Affordable Swiss Watches: Three Swiss Watches for $100 or Less

If you are on a tight budget and looking for affordable Swiss Made watches for your collection, it can be a challenge. Many Swiss watchmakers have moved up-market and staked out high price points that aren't always easy to attain for many consumers and especially younger collectors. Fortunately, there are still a few Swiss watch brands that most people can easily afford.  Here are three Swiss Made watches that are available for $100 or less.

Mathey-Tissot Excalibur Series Three Hand Date Watch

Mathey-Tissot is an interesting watch brand with a long and rich heritage.  It was founded in 1886 by Edmond Mathey-Tissot. Originally founded in Les-Ponts-de-Martel, Switzerland, it was moved to Geneva in 1975 when it was acquired by American distributor Jules Elefant. The brand changed ownership again in 2014 when it was acquired by Alberto Frigerio.  It is now managed by Swiss Watch Partners SA. Most of their watch models cost less than between $100 and $2000 within many offerings below $500. 

Mathey-Tissot Excalibur Series Three Hand Date Watch (Amazon Photo)

For this exercise, I focused on cost and selected their least expensive watch. The watch above is the Mathey-Tissot Excalibur Series Swiss Quartz watch. It's an all stainless steel watch with a 45mm diameter case that is 10mm thick. I love that they call the pattern "Medieval." You can check this watch out here on Amazon!

Wenger Urban Metro Swiss Quartz Watch

When Victorinox acquired Wenger in 2005, the Wenger brand started to disappear from the watch marketplace. The brand stopped making Swiss Army knives in the 2013 timeframe. It was a small price to pay to end tedious arguments about which brand was the original and which was the genuine Swiss Army brand. However, as Victorinox has moved more upscale, they must have made the decision to bring back the Wenger brand. According to Grok, the Victorinox subsidiary Wenger is focused on watches, travel gear, and licensed products (other than knives). The Wenger Urban Metro watch is a 42mm diameter Swiss Quartz watch that features minimalist styling and a canted date window at 4 o'clock.

Wenger Urban Metro Swiss Quartz Watch

Initially, this watch reminded me of the utilitarian designs from Mondaine (covered here on this blog). However, a second glance reveals strong field watch influences from timepieces like the Tudor Ranger. You can see the Wenger watch here on Amazon.

Swatch New Generation Bio-Ceramic Swiss Quartz Watch 

Finally, one popular Swiss Brand needs to be mentioned:  Swatch.  The brand makes all kinds of cool watches that are affordable and made in Switzerland. This one hits our $100 mark and brings a bit of style to the conversation. Swatch has watches that run from $60 on up and has recently made waves with collaboration watches with some big names in the watch industry.  The one pictured here today is called "Good to Gorp" and incorporates the latest in Bio-Ceramic case technology. This should increase the watch's longevity.

Swatch "Good to Gorp" Bio-ceramic Watch

You can find this Swatch here on Amazon. There are many other Swatch watches in this price range so this brand could form the basis for an interesting and affordable collection.

In an era when so many watch prices seem completely unaffordable, it's nice to have options!