Best watches for college students

A genuine mechanical watch at a price most students can reach, on the caliber more American watchmakers have worked on than any other — and Seiko publishes $176 to overhaul it, so it is still serviceable in 2050.

100m covers rain, swimming and a spilled drink. 42.5mm across but only 46mm lug-to-lug, so it fits more wrists than the diameter suggests, on a 22mm strap width that costs almost nothing to change.

Hardlex rather than sapphire, so it will pick up marks that stay. Four years of student life will show on it, which is arguably the point.

The 4R36 is the most commonly serviced mechanical caliber in the United States and Seiko publishes a flat $176 price to overhaul it. That single fact does more for a twenty-year horizon than any spec on the case.

Sapphire and 200m on an automatic for student money — the crystal will still look new at graduation, which nothing else at this price manages.

41mm with a published 48mm lug-to-lug and a 20mm strap width.

Timex publishes no caliber and no service price, so this is a watch to enjoy rather than to hand down. The one-year warranty excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Sapphire and 200m for the money is real. What Timex does not publish is the caliber — which means you cannot look up what an overhaul costs before you buy, and that is exactly the number this site exists to check.

Solar means no winding, no battery and nothing to remember — genuinely useful for anyone whose life is already full of things to remember.

36mm with a published 44.5mm lug-to-lug and sapphire at 100m. It is small, light, and fits under a sleeve without thought.

An 18mm strap width rather than the more common 20mm, and the same one-year Timex warranty with the same exclusions.

The smallest genuinely good watch here. Sapphire, solar, 100m and 44.5mm across the lugs — if you have a small wrist and want to stop thinking about batteries, start here.

Citizen's five-year limited warranty is the longest on this page by four years, on a light-powered watch with nothing to service.

37mm on a nylon strap, 100m, and a dial with nothing on it to date — this is the watch that looks equally right in a lecture and at a family dinner.

A mineral crystal, which marks permanently, and an 18mm strap width. Citizen publishes neither the thickness nor the lug-to-lug.

37mm, 18mm lugs, 100m, no battery, five years of cover. There is very little here to go wrong and almost nothing that will date.