Last Minute Watch Shopping at Ross or TJ Maxx

Christmas is right around the corner. If you need a gift quick, you might dash into Ross or TJ Maxx and pickup a watch. They usually have nice ones. At Ross, you are looking at prices from $15 to about $70 for a man's watch. At TJ Maxx, you may be looking at $40 to $150.  However, if your city has an exclusive runway or boutique TJ Maxx, those locations may have watches that go all the way up to $1200 or so. However, you can count on these Brick-n-Mortar stores to have something decent for last minute Christmas shoppers 

A Gucci Watch at TJ Maxx

You'll have to poke around online to find out about where those stores are near you. If you see an $1100 watch in your TJ Maxx, you might actually be in one.

Watch Brands I Trust at Ross

Ross is a closeout store so selections can vary quite a bit. At Ross, lately, you can find brands like Joseph Abboud, American Exchange (A/X), Geoffrey Beene, Ed Hardy, Steve Madden, Reaction by Kenneth Cole, and Van Heusen. 

They also typically have a limited selection of Invicta watches. Sometimes you can find brands like Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger, or BOSS. You'll also might find some branded watches from clothing fashion brands like Timberland, Wrangler, or Lucky brand. Every once in awhile, you might find a Bulova. Of all these brands, I like Hilfiger, Invicta, and Nautica the best.  These brands usually have watches that look good and fall in the $60 to $75 sweet spot. If you are looking for fun, stocking stuffer, watches Ed Hardy, Steve Madden, and Geoffrey Beene watches offer interesting looks for about $20.

Watches at Ross

There can be some shortcomings in buying watches at Ross. In my experience, BOSS and Joseph Abboud sometimes have too short of a watch strap. If a watch is ticking and doesn't have a crown stopper in place, it may have been running for a long time. Don't be surprised if you have to replace the battery a little sooner than normal.

Watch Brands I Trust at TJ Maxx

My local TJ Maxx stores tend to have some more expensive watch brands. But, you can often find Invicta watches for as low at $55. I even saw one that was too small for me priced at $40 in December 2024. Recently I picked up this Invicta Speedway watch for just under $60 at a local TJ Maxx.

An Invicta Speedway Watch from TJ Maxx

Over the years, I've bought cool watches from brands like Bulova, Diesel, and Invicta at TJ Maxx.  Since we have both a runway and a boutique TJ Maxx nearby in the Atlanta area, I've also seen watches by Gucci, Movado and Versace for sale. They are much more than $60. I'm sure all the high end brands are very nice, but I trust watches from Bulova, Diesel, and Invicta to be great choices in my price range.

Movado Watches at TJ Maxx

It's always fun to see some out of the ordinary watches and I'm glad to see some of them show up in Ross and TJ Maxx. I also appreciate some of the high end brands like Gucci allowing some of their watches to make it into upscale closeout store locations. It's nice when everyone can have a chance to see some of their great products and even take a crack at buying them from time to time.

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Legion Watches from Belk

At the height of the Christmas season, it can be great fun to enjoy the extended hours at department stores.  Sometimes, it's like you get to sneak in and enjoy the service, the decor, and the personal attention that the early birds miss out on.  One retailer that we like in our region of the United States is Belk.  They are a southern department store based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  During this holiday, we visited one of their premiere stores in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was a good opportunity to take stock of the every day quartz watches they offer in their Legion store brand.

I took a look at the Legion watches stacked in a store display.  After a busy shopping day, the sales people remained effervescent, but they hadn't had a chance to front the display and make it presentable.  Nevertheless, I had a great chance to take a look at many of their Legion brand watches.
 

Legion Diver-style Watch

 The first watch to catch my eye was the Legion diver-style watch with subdials shown above.  It has all the right markings for a dive watch, but the bezel doesn't rotate and the subdials are purely for decorative purposes.  Still, $40 is a great price for a fashionable quartz watch with a 10-year warranty.
 

Legion Watch with Extra Strap from Belk

Another interesting choice might be this gold-tone Legion watch with extra strap.  It would give you the flexibility of a metal bracelet or a leather strap.  However, this gold tone is a little too much like a women's "boyfriend" style watch for my taste.

Legion Watch with Roman Numerals

Handsome Roman numerals and a leather strap drew my eyes to this Legion watch as well.  It's likely that the sub-dials are non-functional, but it is a nice looking watch.

Legion Watch with Gold & Silver Tones

If bling is your thing, the silver and gold-tone Legion watch (above) offered a masculine take on the matter.  It's a solid looking timepiece for sure.  There were many other watches in the Belk lineup of Legion brand watches.  However, after a few minutes, it was time to move on.  Overall, these watches make a great "bonus" gift or stocking stuffer.

Finally, I saw the silver-on-silver Legion watch shown above.  It a Legion watch that I have previously reviewed here:  Wristwatch Review:  Men's Legion Analog Watch.


I should note that there is a Legion brand of watches that is sweeping the Internet.  I don't believe that these watches are in any way related to the housebrand watches sold at Belk.  But, with a ten year warranty and a plethora of styles to choose from, these Legion watches from Belk are solid last minute holiday gift!

Watch Sighting: Wenger Off Road Watch with GMT Dial

Still looking for a great gift idea for a man?  You might check out this Wenger Off-Road GMT watch.  It offers rugged good looks, a Swiss-made quartz movement, a unidirectional rotating bezel, and water resistance down to 100 meters (for swimming or snorkeling).  The 42 millimeter diameter case and 22 millimeter wide strap are perfectly proportioned for most men.

The small red hand on the dial should be set to point at the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).  The Greenwich Mean Time is the time at the Prime Meridian (0-degrees longitude).  When you read the GMT, you can mentally make the adjustment to any familiar timezone.  For example, Atlanta, Georgia, is GMT -5:00 hours.  When it's 7:30 a.m. at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich England, it's 2:30 a.m. here in Atlanta.  You can check your time difference here at GreenwichMeanTime.com.  There are a wide variety of ways that aviators and other professionals can use a GMT watch..

The Greenwich Royal Observatory - Photograph by Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent. (www.clemrutter.net). (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Watches from Retailers

It's officially the last minute for Christmas Shopping.  If you haven't bought a gift by now, it's nearly time to panic.  But, there are still some nice watches available.  You just have to figure out where to shop.  When I shop for watches in person, there are three stores that I frequent:

Walmart. (See my article Pssst....Check Out The Watches at Walmart)  Walmart has lots of stocking stuffer watches for less than $15.  They also have a great collection of Timex, Casio, Armitron, and Elgin watches.  If you are looking for a gift that counts as a "nice" watch, you can't go wrong with a Casio G-Shock from Walmart.  They have a pretty good selection and good prices.  One caveat, the amount of merchandise offered varies a lot from Walmart to Walmart.  Typically, better zip codes (in terms of Audi, Lexus, and Volvo vehicles per zip) have better merchandise.

Stocking Stuffer Watches at Walmart

Typically, I've found the Elgin watches at Walmart to be a little over-blinged. [As of 2025, the dedicated watch counter at Walmart seems to have faded into oblivion, but they still have dedicated shelves with lots of inexpensive watches from their brand George and watches from Casio and Timex. You can read more about George brand watches in my post = TGIF: Are George Watches Any Good?]

Elgin Watches

T.J. Maxx.  If one store is consistent in surprising me with great watches, it's T.J. Maxx.  Major cities like Atlanta typically have at least one "Runway T.J. Maxx" with the best fashion merchandise.    See my article "Watches at the Runway T.J. Maxx in Atlanta".  You can often find watch brands including Bulova, Croton, Wenger, Tissot, Tommy Bahama at T.J. Maxx.

Kohl's.  My other go to store for watches is Kohl's.  Check your junk mail for a catalogue with a pull off coupon for something like 10 to 30% off of your purchase.  Also, if you've already bought from Kohls this season, you might have Kohl's cash coupons.  To see what a good deal from Kohls looks like, check out my article:  "The Anatomy of a Good Deal at Kohls."

If all else fails, there is always a Gift Card from Amazon, you can either send them via e-mail or print them out at home! An Amazon gift card can be a life saver when it comes to gift giving!

Finally, if you want to give something really cool, gift the gift of Amazon Prime.

Shop Amazon - Give the Gift of Amazon Prime

Your recipient will get great deals on shipping, lots of free e-books, and plenty of streaming content and the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger.d luck and happy holidays!

[As of 2024, I'd fade Kohl's from my list of places to shop for watches.  The watch counter seems to have faded into oblivion.  They still have inexpensive watches from Geneva, Caribbean Joe, Casio, and Timex. As a good alternative, I might recommend Ross.]

The Anatomy of a Good Deal at Kohl's

My wife got me a very nice Pulsar watch for Christmas.  She bought it at Kohl's.  I was there.  I even tried it on.  It will be a great watch to share with you sometime after Christmas.  However, it was interesting to see how a good deal on a watch works at Kohl's.

This Pulsar chronograph dress watch originally retailed for a hefty $175.   But, then there were a few adjustments to be made:

• The watch itself was 25% off on sale.
• Kohls was running a scratch off sale and my wife had a scratch off ticket for 20%.  (The tickets come on the catalog mailer, but they are also available at the register.)
• After the transaction, she got a coupon for $20 Kohl's Cash that she can use after Christmas.  You get $10 in Kohl's cash per $50 spent on a purchase.

 The discounts brought the watch down to an amazing $105 plus tax.  That is a very respectable deal  for a watch that I got see under glass and try on in person.  There is something cool about interacting with helpful sales people and picking out a watch with someone special.  My wife felt like she won the lottery after all the discounts.  I felt like I got the best watch out of the whole watch department.

Of course, as those final Christmas shopping days wind down, you might just want to get yourself to a brick-n-mortar store like Kohl's and get something while the getting is good!