Three wallet-friendly watches for US$350 or less that look great on the wrist

Last week we put the spotlight on the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève, or SIHH if you’re into that whole brevity thing, the first big watch fair of the year. Among the deluge of new pieces there are plenty of gems, but SIHH, it must be said, is very much a luxe affair with the starting price for many of the new pieces likely to cost a month’s wages. And let’s be frank, outside of friendless nerds like me, most folk couldn’t give two hoots about a tourbillon.

So, for the sake of covering all the price points, this week we are going to look at more budget options that have hit the market.

Let’s start proceedings with a new dive watch from the always improving Spinnaker. The brand is adept at “desk divers”, that is dive watches that will never get wet. That’s not to say they don’t have the functionality, on the contrary, a good desk diver has all the necessary specs, but the focus is on the aesthetics. And the new Dumas SP-5070 is all about the looks.

Guys who like these watches will see the influences here, stretching back to the 1950s, 60s and 70s and drawing upon several brands. Yes, the watch leans on more famous designs, but that isn’t a bad thing; it feels like a celebration of heritage and it just looks so good.

The timepiece is named after pioneering French diver Frédéric Dumas and its credentials are solid, with 300 metres of water resistance, a unidirectional bezel, clear indices coated in super lume and a screw-down crown. It also comes with an extra Milanese mesh bracelet, and, yes, you can take it diving! All this goodness will set you back only US$350.