The best one-watch collection

200m of water resistance with sapphire, in a 41mm case that is 46.9mm lug-to-lug and 12.3mm thick — enough capability that nothing you do in a normal life will trouble it, in a size that still sits under a cuff.

The Alpinist reads as a field watch rather than a diver, which is exactly what a single watch should do: it is quiet enough for a suit and tough enough for a beach. 20mm lugs take any strap made.

Seiko publishes $296 to overhaul the 6R and recommends it about every three years, so the running cost is knowable. The catch is price — this is the most expensive watch on this page.

This is where Seiko starts publishing an accuracy figure (+25/-15 seconds a day) and fits sapphire. A 6R35 overhaul is $296 against $176 for a 4R36 — a real difference, and one you can plan for.

Sapphire, 200m and a screw-down crown around an in-house automatic that hacks and hand-winds — the specification that matters for an only watch, at a fraction of the Seiko.

41.8mm with a published 46.8mm lug-to-lug and a 22mm strap width, so it fits most wrists and takes the most common strap size there is.

It looks more like a dive watch than the Alpinist does, which makes it slightly less versatile in formal settings, and Orient publishes no US service price.

On paper this is the best value in the category and it is not close: sapphire and a hacking, hand-windable in-house caliber at a price where Seiko still fits Hardlex. Orient's three-year warranty is longer than Hamilton's or Tissot's.

38mm with a published 47mm lug-to-lug and 11mm thick — the most wearable watch on this page, and the one that disappears under a cuff most easily.

The 80-hour reserve is the practical luxury here: it is the only watch on this page that will still be running after a weekend off the wrist.

100m rather than 200m, which is enough for swimming but leaves less margin as gaskets age, and Hamilton publishes no US service price.

Mechanically identical to the Murph and usually cheaper, because it does not carry a film's name. 47mm lug-to-lug on a 38mm case is a genuinely versatile footprint.