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Abid Rahman

The clock is ticking down to Christmas and the full nightmare of festive shopping is about to begin. Thinking of what to buy people is always stressful – and let’s be honest you’ll never please everybody – but a watch, in our humble opinion, is one of those things that is sure to be received warmly.
Here is our guide to buying watch gifts to suit different budgets and people.
Three jewellery watches fit for royal wrists
1. The his & hers option
Couples matching what they are wearing is, ordinarily, something to be discouraged, but on the odd occasion and with the right products, it’s not so bad. A case in point is Myku’s watch offerings featuring unique precious stone dials. There are plenty of stones to choose from, but the Sardonyx (32mm case) and Tiger Eye (38mm case) look particularly festive, and as a pair look quite charming rather than kooky.

Price: HK$4,299 for the Sardonyx Gold 32mm, HK$5,943 for the Tiger Eye 38mm.
2. The smart girl’s smartwatch
When most people think of a smartwatch they will probably think of a masculine-looking gadget with a touch screen and poor battery life. Fossil, on the other hand, has leaned into the hybrid smartwatch, looking to appeal to people who want something that looks like a watch but has all the features of a smartwatch.

The Q Annette has all the looks of an elegant woman’s watch but has notifications, activity tracking, second time zones and more, as well as a six-month battery life.
Price: HK$1,750

3. The splurge
Christmas is an excuse to push the boat out, and if 2018 has been particularly good, a bling watch makes an excellent gift for your wife or girlfriend.
There are hundreds of gold watches to choose from, but Audemars Piguet’s special edition Royal Oak Frosted Gold by famed Italian jewellery designer Carolina Bucci is a real head turner. Eagle-eyed watch nerds will notice that, for the first time, the famed Royal Oak tapisserie dial has been replaced with a silver tone mirror dial. Also, the watch features frosted 18k gold for the first time, rather than the usual pink or white gold AP uses.
Price: HK$421,000. Limited to 300 pieces.
 
4. The vintage classic
Vintage watches have been a trend for a while now, and if you know a guy who reads magazines like The Rake and websites like Hodinkee obsessively, a vintage watch as a gift is a winner. For added spice a unique strap might be in order.
Hip Hong Kong retailer EXI. T has jumped on the vintage bandwagon and has put together a collaboration with Miyazaki Taisei from God Selection XXX to create leather and Nato straps for a series of vintage Rolexes such as the 1960’s Day-Date.
Price: HK$120,800 for the Rolex Day-Date.
 
5. The retro gem
If you don’t have the time or inclination to research a vintage watch and you still want that retro look for your gift, then a reissue gives you the best of both worlds. This year, Longines brought back one of the gems in its archive, the Heritage Military, a pilot’s watch from the 1940s that was designed for Britain’s Royal Air Force. The 2018 reissue is faithful to the original, keeping the same clean legible design, Nato strap and classic size at 38.5mm; the only concession to modernity is the L888.2 automatic movement.
Price: HK$17,300
 
6. The fashion lover’s must-have
If you’re buying a gift for a hopeless fashionista this Christmas, Swatch might have you covered. The Swatch Glam collection is as OTT as wristwatches go, with the Acrobelle the winner within the collection due to the plethora of looks that can be achieved simply by switching out the strap for the extra one provided, and several others that can additionally purchased.
Price: HK$2,080 with 1 extra bracelet. Additional straps cost HK$240.

7. The James Bond option
Dive watches rarely, if ever, get used for their intended purpose (you know, diving) but if there’s one thing men love is knowing that something can do the job even if it never has to do the job. Buying a dive watch for that special guy in your life should be easier this Christmas, as Omega has given the Seamaster 300m a facelift and wheeled out Daniel Craig, James Bond himself, to show off its capabilities as the new face of the timepiece.
The current collection includes 15 different iterations, but all have the excellent Master Chronometer Calibre 8800 movement inside the 42mm case and of course feature 300 metres of water resistance.
Prices start at HK$39,000 and extend to HK$79,700, with a limited edition titanium and tantalum version priced at HK$106,300.
 
8. The one-of-a-kind art piece
There are watches for the masses and then there are watches for the 1%. The Chopard L. U. C Perpetual T Spirit of la Santa Muerte is not for everybody – literally. With a case made of gold, the watch features an intricate, hand-engraved dial featuring Day of the Dead motifs unique to Mexico.
Price: HK$1,910,000, limited to 1 piece.


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Everyone needs a watch, so why not buy your special someone one of these for Christmas
Here’s our festive watch guide


Thinking of what to buy people is always stressful, but a watch, in our humble opinion, is one of those things that is sure to be received warmly.


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Christmas gift ideas: eight watches to suit different people and budgets this holiday season

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Everyone needs a watch, so why not buy your special someone one of these for Christmas Here’s our festive watch guide

Everyone needs a watch, so why not buy your special someone one of these for Christmas

Here’s our festive watch guide