Best Watches for Men

A full-size analog dive-style watch with 200 meters of water resistance, a rotating bezel and a screw-down crown.

If you have to pick one watch for a man you do not know well, pick this one. Genuine 200-meter water resistance means it never comes off, which is the single biggest factor in whether a gifted watch gets worn. It also reliably gets mistaken for something four times the price. At 42mm it is the one thing to check — on a slim wrist it is too much watch, and the Timex Weekender is the smaller answer.

Seiko's modern 5 Sports: a 100m water-resistant automatic in a diver-style case, with a day-date display and a movement that both hand-winds and hacks.

For a man who would be interested in the machine rather than just the time, this is the standard recommendation and has been for years. No battery, wound by his own movement, and unusually for a mechanical watch it is rated to 100 meters so swimming is fine. The one thing to say when you hand it over is that it stops if it sits unworn for a couple of days, and that a few seconds of drift a day is normal.

A simple field-style watch on a slip-through fabric strap, with Timex's Indiglo backlight that lights the whole dial.

The lowest-risk watch on the page. At 38mm it fits nearly every adult male wrist, and the slip-through strap comes off in five seconds, so if he does not like the look he can change it for the price of a coffee. That reversibility is exactly what you want when you are guessing. Indiglo lights the whole dial, which is the feature people are most surprised to find useful.

A dress watch with a domed crystal, applied numerals and an in-house automatic movement, on a leather strap.

If he wears a jacket to work, to dinner, or to weddings, a dress watch is the gap in his wardrobe. The Bambino's domed crystal is what sells it: it catches light like a vintage watch and reads as considerably more expensive than it is. It is automatic and hand-windable, so you can set it running before you wrap it. Low water resistance — this is genuinely a dress watch and it comes off for the pool.

The original square G-Shock: shock resistant, 200 meters water resistant, resin case, digital display.

For the man who has broken every watch he has ever owned, this ends the argument. Shock resistance and 200 meters of water resistance mean there is nothing left to damage, and the square case is smaller than the reputation suggests, so it suits slim wrists too. It is the obvious pick for tradespeople, anyone who lifts, and anyone whose job involves gloves. It will never look dressy, and nobody buying one expects it to.

A slim steel dress watch powered by Citizen's Eco-Drive technology, which runs on any light and never needs a battery change.

The most common way a gifted watch dies is not damage, it is a flat battery nobody replaces. Eco-Drive removes that permanently: it runs on light, and daylight through a window is plenty. Slim and dressy enough for an office, and there is nothing for him to manage for the life of the watch. Mention that it needs to see light occasionally, or a year in a closed drawer will stop it.

A rugged field watch with a 24-hour inner track, Indiglo backlight and 50 meters of water resistance.

A field watch suits an outdoor life without looking like gym equipment. Clear numbers, a 24-hour inner track and a steel case that takes knocks. The legibility matters more with age — anyone over forty notices a dial they can read without moving their arm into the light. It handles rain and lakes but is not a swimming watch, so for pool use go with the Casio Duro.

The slimmest G-Shock, with an octagonal bezel and analog hands over a small digital display. Widely nicknamed the CasiOak.

This is the G-Shock that gets away with a dress code. Noticeably thinner than the rest of the line, so it goes under a shirt cuff, with an octagonal bezel that reads as a design decision rather than sports equipment. Full shock resistance and 200 meters of water resistance are intact. The only real risk is that it has been the fashionable Casio for several years running, so check he does not have one.

A Seiko 5 Sports with a second time-zone hand and a 24-hour bezel, on an automatic movement.

The extra hand shows a second time zone, and for anyone with family abroad or colleagues in another country, that is a feature used daily rather than admired occasionally. It is by a wide margin the cheapest mechanical GMT anyone sells, and it keeps the 100-meter water resistance of the rest of the line. The case is tall, so it suits a man who likes a substantial watch on the wrist.

The thin resin digital watch Casio has sold, essentially unchanged, since 1989. Time, date, alarm, stopwatch, backlight.

Worth knowing about even at this price, because it does one thing nothing else does: it is so light that a man who insists he hates wearing watches will forget it is there. That makes it a good spare for a gym bag or a genuinely useful small second item alongside a main gift. Splash resistance only, so it is not for swimming, but it survives almost everything else.