October 23, 2025 • 15 mins
Hey Watch Fans,
Check out the Esquires top 9 watches for under $500! This list was published in October 15, 2025 and written by Eric Francisco,I am sure you can still find it. the link below will show you the entire list...and its a fun one!
The list is constantly evolving, throughout the year.
9 Best Watches Under $500 in 2025, According to Esquire Editors
Like WatchFanatics.ca on Facebook
Follow David @watchfanaticdavid on Instagram
AND
Please check out Carol at
IG: @spassense
AND
check out Kevin at
IG: @watchfanatics.ca
Check out the Esquires top 9 watches for under $500! This list was published in October 15, 2025 and written by Eric Francisco,I am sure you can still find it. the link below will show you the entire list...and its a fun one!
The list is constantly evolving, throughout the year.
9 Best Watches Under $500 in 2025, According to Esquire Editors
Like WatchFanatics.ca on Facebook
Follow David @watchfanaticdavid on Instagram
AND
Please check out Carol at
IG: @spassense
AND
check out Kevin at
IG: @watchfanatics.ca
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, you're listening to watch fanatics podcasts. Here we talk
about watches, either myself or with my two watch collecting friends. Subscribe,
like and give us a five star rating if you
feel appropriate, enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello everyone, welcome back. And before I get into today's episode,
I just want to say two things. The first is
that the next episode we will be talking with Unison Watches,
and joining us on that episode will be Carol. It's
been a while since we heard from her. She's gonna
(00:45):
bring her fashion and luxury point of view and her
watch fanatic point of view to the conversation, so I'm
really excited to see how that goes. This is a
brand I discovered while researching for the twenty twenty five
Toronto Timepiece show. And this is a brand that I
thought was very well designed, very cool, unique fresh. It
(01:11):
stands out. But when I got to the show and
actually met Unison man, these watches blew me out of
the water. And I had my eye on a few
watches that I set a budget for, but if they
were sold out or if I had money left over,
Unison Watch was something I would purchase, and in fact,
(01:36):
I will purchase one down the road. I just want one,
and I'm excited for you guys to learn more about
Unison too. The second thing I want to talk about
is the minutes in our show that's going to take
place November fifteen and sixteen, And that's the minutes in
(01:56):
our show, Austin. If you haven't, I've seen other people's
instagrams or YouTube or podcasts about minutes and hours, Please
go do so now. It is a wonderful show. And
I say this because I had very limited interaction with
Rich and Rich Park, by the way, is the man
(02:20):
behind the show. And I've been a fan of Rich Park.
I followed his YouTube channel. I learned a lot about
watches through his YouTube channel. I learned actually I remember
he did a review on one of my favorite brands,
whitby Watch Company, and it's partly because of Rich. I'm
a fan of Whippy and I've got several watches now.
(02:44):
And I'm saying this because it's not just my interaction
with him or what I've seen on his YouTube channel
or his Instagram. I've talked to other watch brands that
had nothing but great things to say about Rich Park.
I have and a listener from San Diego Go and
meet rich Park and she was very excited and she
(03:05):
met him at one of the Los Angeles shows that
he puts on. And he's been making these relationships with
the fans with the brands for a very long time,
and from my understanding, it's a very solid relationship he
has with the brands and a very reputable relationship with
(03:27):
the brands. You know, you're getting a show in Austin
that's for the watch fans and it's just not for commerce.
And now on to today's episode. So we're doing something
a little different. We're not going to Gentlemen's Quarterly, although
I do like Gentlemen's Quarterly. We are going to Esquire. Now,
(03:52):
there's an article that was published October fifteenth, twenty twenty
five by Eric Francisco and the article is called nine
best Watches under five hundred dollars. Eric Francisco does an
amazing job. He tackles on the subject of best nine
watches on your five hundred dollars. And what I do
(04:14):
like about what Eric does here is he actually also
lists the price of the watch, and not just a
listed price, but where different places he choose to buy
the watch, the prices are going to be American except
for Marathon I have. There is a typo in this
(04:35):
article where the price is incorrect, so I will give
the Canadian price, and I will talk about these watches
in no particular order. So let's get to it. So
the first watch I'll talk about is the Timex Marlin
(04:58):
Chronograph tech Meter. And this is a nice looking chronograph.
It's available on Amazon right now at one hundred and
sixty nine dollars discounted right now. And if you're not
familiar with the time X Bolin Chronograph, it is a
beautiful gray dial and it has a date at the
(05:22):
four point thirty position, and you got three sub dials
that are black, which pops out really well on this
gray dial at the nine o'clock, three o'clock, and six
o'clock position. What I like about Timex It's been a
watch I've known growing up, and it's one of my
(05:44):
favorite American brands. It's priced for the entry market, but
some of the watches, I gotta tell you hit above
their weight. And they've been around since nineteen fifty four,
so some history with us, but I foresee them being
with us for a very long time. The next watch
(06:06):
is the g Shock DW six nine hundred Dash one
V you find out at Amazon right now at sixty
three dollars or at Casio dot com for one hundred dollars.
It's a watch you're very familiar with, nothing spectacular. Why
(06:28):
it's on this list is probably because it's sturdy, tough,
unrecognizably a G shock, so it's got that G Shock clout.
It's an easy to read digital watch as features like
stop watch, timer, internal calendar, and alarm. Like I said,
(06:52):
very tough. Why do we resistance for up to two
hundred meters? A great all round tool watched so at
sixty three dollars, it's a watch that if it got
really scratched up, you could replace it without sweating too
much at the bank. Same if you take it to
the gym and leave it in the locker it gets stolen,
(07:15):
you're not gonna sweat over replacing it for sixty three dollars. Next,
we'll talk about the Orient Bambino Version eight. It's two
hundred and eighty dollars at Amazon right now. And this
Orient Bambino it's still very dressy like the rest of
the Bambinos and comes with a leather strap. It has
(07:37):
a date window at three o'clock, a day sub dial
at ten o'clock, and the twenty four hour subdial at
the five o'clock position. Hard to visualize this, but check
out Orient Bambino version eight. You won't be disappointed. And
I know a lot of the collectors that love Orient.
(07:59):
So if you're not familiar or you are worried about
what people say about the Orient Bambino, trust me, they
won't say anything bad. Let's move on to the Citizen
Bryson Super Titanium. It's on Amazon at three hundred and
(08:20):
fifty seven dollars and at citizenwatch dot com for three
hundred and fifty seven dollars. This Citizen is an Eco Drive,
very practical. It's a grabbing go type of watch. Basically,
you're looking at a sporty pornograph, charcoal black bezel, blue dial,
(08:44):
date window at the four o'clock position, and it's titanium.
Hey Man, three hundred and fifty seven dollars for Eco
drive perpetual calendar chronograph. Great deal, so I have to
with esquire there. Next watch we have is the Baltic
HMS zero zero three the Salmon dial, and it's four
(09:09):
hundred and eighteen year olds at Baltic watches dot com.
A nice beautiful dress watch. I mean salmon dial, silver numbers,
silver and deceased silver hands. Very classy, beautiful looking dress watch.
It is a meoda movement if those who care about movements.
(09:31):
It's got a nice classic dress watch feel and that
salmon dial makes it look like a patina of a
vintage watch, but it's new and unlike a vintage watch,
you don't have to worry about being extra careful. It's
not fragile again. Baltic HMS zero zero three Salmon Our
(09:56):
next watch is Marathon thirty four millimeters Sage green GPQD
and that's four hundred and eighty three Canadian. If you're
wondering what GPQ stands for, it's general purpose quartz. You're
getting a military grade watch, which Marathon is famous for.
(10:19):
If being military grade isn't cool enough, it's got the
tritium that Marathon's really good with, and it has that
cool little end of life sports movement which indicates it's
time to change the battery so you'll never be caught
off guard with a dead battery. And the next watch
(10:41):
we have is a tso PRX thirty five millimeter on
sale right now at tsowatches dot com at three hundred
and ninety five dollars. I mean, the PRX has been
all over Instagram. It came out a few years ago
and I feel like it's still going strong with different variations.
Some people love their Tiso and some people love the PRX.
(11:05):
It's a nice metal bracelet, metal case dress watch. So
what this watch brings to the table is that if
you have that snobbery where the only watch you'll wear
is a Swiss made watch, Tiso offers you something very affordable,
(11:29):
very affordable that's not a swatch, and that three hundred
and ninety five dollars you're getting a very like I said,
you're getting a steelcase, a steel integrated bracelet dress watch.
But it has a bit of a sporty feel, and
I think if you're wearing something other than the suit,
you're wearing a short sleeve polo shirt for example, the
(11:52):
Tiso would work really well. Next, we have the Cassio
e f K one hundred dash seven A, also known
as the Edifice, and that's at Cassio dot com right
now on sale at one hundred dollars. When it's not
on sale. It's two hundred and eighty dollars. Funny, I'm
(12:15):
talking about the Tiso right before this because this is
an automatic as well, with the metal case and the
metal bracelet. It has a date window at six o'clock.
The Tiso has a date window at three o'clock. As
a shopper, you would probably want to compare these two
biggest separation for an extra three hundred dollars. With the sale,
(12:41):
you're getting a Swiss movement versus a Japanese movement. Besides
that difference, I mean they're both dress watches, and I think,
like I said, they both translate to a sporty look too.
The Edifice will look good with a suit and with
a short sleep and sitting at one hundred dollars right
(13:03):
now at Casio dot com, can't go wrong with this.
If you know, anyone looking for an affordable watch that
could be dressy, could be sporty, I would recommend the
Edifice for sure. Let's move on to the last watch
I'll talk about today, which is the Saiko SSK zero
(13:27):
zero three also known as Sheiko five Sports GMT. What
I like about this GMT number one, It's a GMT
it's au Mat GMT four hundred, five hundred dollars at
Sikousa dot com. It's four hundred and ninety five dollars
at Cohl's three hundred and eighty dollars, Macy's three hundred
(13:49):
and twenty five dollars. You're getting a sharp GMT. And
this watch does come with different colored dials. And what
I've always liked about Saco fives is the brown is
at the four o'clock position. It really is a feature
that makes it stand out from other watches. This cycle
(14:12):
does come with a steel bracelet, but this SK zero
zero three is a watch that might get a lot
of use, so you can get a little bit bored.
But what I like about the Secle fives they look
amazing with other straps, so just buy another strap. Put
(14:36):
on a Sacle five brings back some of the love
you had for the watch when you first purchase it. It
keeps them fun, it keeps them in your rotation for
a very long time. And three twenty five at Macy's
man good deal. In fact, if I had to choose
to watch all of this lists, it's no surprise I'd
(14:59):
probably pick the Cycle GMT. For five hundred dollars. I'm
sure you could find other watches, but on this list,
I am curious. For under five hundred dollars, what would
you buy? Do you agree with that Saiko five? Do
you disagree with that Sako five? Do you go with
Swiss movement? Do you go with Japanese movement? Do you
(15:22):
go digital? Do you go analog? Automatic? Sports? I mean
there's there's a lot under five hundred. Yeah, I really
want to know what you guys think. Let me know
until next time. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Bye,
Well, you're listening to watch fanatics podcasts. Here we talk
about watches, either myself or with my two watch collecting friends. Subscribe,
like and give us a five star rating if you
feel appropriate, enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello everyone, welcome back. And before I get into today's episode,
I just want to say two things. The first is
that the next episode we will be talking with Unison Watches,
and joining us on that episode will be Carol. It's
been a while since we heard from her. She's gonna
(00:45):
bring her fashion and luxury point of view and her
watch fanatic point of view to the conversation, so I'm
really excited to see how that goes. This is a
brand I discovered while researching for the twenty twenty five
Toronto Timepiece show. And this is a brand that I
thought was very well designed, very cool, unique fresh. It
(01:11):
stands out. But when I got to the show and
actually met Unison man, these watches blew me out of
the water. And I had my eye on a few
watches that I set a budget for, but if they
were sold out or if I had money left over,
Unison Watch was something I would purchase, and in fact,
(01:36):
I will purchase one down the road. I just want one,
and I'm excited for you guys to learn more about
Unison too. The second thing I want to talk about
is the minutes in our show that's going to take
place November fifteen and sixteen, And that's the minutes in
(01:56):
our show, Austin. If you haven't, I've seen other people's
instagrams or YouTube or podcasts about minutes and hours, Please
go do so now. It is a wonderful show. And
I say this because I had very limited interaction with
Rich and Rich Park, by the way, is the man
(02:20):
behind the show. And I've been a fan of Rich Park.
I followed his YouTube channel. I learned a lot about
watches through his YouTube channel. I learned actually I remember
he did a review on one of my favorite brands,
whitby Watch Company, and it's partly because of Rich. I'm
a fan of Whippy and I've got several watches now.
(02:44):
And I'm saying this because it's not just my interaction
with him or what I've seen on his YouTube channel
or his Instagram. I've talked to other watch brands that
had nothing but great things to say about Rich Park.
I have and a listener from San Diego Go and
meet rich Park and she was very excited and she
(03:05):
met him at one of the Los Angeles shows that
he puts on. And he's been making these relationships with
the fans with the brands for a very long time,
and from my understanding, it's a very solid relationship he
has with the brands and a very reputable relationship with
(03:27):
the brands. You know, you're getting a show in Austin
that's for the watch fans and it's just not for commerce.
And now on to today's episode. So we're doing something
a little different. We're not going to Gentlemen's Quarterly, although
I do like Gentlemen's Quarterly. We are going to Esquire. Now,
(03:52):
there's an article that was published October fifteenth, twenty twenty
five by Eric Francisco and the article is called nine
best Watches under five hundred dollars. Eric Francisco does an
amazing job. He tackles on the subject of best nine
watches on your five hundred dollars. And what I do
(04:14):
like about what Eric does here is he actually also
lists the price of the watch, and not just a
listed price, but where different places he choose to buy
the watch, the prices are going to be American except
for Marathon I have. There is a typo in this
(04:35):
article where the price is incorrect, so I will give
the Canadian price, and I will talk about these watches
in no particular order. So let's get to it. So
the first watch I'll talk about is the Timex Marlin
(04:58):
Chronograph tech Meter. And this is a nice looking chronograph.
It's available on Amazon right now at one hundred and
sixty nine dollars discounted right now. And if you're not
familiar with the time X Bolin Chronograph, it is a
beautiful gray dial and it has a date at the
(05:22):
four point thirty position, and you got three sub dials
that are black, which pops out really well on this
gray dial at the nine o'clock, three o'clock, and six
o'clock position. What I like about Timex It's been a
watch I've known growing up, and it's one of my
(05:44):
favorite American brands. It's priced for the entry market, but
some of the watches, I gotta tell you hit above
their weight. And they've been around since nineteen fifty four,
so some history with us, but I foresee them being
with us for a very long time. The next watch
(06:06):
is the g Shock DW six nine hundred Dash one
V you find out at Amazon right now at sixty
three dollars or at Casio dot com for one hundred dollars.
It's a watch you're very familiar with, nothing spectacular. Why
(06:28):
it's on this list is probably because it's sturdy, tough,
unrecognizably a G shock, so it's got that G Shock clout.
It's an easy to read digital watch as features like
stop watch, timer, internal calendar, and alarm. Like I said,
(06:52):
very tough. Why do we resistance for up to two
hundred meters? A great all round tool watched so at
sixty three dollars, it's a watch that if it got
really scratched up, you could replace it without sweating too
much at the bank. Same if you take it to
the gym and leave it in the locker it gets stolen,
(07:15):
you're not gonna sweat over replacing it for sixty three dollars. Next,
we'll talk about the Orient Bambino Version eight. It's two
hundred and eighty dollars at Amazon right now. And this
Orient Bambino it's still very dressy like the rest of
the Bambinos and comes with a leather strap. It has
(07:37):
a date window at three o'clock, a day sub dial
at ten o'clock, and the twenty four hour subdial at
the five o'clock position. Hard to visualize this, but check
out Orient Bambino version eight. You won't be disappointed. And
I know a lot of the collectors that love Orient.
(07:59):
So if you're not familiar or you are worried about
what people say about the Orient Bambino, trust me, they
won't say anything bad. Let's move on to the Citizen
Bryson Super Titanium. It's on Amazon at three hundred and
(08:20):
fifty seven dollars and at citizenwatch dot com for three
hundred and fifty seven dollars. This Citizen is an Eco Drive,
very practical. It's a grabbing go type of watch. Basically,
you're looking at a sporty pornograph, charcoal black bezel, blue dial,
(08:44):
date window at the four o'clock position, and it's titanium.
Hey Man, three hundred and fifty seven dollars for Eco
drive perpetual calendar chronograph. Great deal, so I have to
with esquire there. Next watch we have is the Baltic
HMS zero zero three the Salmon dial, and it's four
(09:09):
hundred and eighteen year olds at Baltic watches dot com.
A nice beautiful dress watch. I mean salmon dial, silver numbers,
silver and deceased silver hands. Very classy, beautiful looking dress watch.
It is a meoda movement if those who care about movements.
(09:31):
It's got a nice classic dress watch feel and that
salmon dial makes it look like a patina of a
vintage watch, but it's new and unlike a vintage watch,
you don't have to worry about being extra careful. It's
not fragile again. Baltic HMS zero zero three Salmon Our
(09:56):
next watch is Marathon thirty four millimeters Sage green GPQD
and that's four hundred and eighty three Canadian. If you're
wondering what GPQ stands for, it's general purpose quartz. You're
getting a military grade watch, which Marathon is famous for.
(10:19):
If being military grade isn't cool enough, it's got the
tritium that Marathon's really good with, and it has that
cool little end of life sports movement which indicates it's
time to change the battery so you'll never be caught
off guard with a dead battery. And the next watch
(10:41):
we have is a tso PRX thirty five millimeter on
sale right now at tsowatches dot com at three hundred
and ninety five dollars. I mean, the PRX has been
all over Instagram. It came out a few years ago
and I feel like it's still going strong with different variations.
Some people love their Tiso and some people love the PRX.
(11:05):
It's a nice metal bracelet, metal case dress watch. So
what this watch brings to the table is that if
you have that snobbery where the only watch you'll wear
is a Swiss made watch, Tiso offers you something very affordable,
(11:29):
very affordable that's not a swatch, and that three hundred
and ninety five dollars you're getting a very like I said,
you're getting a steelcase, a steel integrated bracelet dress watch.
But it has a bit of a sporty feel, and
I think if you're wearing something other than the suit,
you're wearing a short sleeve polo shirt for example, the
(11:52):
Tiso would work really well. Next, we have the Cassio
e f K one hundred dash seven A, also known
as the Edifice, and that's at Cassio dot com right
now on sale at one hundred dollars. When it's not
on sale. It's two hundred and eighty dollars. Funny, I'm
(12:15):
talking about the Tiso right before this because this is
an automatic as well, with the metal case and the
metal bracelet. It has a date window at six o'clock.
The Tiso has a date window at three o'clock. As
a shopper, you would probably want to compare these two
biggest separation for an extra three hundred dollars. With the sale,
(12:41):
you're getting a Swiss movement versus a Japanese movement. Besides
that difference, I mean they're both dress watches, and I think,
like I said, they both translate to a sporty look too.
The Edifice will look good with a suit and with
a short sleep and sitting at one hundred dollars right
(13:03):
now at Casio dot com, can't go wrong with this.
If you know, anyone looking for an affordable watch that
could be dressy, could be sporty, I would recommend the
Edifice for sure. Let's move on to the last watch
I'll talk about today, which is the Saiko SSK zero
(13:27):
zero three also known as Sheiko five Sports GMT. What
I like about this GMT number one, It's a GMT
it's au Mat GMT four hundred, five hundred dollars at
Sikousa dot com. It's four hundred and ninety five dollars
at Cohl's three hundred and eighty dollars, Macy's three hundred
(13:49):
and twenty five dollars. You're getting a sharp GMT. And
this watch does come with different colored dials. And what
I've always liked about Saco fives is the brown is
at the four o'clock position. It really is a feature
that makes it stand out from other watches. This cycle
(14:12):
does come with a steel bracelet, but this SK zero
zero three is a watch that might get a lot
of use, so you can get a little bit bored.
But what I like about the Secle fives they look
amazing with other straps, so just buy another strap. Put
(14:36):
on a Sacle five brings back some of the love
you had for the watch when you first purchase it. It
keeps them fun, it keeps them in your rotation for
a very long time. And three twenty five at Macy's
man good deal. In fact, if I had to choose
to watch all of this lists, it's no surprise I'd
(14:59):
probably pick the Cycle GMT. For five hundred dollars. I'm
sure you could find other watches, but on this list,
I am curious. For under five hundred dollars, what would
you buy? Do you agree with that Saiko five? Do
you disagree with that Sako five? Do you go with
Swiss movement? Do you go with Japanese movement? Do you
(15:22):
go digital? Do you go analog? Automatic? Sports? I mean
there's there's a lot under five hundred. Yeah, I really
want to know what you guys think. Let me know
until next time. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Bye,
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