A lot more to consider than I anticipated! There are more options than I originally thought.

I'm pretty well narrowed down to something simple -- I believe navy/pilot style with maybe just the date and a classic looking silver/stainless round case. After looking at the suggestions of Hamilton, Tissot, Seiko, and Citizen and then doing some digging online to check face styles, I think it looks like Hamilton & Citizen have styles that I like best for the long term.

The Citizens I saw and liked are Eco-drives. The Hamilton I really liked at the top end of the price range for those is an Automatic; it's well over what I initially wanted to spend, but I like it a lot and may go above budget if it's worth it. The other Hamiltons closer to my price range are Quartz. The price difference is $130--$160 for the Citizens compared to $320--$430 for the Hamiltons.

While I really like the look of the $430 Hamilton Jazzmaster, I like the looks of the Citizens at about $150 as much as the Hamiltons at about $350 and I could absolutely live with it and probably forget about how much I like the looks of the more pricey Jazzmaster pretty quickly. Is the quality difference between a $150 Citizen and a $430 Hamilton significant enough to make it worth the cash outlay or are they likely closer in quality than the cost difference would imply, i.e. a difference due to volume & manufacturing costs from a bigger company to a small maker? I don't care about "status" over function. Part of me leans toward the Citizen and then taking some old family leather goods and paying a leather making friend $50 to cut a custom strap from it so I have something with a unique personal tie...still coming in under budget overall. That's something I'd hold off on doing if I bought the over-budget Jazzmaster (whose strap I don't really love but could live with for a while). Any insight into the actual quality difference between the two brands?

The Jazzmaster with the 12 6 and 9 with black face and the date where the three is is sweet. I think it would be even nicer if the whole face was even black instead of the two tone with the different colour in the centre.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

In this price range you mostly get what you pay for. More expensive generally gives you a more scratch resistant face, better finishing, better materials, and/or a more sophisticated movement. The exception...automatics usually cost significantly more than the equivalent quartz...but for that money you are getting a watch that is an order of magnitude less accurate, needs to be worn or wound constantly, and needs service every few years. There is no logical justification for buying an automatic in this price range other than that is what trips your trigger and you have to have it. Within quartz, all else being equal I would be willing to pay $50 or more for a kinetic/eco-drive vs standard battery assuming I will be wearing it at least weekly, even though I am fully equipped to change any watch battery myself.

There are lot's of 3rd party watch strap manufacturers that you can browse to create a unique and higher quality look. With the two manufacturers you are considering I don't think economies of scale play into the price too much, they are both large enough to produce a huge run of any model they chose to market, and both have similar marketing costs (unlike some other well known "luxury" brands where the marketing is actually a large part of what you are paying for).

Firstly, these are different watches. The Hamilton is an Automatic. Its a purely mechanical watch that is powered by a spring that gets its energy from being wound up automatically as you move your wrist (or manually by winding the crown). The beauty is in the incredible mechanical craftsmanship and ingenuity that goes into making it.

The Citizen eco-drive is a Quartz watch with a solar charger. It is 'electrical' as much as mechanical. More accurate (loses less seconds per year), will not need to be wound (or worn) every 48hrs so it does not stop working.

As for quality - the Hamiltons use some of the more basic types of the swiss ETA movement. If you're going to get an Automatic at that price range, I would recommend going with the Japanese automatic movements, like Seiko or Citizen - better quality / accuracy for the dollar. Once you start getting into the $2000+ range, the Swiss movements from ETA or proprietary ones (i.e. Rolex) become as good, if not better than the Japanese.

---

Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

Most watch shops will give you a discount if you ask. Trusted gray market sites are ashford.com, jomashop.com and authenticwatches.com.

Citizen Eco Drive
I have a nice black and green one that I got for my birthday two years ago, very subtle, yet sleek and classy, I love that watch

Hey presto, here's a beauty that turned up on Massdrop. Well within your range, automatic, classic field style

---

Brian

Gonna buy a fast car, put on my lead boots, take a long, long drive
I may end up spending all my money, but I'll still be alive

https://www.linjer.co/collections/men-watches

---

"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

Bam! Thanks! I was just checking Massdrop earlier today and missed it.

And, sadly, what someone mentioned earlier in the thread may be a truism -- that once a person gets a decent watch they'll want another. I haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet, but have come across a few -- all outside of my price range by a good bit -- that grab my eye pretty hard.

I ended up making a selection -- Hamilton Khaki Aviation, which came in a fair bit below my budget after finding a deal on Ashford. I have small wrists so it's a solid fit for that; it's casual, simple, and clean so I can wear it daily and also won't feel out of place wearing it on those rare occasions when I have need to don a suit; and it's high enough quality that it should last for quite some time.

Nice. I like simple watches.

---

_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man