Some of the brands in the stories below may surprise you, link while others are classic value props. Sure, Seiko has long been the value champion for a wide swath of the watch enthusiast population, but don't sleep on Timex, Hamilton, Tissot, Farer, Parchie, or even cheap-as-chips options link from Casio. You could be into a brand-new watch for little more than the cost link of a cheese pizza and a large soda at Panucci's Pizza (sadly, with inflation, from 1999).

Although we've become accustomed to a number of 40mm and larger Grand Seiko special and limited editions, these new Spring Drive link models are more modestly sized at 39mm x 12.5mm. Pricing, too, is classic Grand Seiko, at $5,000 (this actually makes the two new watches some of the least expensive Grand Seiko Spring Drive models available from Grand Seiko USA, at this point).