Building The Perfect $1,000 Watch Collection - Over 25 Watches Mentioned

Some of the most asked questions that I receive on a day to day basis involve what watches should I get with this amount of budget? On the surface, the answer seems easy enough, yet it is always more involved given the many different variables needed to be considered. In this video, I look to answer the question for the best collection that you can build for $1,000 but instead of just simply listing out watches, I wanted to define types of collectors and develop choices for each of the different collecting personas. I hope you enjoy!

Shop Watch Brands Featured In This Video:

Some of my Recent Videos:

Watches Mentioned:

Check off the Boxes
Seagull 1963
Seiko SRPD37J1
Orient Mako II
Seiko SNK793
Casio World Time

One Watch Collection
Damasko DS30
Seiko SARX055
Hamilton Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical
Stowa Classic Flieger

The Hipster
Traska Freediver
Baltic Bicompax 001
Brew Mastergraph
Unimatic U1-F

Diver Fanatic
Orient Triton
Deep Blue Diver 1000
Citizen Promaster Auto NY0040
Vostok Amphibia

Perfect Duo
Stowa Marine Classic
Seiko SKX009
Tissot Seastar
Orient Star Classic

Formal Collector
Hamilton Boulton
Orient Bambino Small Seconds
Mido Baroncelli
Seiko SUP880

Persona 7: Quartz Lover
Casio Oceanus OCW S100
Bulova Lunar Pilot
Seiko Dolce SACM171
Casio G-Shock DW5600BB-1

[TeddyBaldassarre]

Thanks for watching! Two Questions:


1. What collecting persona are you most like?
2. What would be your choice for a $1, 000 Watch Collection?

Quick corrections with the khaki pilot pioneer, it has a mineral crystal and the Damasko lug-to-lug is 46 mm not 41.

[c.w.]

The Hoarder: This watch collector just loves anything that looks like a watch, from Parnis to Omega, and never sells anything.

[wesleymartin]

I’m mega collector with a g shock budget.

[romanmarkusjansen]

"Check off the box" because there are so many good looking watches to choose from, thank you for the great content and getting me addicted :)

[vittoriopescarmona]

I've been watching your videos since you had well under 20k subscribers, and with this one you can really tell how much has changed and how much you've evolved your style, your taste and your knowledge on the "watch Youtuber" game. This is top notch entertainment and education for the topic!
To me, you're now miles ahead everyone else. Keep it up Teddy!!

[Rancid_Ziggy]

Lol! “Four-foot above ground pool” 😂

[boris]

I lean towards the perfect duo type of collection. I think you can have two "formulas" for this kind of collection: 1)sport/everyday watch + dress watch; 2) sports watch + dress/everyday watch. So my picks are: 1) Lorier Neptune + Junghans Max Bill Handwound or 2) G-SHOCK GM-5600-1er + Hamilton Boulton Mechanical

[Madshadowgolem]

How about for the "Conversation Starter" collector. Who loves watches that make people look twice.
One point you might have missed on the moon pilot is how crazy accurate it is. Seconds per year or so they say.

[visualsofisa]

Loved this Teddy. This is such an important guide for many people. Especially for people getting into watches that don't really know where to look or where to start. Hope this goes viral in the watch community, it's needed.

[johnanth]

I am Persona 7 (Quartz man) but not in the way you think.
I am really into *High Accuracy Quartz*. These are generally defined as under 20 seconds per YEAR.


Apart from being deeply thought out pieces with almost always in-house boards, they have technologies like alignment correction to make sure it always hits the mark if it has dead-beat seconds. Bulova takes a different approach where it has an extremely fast sweeping seconds, faster than a hi-beat automatic.


The cream of the crop in HAQ is Citizen's 0100. However, I would look at Citizen Chronomaster (also known as 'The Citizen' line in Japan). This is a Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) watch. Caliber A060 features:
- Plus or minus 3 seconds per *year*

- Temperature compensation (solving the main problem that hurts quartz accuracy)
- Automatic seconds hand alignment
- SOLAR CHARGING (about as low maintenance as a watch can get) but without sacrificing the dial as they have a paper dial and other awesome materials, plus zaratsu polishing (so just an amazing finish)

- When changing the time e.g. for DST, you only move the hour hand normally. That's how confident Citizen is in the accuracy.
- Date that changes at exactly 00:00 (look up videos of this, it's awesome!)
- A perpetual calendar. You only see the date window, but it keeps the time internally through a clever and kind of hard to configure method.


It will run for 20+ years without input or a battery change since it's solar. All that for about $2000 used. Also unlike Grand Seiko which has 10 years guarantee, Citizen guarantees all components for life. A cheaper alternative to the above is Longines VHP for about $1000 which has most of the above features but inferior finish and no solar charging.
I appreciate these are around above $1000 generally. The cheapest HAQ are Certina's DS-2 and models Seiko's Dolce line, for example the SACM171. There is also the Bulova Precisionist and other high frequency models (again, different style of quartz where you have sweeping seconds). Enjoy!

EDIT: I wrote this comment at the start of the video. Glad to see Teddy has recommended two of the same watches I did! 🙂

The amazing part of HAQ is that you can seriously mark events with them. You can set the watch when your child is born for example, and it will remain very accurate for the rest of your life. Isn't that an amazing story to tell?

[chrishaynes]

Teddy, your approach to this challenge is absolutely perfect! Seriously, this is the spot-on advice for the "average man's" approach to buying watches on YouTube! I laughed at how many of the 'personas' I fit into!! Of course, Producer Michael's videos are wonderful escapism, but this is rock-solid practical advice in an overwhelming choice of watches. THANKS.
And it's re-assuring to see that my old collection matches some of your intentions (though not the actual watches), I do have and love my Casio World-time! Since my old collection was 'check off boxes'/'hipster' for a sub-$150 (yes - that CHEAP, with some really obscure Chinese oddities from the deepest bowels of Amazon), I'm looking to upgrade the old collection, and here I go...
If there's one thing this awful Covid-19 virus and its enforced lock down has given a positive, it's giving the time to sort out online interests/content and your channel is a subscription-keeper! Good luck to you.

[joshyii]

Time stamps:

3:00 Check Off Boxes
7:28 One Watch Collection
11:02 The Hipster
13:37 Diver Fanatic
16:09 Perfect Duo
18:42 Formal Collector
21:12 Quartz Lover

[j.j.h.atemycereal]

GREAT VIDEO, Teddy! This was so much fun, thanks! Personally when it comes to collecting, I’m a ”Golden Retriever”; I get super excited about EVERYTHING.

[freddie]

Have no idea what kind of collector I am, I just love going through all sorts of watches, don't try to buy impulsively but take my time see if that particular watch is the best bang per buck or if there is another watch that has maybe a bit more history behind it or a better story. Like I said no idea what kind of a watch collector Iam

[centerpeel]

More of these please! Found some really cool watches I never would have seen without this video

[Ax]

I think the great thing about these videos is that it provides a lot of different watches at varying price ranges. But not only that, it focuses on building and pairing watches around themes and balance.

[kevinmiller]

If I had to put together a three watch collection, I would structure my budget, based on lifestyle, like this: field watch (40%), dive watch (40%), dress watch (20%). I think another good approach is identify watches, that you like, which might fit more than one occasion. Of course swapping out straps helps with that.

[neuro.weaver]

Teddy, I am a seasonal collector: two watches for each season, one everyday and one formal.
Maybe you can include this "persona" in your $10, 000 Watch Collection? Thank you.

[CCRyder]

Interesting choices - would like to see same format for a 2, 3, 4 & 5K budget

[csg]

I don't know how the YouTube algorithm recommended Teddy's channel to me, but I'm glad it did. I can't believe how interesting it is to hear him talk about watches, especially when I'm not in the market to buy a watch!