The $100 Watch Collection: 5 Watches for a Total of $100

Watch collecting doesn't have to be cost prohibitive.  You can easily build a starter watch collection of several watches for less than $100.  With a little smart shopping online, you can easily find great watches for under $25 apiece.  For this post, I put together a five watch collection for $100 on Amazon.  It includes a dive watch, a minimalist business casual watch, an outdoorsman's watch, a tanker-style dress watch, and a traditional dress watch.

The great thing about this collection is that I actually own all of these watches and I can attest to them all actually being pretty decent watches.  While prices do fluctuate, you should be able to build this collection for approximately $100 total as of June 2024.

1. Casio Black Resin Dive Watch (MRW-200H-1BV) - At approximately $22 on Amazon or at your local Walmart, Casio MRW-200H offers a uni-directional rotating bezel, 100-meters of water resistance, and classic dive watch markings.  It's a legible, readable, watch that makes a great daily wear beater.  You can find a variety of number and bezel marking colors on these watches. 

Casio Black Resin Dive Watch

2. Brigada Men's Watches Cool Black Blue Business Casual (Brigada Minimalist) - For about $17, Brigada brings a great minimalist watch to the market place. It looks great on the wrist and feels very comfortable.  The company offers several varieties that give you some options about whether you want numerals or just markers for the hours.

Brigada Minimalist Watch

3. Casio Forester (FT-500WC-5BVCF) - This is a small watch that's built for the hiker.  For about $22, the Forester gives you a tough lightweight watch with a cloth strap that's perfect for hot summer days.  It's another beater watch that can take abuse. I love the sense of adventure that comes with the Forester name and it brings back many memories of late night dog walking in Florida and all the nocturnal creatures I used to encounter with one of the best dogs we ever had.  I think this one is the ultimate beater watch.

Casio Forester

4. Armitron Men's Genuine Crystal Accented Leather Strap Watch (Armitron Tank) - The rectangular shape of a tanker-style dress watch is an unusual sight these days.  I found one on special for only $20 on Amazon.

Armitron Tank Watch

5. MASTOP Men's Analog Quartz Roman Numeral Watch (SKMEI Dress) - Finally, this classic dress watch has the SKMEI label on the dial.  For only $17, this watch looks great and is a comfortable dress watch for daily wear.  I've had a similar dress watch from SKMEI and have reviewed it here.  You can find different dial colors.  But, the watch is attractive and functional.  Here is my review of a review of a similar SKMEI watch.

SKMEI Dress Watch

This small investment in five wristwatches is just a starting point.  They also serve as a baseline for watch purchases in your future.  These low cost watches are a challenge to the more prestigious brands to bring something demonstrably better to the market.