Men’s Luxury Watches: What to Look for and How to Decide

In this article, we’re going to explain everything you need to know about choosing a men’s luxury watch. We’ll talk about how to determine the quality of a watch, what to look for when purchasing a luxury watch, and how you can make an informed decision about the watch you want to buy.

What Makes a Watch “Luxury”?

When we talk about men’s watches, the term “luxury” gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? There are a few things that set a watch apart as being “luxury.” These include the watch movements, craftsmanship, components, and the look and feel of the watch.

Movements

The first thing that sets a watch apart is its movement. If you aren’t familiar with the term, there are three basic types of watch movements—manual, automatic, and quartz.

Quartz watch movements are the most common that you’ll find in cheaper, low-end watches. In a watch with a quartz movement, the mechanics of the watch are powered by a small watch battery and quartz crystal. The second hand on a quartz watch will “tick” around the face from second to second.

Most luxury watches, though, are not quartz watches. For the most part, you will see either manual or automatic movements in luxury watches.

These function in basically the same way, but there is one key difference. In both styles of watch, the mechanics of the watch keep it powered. There are no electrical circuits. Instead, there are mechanical gears and a part called the mainspring that keep the watch moving.

In a manual watch, this is powered by you winding the crown on the side of the watch. In an automatic, the watch actually powers itself by harnessing the kinetic energy generated by your arm’s swing as you walk.

Most people prefer automatic watches, as they do not have to be wound at all. However, these are usually more expensive than manual watches, and if you don’t wear them, they can run out of power and still need to be wound back up.

With most luxury watches, you’ll be looking at automatic movements. It is classic, and most people prefer to have an automatic watch over quartz or a manual.

Craftsmanship

In addition to the watch movement, you need to look at the craftsmanship of the watch. Find out what went into making that watch and who made it.

Men’s watches are more than just timekeepers—they reflect a part of who a man is. Good, quality watches are passed down from generation to generation. They are more than just a piece of jewelry.

Because of that, good luxury watches are made with incredible care, precision, and craftsmanship. You can tell some of this by just looking at the watch, but you also need to know the components that are inside.

Components

It’s easy to make a watch look like a luxury watch, but actually crafting something with quality components is another story. There are a few specific pieces of a watch you can examine to help you judge its quality. These include the crystal, the strap, and the movements.

The face of any watch is made of one of a few materials. Typically these are acrylic, glass, or sapphire crystal. Most cheap watches will have an acrylic face. These are not very durable and scratch fairly easily.

As you move up in quality, you’ll find some watches with a tempered glass face. While this is certainly a step up, these faces still scratch really easily and are not the most durable material.

The best luxury watches have faces made of synthetic sapphire. Second only in hardness to diamond, watches with a sapphire crystal face are more likely to scratch the thing that rubs against them instead of getting scratched themselves. Every Jack Mason watch is made with sapphire crystal, and most other luxury watches are too.

In addition to the crystal on the face, you should also consider the band or strap the face is attached to. With many watches these are interchangeable, but you just want to make sure they are high quality.

Whether they be gold, gunmetal, rose gold, silver, steel, Italian leather, or a stainless steel bracelet, good straps can really make or break a beautiful watch. You don't want a silicone strap or a rubber strap on a luxury bracelet watch!

Lastly, you want to consider the components of the wristwatch movements. You’ll find some so-called luxury watches that use cheap internal components to cut costs. Instead, try to find a watch with either Swiss or Japanese movements. These will make for the highest-quality watches along with features like a touchscreen.

Looks

A luxury watch should not just be high quality, it should look and feel like it too. If you’re buying a luxury watch, you should love wearing it and showing it off. In addition, it should match you and your style in a way that no other watch could.

Whether you’re going for a classic best seller dress watch, a limited edition chronograph, or a new arrival that's a little more adventurous, your watch should look and feel special.

It should reflect you and your personality, and you should feel good having it on your wrist. If you don’t, no matter how great the watch is, you should look for something else.

What to Look for in a Luxury Watch?

Once you understand all of the different elements of a luxury watch, it can still be difficult to know exactly what to look for.

At the end of the day, looking for a luxury watch is a personal experience. You have to buy something that you like and that makes you feel good.

As we said, your watch should reflect who you are. If you’re a more adventurous, outdoorsman type, maybe a field watch would be a great choice. If you want to be able to time your runs, races, or flights, maybe an eco-drive chronograph with a bold black dial would suit you better instead of a cheap sports watch or digital watch.

Whatever you choose, make sure that it is a good fit for you—not just something someone else recommends.

How to Decide Between Luxury Watches?

The first step is to narrow down your choice. Find watches that are high-quality, will last you a long time, and suit your personal style. However, even after doing that, it’s likely you will end up with multiple watches still to choose from.

At that point, choosing between them can be difficult. You’ll often find multiple watches that are nearly identical.

One of the biggest concerns at that stage should be the price of the watch. Luxury men’s watches can go for an extreme range of prices. You’ll find options anywhere from a few hundred dollars all the way into the hundreds of thousands.

Spending $200 will certainly get you a much better watch than spending $50. However, there are diminishing returns the higher you go. Once you get past a certain price point, you pay a lot more for name and prestige than actual quality.

We recommend finding a watch that hits the sweet spot of value and quality. If you can get the same quality as a $2,000 for $250, why put the extra money on your credit card?

Why Are Luxury Watches So Expensive?

This is a question that we see a lot. Luxury watch prices continue to rise each year, and it seems impossible to find watches that aren’t thousands of dollars.

Sometimes, watches are priced this way because of the specific materials they use. A watch may be made of entirely 14k gold or have diamonds around the bezel. Obviously, this significantly increases the price.

However, there are other cases where you pay more for the name of the watch than the actual quality. Many luxury watchmakers charge more for status than they do for the timepiece.

For some people, that’s fine, but for others, it can be unreasonable to pay the extra costs just for the name or status.

That’s why we created Jack Mason. We wanted to provide consumers with high-quality luxury watches without the typical luxury price tag that you would normally find at places like Movado, Rolex, Gucci, or Cartier. Our watches use the same materials and components as designer brands but at a fraction of the cost.