached me and explained all the watch did, yadda yadda yadda. I’m not paying attention to him, I’m still just mesmerized by the movement, it was simply beautiful. My dad walks over, sees me, and laughs. It’s a Patek Phillipe, he says, a 50k dollar watch. I remained impressed. The watch was a piece of art.
So watches can be had for a variety of reasons, and appearance is and should be a huge part of it.