Fratello On Air: Currently Available Watches Offering The Best Value

Prices may be up, but these pieces still carry their weight

September 23, 2025

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We’re back with another episode of Fratello On Air. This week, we’re tackling a timely subject (no pun intended). With prices up over the last five years, we discuss watches that offer the best value at various price points. Oh, but there’s a caveat: the pieces we discuss are actually available. For the benefit of our listeners, our watch talk begins approximately 15 minutes after the start.

Two episodes ago, we conversed about the best watches for new collectors. That seemed to resonate with our listeners. This week, we continue down a similar yet different path. Collectively, we’ve witnessed incessant price hikes in our favorite hobby. It’s enough to scare away some fans, but not us! We’re out to find the watches that offer the best value in this tough market. Yes, the watches are more expensive than in the past, but we still think each carries its weight.

Handgelenkskontrolle

We open our show with a discussion about TV shows and history-related podcasts. Balazs also recounts his recent trip to Switzerland to see the return of the Tissot RockWatch. For the Handgelenkskontrolle, he shares the watch that has been on his wrist for several days, his beloved Rolex Submariner 5513. Mike is still on a Seiko kick and sporting his 6106-8229 Rally Diver from 1969. It’s been a while since he last wore the watch, but it’s keeping perfect time after two days on the wrist.

Watches with the best value

Our rules for choosing watches with the best value were simple. The watches must be available to buy at retail today, without waiting lists or markups. Also, resale value wasn’t a factor in the selection process. We didn’t restrict ourselves to large brands, yet we tended toward brands with in-house movements. Finally, we didn’t restrict ourselves to price limits, but we coincidentally huddled around three levels. Below €1,000, €1,000–5,000, and above €5,000 were our criteria.

Balazs is always earning extra credit

Balazs supposedly got mixed up with the assignment, but perhaps he was looking to outduel Mike again. He chose three winning watches but also gave many honorable mentions. In the lower-cost section, he named the Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 Forged Carbon, the Baltic Hermétique, and the Dennison ALD Dual Time. His winner, though, is the Timex Tide-Temp-Compass for just €279. In the middle category, he mentioned the Tudor Pelagos 39, various Albishorn chronographs, and the Grand Seiko SBGR257. His champion is the €1,890 Yema Superman CMM.10 with an in-house automatic movement. Finally, in the high-cost category, the Ming 57.04 Iris and the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Skipper made the list. Balazs’s ultimate winner is the €8,800 Omega Speedmaster Professional in white.

Mike’s picks

Mike stuck to the supposed brief and named three watches he thought offered the best value. On the affordable side, the €440 Seiko Prospex SRPE93 Turtle is a watch that makes no apologies. It’s a simple diver with timeless looks and rock-solid build quality. In the mid-range, the choice is relatively predictable but hard to beat. The €4,150 Tudor Black Bay 58 is a chronometer-certified dive watch that can be dressed up or down. In fact, it’s one of the best “only watches” on the planet. For the final category, Mike chose the €10,600 Zenith Chronomaster Original as his favorite piece. The mighty El Primero movement, the A386 case profile, and a legendary dial design make it his favorite luxury automatic chronograph.

Naturally, a topic like this is ripe for opinions, so let us know your thoughts on the best value watches at different price levels. We’re excited to see your choices. For now, thanks for listening, and if you have topic suggestions for future shows, please let us know.

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Fratello On Air: Currently Available Watches Offering The Best Value

Let’s face it, when people compile lists like these, they’re often thinking of other watches, that you can’t just walk in and buy from a Boutique or AD, at retail, and that would cost significantly more, if you were to purchase them on the secondary market 🤗

So, it is only fair, to name those watches alongside their best valued easily available alternatives.

It is relatively easy to suggest watches with similar specs.

It is even easier to suggest what is essentially an homage watch to the original.

It is significantly harder to suggest alternatives that truly capture the spirit of a watch, its presence and its aura.

For example, many could say, instead of a Rolex Daytona, consider a Zenith Chronomaster Sport.

It is a similarly sized in-house sport chronograph with a ceramic bezel from the manufacture that, not too long ago, used to provide the ebauche for the movement in the Daytona.

It is significantly less expensive at retail, readily available and can be had for a massive discount on the pre-owned market.

And, they wouldn’t be wrong.

If you are looking for a Daytona homage from a reputable manufacture, that is the perfect alternative.

However, if you are looking for something that manifests a Daytona like spirit and aura, that represents for its manufacture what the Daytona represents for Rolex, and that would fit in the style and psyche of its wearer just like a Daytona would, then it becomes less simple.

Then, you have to go beyond specs and the superficial look, and think about the inner spirit, the ethos, the heritage and the style.

It is possible to find the perfect alternative in a watch that, while in the same category, looks nothing like the source of inspiration for the quest, but feels more like it.

It is even possible to find the perfect alternative in a watch that resides in another category altogether, superficially, but that intrinsically possesses the same qualities both tangible and intangible.

Having thought about this very exercise for the longest time, I have found only a few truly compelling alternatives for a few unobtainium watches, the Submariner, the Daytona and the Aquanaut, and zero compelling alternatives for other iconic watches like the GMT Master, the Royal Oak, the Tank or the Nautilus.