Affordable Automatic Watches: Reef Tiger Men's Tourbillon with Convex Lens

Reef Tiger Men's Tourbillon Automatic with Convex Lens

Reef Tiger has a very special looking men's watch with mechanical movement.  They call it a casual watch, but it's a beauty.  Built around the Seiko NH39 automatic movement with windows revealing the movement and a transparent caseback, the Reef Tiger has what they bill as a convex lens, but which looks a domed crystal to me.

 Check out the profile pictures on Amazon to see the side view.  The watch is a sensible 40 millimeters in diameter and has a steel case, a sapphire crystal, and calfskin leather strap.  It offers water resistance of 50 meters.  A subdial shows the 24 hour time.  You can find this Reef Tiger watch with a blue dial on Amazon. 

As luxurious as this watch looks, the price point seems quite reasonable for a quality automatic watch.  Reef Tiger is a brand I've been following for awhile.  They have some great looking watches.  This one looks like a great Christmas gift for any man who appreciates a fine watch.

[Amazingly, as of August 2025, the Reef Tiger Tourbillon is still available on Amazon in three different color combinations. Reviews are mixed with some good and one quite bad. If you're intrigued, this Reef Tiger is swimming here on Amazon.]

 

Improving the Looks of Your Watch with an ArtStyle NATO-style ballistic strap

While social distancing may limit our abilities to show off our watch collections, this is a great time to spruce up our watches.  If you are looking to replace a fading, brittle, or oxidized watch strap, one of the easiest ways to improve the looks of your watch is to give it a NATO-style ballistic nylon strap like this one from ArtStyle.

This strap is 1.5 millimeters thick and is 11-inches long.  The ballistic nylon strap can be ordered in many colors.  The strap comes with a tool for removing watch bands and spring bars in order to make removal of the old watch band easy.  This is a fun way to give an old watch a rugged new look!

If you'd like to find an great looking ballistic nylon watch strap from ArtStyle, they are available in many colors and widths here on Amazon at Artstyle Watch Band.

 

Wristwatches of the Apocalypse: Timex Expedition Vintage Metal Field Watch

As the COVID crisis goes on and on, I'm not going out as much and I'm not going to the office at all.  Days go by without wearing a watch.  But, a few days ago, I opened my watch drawer and my Timex Expedition is still ticking.  It's ready to go somewhere.  Anywhere.

Timex Expedition Vintage Metal Watch

I think I'll wear it this evening.  We need to get out of the apartment.  It's time for an expedition of some kind.

[Update 1/7/2024:  Thank God, it seems like the worst of COVID is well behind us.  Now the question is what kind of watch to wear and where to wear it!]

 

What watch are you wearing during the Corona shutdown?

Wearing my Tissot Carson Powermatic 80

For much of this Corona virus (Covid-19, Sars2, whatever) shutdown, I haven't worn any watch at all.  I wasn't going anywhere.  If I did, I wasn't going to get out of the car.  At most, I thought, a fast food worker might get a quick glimpse of my wrist as I clumsily maneuvered my ATM card into a terminal awkwardly mounted at a drive through window.  But, lately, I've been wearing my Tissot Carson Powermatic 80.  It's a timepiece that my wife bought me as a gift and it feels good to wear it from time to time.

Even, if we are in a shutdown, time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future.  You might as well pass the time wearing a watch you enjoy.  This Tissot watch cost a significant amount on our budget and it means alot.  It's also nice to have something "Swiss Made" in my collection.

It may be awhile before I'm fully back in the swing of things around the neighborhood, but there's no reason not to wear a nice watch.

A Dream Watch: The Shinola Detroit Runwell 47mm

Do you have cabin fever yet?  Are you ready for all this Covid-19 lockdown to end?  What will you do when you get out?  What will you buy when you get out? I would sure like increase the proportion of American products on my shopping list. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to watches, there aren't many watches made in America today.  Nevertheless, if we are going to start down the road to economic recovery and employment opportunities for all Americans, we need to start somewhere.

I'd love to start with a luxury watch like this Shinola Detroit Runwell 47mm.  It's a quartz watch with a lustrous stainless case, a luxurious 24 5/13 millimeter leather band, and a double-curve sapphire crystal.

The Detroit Skyline from an early 1900s vintage postcard

The watch would come in a beautiful wooden display box with a booklet.  It would truly be a dream watch.  Best of all, it would be assembled with pride in the United States using a mix of American and foreign components.  The watch represents a small step towards bringing a watch manufacturing industry back to the United States.  It's a step worth taking!