Best Watches Under $100

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

If you know nothing about the recipient except their gender and approximate wrist size, buy this one. The 200-meter rating means they will never think about taking it off — swimming, showering, washing up, rain, none of it registers. That is the single biggest determinant of whether a gifted watch gets worn daily or lives in a drawer. It also looks considerably more expensive than it is, which is the compliment its owners repeat most often. The stock rubber strap is the weak point, so if you want the gift to land harder, add a nylon strap for very little extra and you have given two things.

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

The Weekender's trick is the slip-through fabric strap, which pulls off in about five seconds with no tools. That turns one watch into as many looks as you care to buy straps for, and it makes this the right pick for someone who has never worn a watch and has no idea what they like yet. At 38mm it is the safest size guess when you cannot measure the wrist. The Indiglo backlight — the whole dial glows rather than one corner — sounds like a gimmick until the first time someone checks the time in a dark room.

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

Buy this for the person who has broken every watch they have owned. The square G-Shock has been the answer to that problem since 1987: shock resistant, 200 meters water resistant, and small enough that it does not look ridiculous on a slim wrist despite the reputation. It is the right gift for tradespeople, nurses, anyone who lifts, and teenagers, because it removes the entire category of worry about damaging a present. It will never read as dressy, and that is fine — nobody buys this expecting it to.

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

The Scout is what you buy when the recipient spends time outdoors but would not wear a sports watch. It is a proper field watch — clear numbers, a 24-hour inner track, 50 meters of water resistance — in a steel case that does not shout. The legibility is the underrated part: anyone over forty will appreciate a dial they can read at a glance without adjusting their arm. It handles rain, lakes and washing up but is not a scuba watch, so if swimming is the main use, go with the Casio Duro above instead.

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

The GA-2100 is the G-Shock for someone whose job has a dress code. It is noticeably thinner than the rest of the line, so it slides under a shirt sleeve, and the octagonal bezel gives it a design-object quality that the square models do not have. All the toughness is still there — shock resistance and 200 meters of water resistance. The only real risk with this pick is popularity: it has been the fashionable Casio for several years, so check they do not already own one.

The full-metal version of Casio's classic rectangular digital watch, with an illuminated display and a folding steel bracelet.

This is the metal version of the rectangular Casio everybody recognizes, and the steel bracelet is what changes it from a gadget into something closer to jewelry. It suits narrow wrists, which most digital watches do not, and it works on men and women equally. One practical note that saves a disappointing unwrapping: the bracelet almost always needs links removed to fit, and a jeweler will do that in ten minutes for a few dollars. Get it sized before you wrap it if you can.

A reissue of Timex's early-1980s digital watch: a small rectangular case, steel bracelet, alarm and Indiglo.

The T80 is a reissue of Timex's first digital watch, and it lands hardest with anyone who was a child in the eighties — the shape is instantly familiar. It is compact, so it works on a smaller wrist, and Timex's Indiglo lighting is genuinely better than the dim green side-glow most retro digitals have. Treat it as a style gift rather than a functional one: the water resistance is splash-level, so it comes off before a swim.

A digital Casio with a world-time display, multiple alarms and a ten-year battery, in a chunky resin case.

The world-time display sounds like a novelty and turns out to be the feature people actually use, because anybody with relatives, colleagues or clients in another country checks the time there constantly. The ten-year battery is the other reason to give it: there is no maintenance conversation attached to this gift for a decade. It is chunkier and more obviously plastic than the metal Casios, so it is a better fit for someone who likes the busy-dial look than for someone after something discreet.

The long-running Ironman sports watch: 30-lap memory, stopwatch, alarms and 100 meters of water resistance.

If the recipient runs, swims or does interval work, this is more useful than anything else at this money. Thirty laps of memory, real stopwatch functions, and 100 meters of water resistance so pool sessions are fine. It is light enough that they will forget it is on mid-workout, which is the actual test of a sports watch. Do not buy it as an everyday watch for someone who does not train — the styling is entirely functional and it will not pair with anything smart.

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

The F-91W is the cheapest thing on this page by a wide margin and it still earns its place, because it does one thing better than any other watch here: it is so light that people who insist they hate wearing watches forget they have it on. That makes it the right pick for a first watch for a child, a spare for a gym bag, or the small second item alongside a bigger gift. Splash resistance only, so it is not a swimming watch — but it will survive nearly everything else.