How to Find Your Next Favorite Watch for $30

Cam Wolf
·6 min read

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I paid $33 for the watch I’ve worn the most over the past two months. It’s nothing fancy, but you can’t even get two cocktails in LA for the amount I spent on a watch with a real-deal, self-winding mechanical movement and patina out the wazoo (scratches, lots of ‘em). The reason I haven’t been able to take it off, though, is the dial, which features a dancing Snoopy orbited by his buddy Woodstock, who stands in as the floating seconds hand. There’s no six-figure grail in the world that can beat this watch’s fun factor. More and more recently I’m finding that the wrists of other collectors I admire are adorned not by what’s going to impress others, but what ranks highest in the SPM (smiles per minute) category. These are often super-affordable watches that offer the thrill of the hunt and, in many cases, express a piece of ourselves better than most expensive, watch-community-approved icons.

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A few years ago, Kaitlin Koch, who runs the Instagram account @little.old.watches, interviewed for a job she “probably could’ve done for the rest of my life,” she told me over Instagram DMs. The role would have required her to sift through vintage watches for what she describes as “a major thrift store chain.” She didn’t get it, which is too bad because there are few people better at identifying buried treasures. Koch’s account makes a compelling argument for affordable watches, constantly showcasing pieces that make me coo with delight. She highlights not just watches but travel clocks, time-telling rings, and ticking brooches as well.

Koch's new $30 Enicar
Koch's new $30 Enicar

“I try to do my best to let people know that great, affordable treasures are still out there,” Koch said. The proof is all on @little.old.watches, where the collector shares $9 flea-market finds, a colorful $45 Gübelin, or this fun-sized diver from established Swiss brand Nivada Grenchen that she got for just $33. Her most recent pickup is a spectacular ‘60s Enicar with a golden lion’s mane around the dial—inexplicably just $30.

Lately I’ve been feeling like there’s something more thrilling about finding watches in the bargain bin than picking up something new. Getting the call from an authorized dealer who tells you the watch you’ve been waiting for finally arrived is certainly most people’s horological drug of choice, but the world of super-affordable watches offers a different rush. “I’m all about the hunt,” Koch said. “When you set parameters [like price] it’s not just useful, but becomes a game you play against yourself, and you get creative. It opens your eyes to just how much flies under the radar if you’re open minded.”

There is an endless supply of watches waiting in the wings for their moment in the spotlight. One of them got their due recently when Tony Traina, an editor at Hodinkee, made a video about the Lego Watch System. Yes, those are the same Lego bricks many of us used as kids (or still use now) to build Millennium Falcons models or miniature fire stations. In the ‘90s, Lego added watches with buildable bracelets and interchangeable bezels to its catalog. Traina bought one on eBay for $30 after reading a story on Worn & Wound. The clip he made with the Lego watch now has 1.6 million views, making it, by far, his most watched IG Reel. Traina told me over text that between 10 or 15 people picked up the piece because of his video, while others were inspired to rifle through their closets to find ones they’d bought as kids.

Traina chalks up the interest in the Lego watch to a potent brew of affordability and nostalgia. “[Nostalgia] is driving so much of the culture right now,” he said, “and watches are no exception.” As watches bask in their Vibes Era, collectors are realizing they don’t need Rolex Day-Dates with enamel Jigsaw puzzles on the dial to get vibrant and joyful watches on their wrists. As collector extraordinaire John Mayer told me, “We’re in a golden era of watches that I’m having a really fun time wearing.” And what could be more fun than wearing a Lego watch?

Traina's Lego System watch
Traina's Lego System watch

But more important than keeping up with the culture, what these bargain watches often do best is speak so specifically to our personal tastes and quirks. The Lego watch checked that exact box for Traina. “Of course I remember playing with Legos as a kid and how fun to have a watch that reminds you of that?”

Tapping into your own nostalgia is key to finding your own stupid-affordable grail. A few months ago, my editor Yang-Yi Goh shared a watch he thought he got for just $25 (before the seller revealed he couldn’t actually find it). Goh, who is from Toronto, had his eyes on a very cool piece of Toronto Blue Jays memorabilia: a watch with a baseball field and the team’s logo on the dial and a floating baseball that ticked the seconds away. An irresistibly fun watch that might spark Goh’s memories of ballpark hot dogs and Carlos Delgado homers. I’d like to see a watch you pick up at your local luxury boutique do that.

My Snoopy watch captures powerful memories, too. When my partner got pregnant with our now two-year-old son, I started sending her this silly Snoopy GIF that says “Headin’ Home” whenever I was, well, headin’ home. I have no idea how I even found this image initially, but sending it became a ritual. I felt like it perfectly expressed how I felt: coming home from work or an errand brimming with so much joy and exuberance that I was practically skipping back to be reunited with her and my unborn son. I still send this image routinely three years later, making Snoopy much more than a multi-talented dog to me—he’s now tied up in all these feelings of love and excitement for my growing family. I get a twinge of all those emotions whenever I look down at my Snoopy watch. Paying $33 for that is what I’d call an absolute steal.

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Originally Appeared on GQ

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