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How we pick
Our whole authority claim is that you can check our work. Here is the formula, the weights and the sources — re-run it and you should land where we landed.
By Sawyer V. · Published
The short answer
Every watch on this site gets a Keep Score out of 10, computed from six published specifications: crystal (2.5), movement serviceability (2.5), water resistance (1.5), warranty term (1.5), strap standardization (1.0) and whether the manufacturer publishes what a service costs (1.0).
Most watch rankings are taste with a number attached. Ours is arithmetic, and it is arithmetic on purpose: we have not handled these watches, so an impression of one would be worth nothing. What we can do is read the same six things off every manufacturer's own specification sheet and weigh them the same way every time.
The consequence is that our rankings are falsifiable. If you think the crystal is worth more than the warranty, you can change the weight and see what moves. If you think we read a spec wrong, the source is linked on the watch. That is a weaker claim than "we wore it for six months" and a much more checkable one.
The six criteria, and why each one is here
| Criterion | Max | What we check | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal | 2.5 | Sapphire, hardlex, mineral or acrylic — what the front of the watch looks like after twenty years | Manufacturer specification sheet |
| Serviceability | 2.5 | Whether an independent watchmaker can rebuild the movement or can only replace a module | Movement type and caliber as published |
| Water resistance | 1.5 | The rating in meters, read against what it genuinely permits | Manufacturer specification, read against ISO 22810 and ISO 6425 |
| Warranty | 1.5 | The stated term, and what it excludes | Manufacturer warranty documentation |
| Strap standard | 1.0 | Lug width — a non-standard or integrated fitting is a future failure point | Manufacturer specification sheet |
| Cost-to-keep transparency | 1.0 | Whether the maker publishes what a service costs before you buy | Manufacturer service price lists |
Crystal — 2.5 points
- Sapphire, 2.5. Effectively unscratchable in daily wear.
- Acrylic, 1.8. Scratches immediately and polishes out with a cloth and a tube of paste. Cheap to keep looking new, which is the point on a watch you intend to own for decades.
- Sapphire-coated mineral, 1.5. The coating wears off; the glass underneath does not resist much.
- Hardlex, 1.3. Seiko's proprietary mineral. Harder than plain mineral, softer than sapphire, and it cannot be polished out.
- Mineral, 1.0. It will collect scratches you cannot remove.
Serviceability — 2.5 points
- Mechanical (automatic or hand-wound), 2.5. Can be stripped, cleaned, lubricated and returned to specification indefinitely, by anyone with the parts.
- Standard quartz, 1.6. The module is replaceable and the battery is a commodity part.
- Mecha-quartz, 1.5. Replaced rather than rebuilt, but the module is in current production.
- Solar, 1.4. No battery changes, but the cell is a wear part and the module is not rebuildable.
Water resistance — 1.5 points
200m or more scores the full 1.5; 100m scores 1.1; 50m scores 0.6; 30m scores 0.3; a model with no published meter rating scores zero. The gap between 30m and 100m is where most watches quietly die — see water resistance explained for what each number actually permits.
Warranty — 1.5 points
0.35 points per stated year, capped at 1.5, so five years earns full marks and one year earns 0.35. A manufacturer that does not publish a term on the product page scores zero — not as a penalty for the watch, but because an unstated warranty is not a warranty you can rely on. We also print what the warranty excludes, which is frequently the interesting part.
Strap standardization — 1.0 point
A standard even lug width (18, 20, 22, 24mm) scores 1.0 — straps for those will be available for as long as watches exist. An odd width (19, 21mm) scores 0.6: stocked, but you will pay more and wait longer. An integrated bracelet, where the lug width is too narrow to take a strap at all, scores 0.2, because the bracelet is not an accessory, it is part of the watch, and when it wears out no strap shop can help you.
Cost-to-keep transparency — 1.0 point
Assessed per brand, from what that manufacturer actually publishes. Seiko and Tissot publish full service price lists and score 1.0. Hamilton publishes a European list but no US equivalent, and scores 0.8. Citizen and Orient publish no prices at all and score 0.4. Timex publishes neither service prices nor, on most models, the caliber you would be servicing, and scores 0.2.
What we do not do
- We do not test, wear or own these watches. No impressions, no wrist time, no "after six months".
- We do not accept free product or paid placement. Neither has ever been offered and neither would be taken.
- We do not publish prices we have not verified today. Where a live price is unavailable, the button reads "Check price on Amazon" rather than showing a number that may be months stale.
- We do not invent credentials. There is no certified horologist here and we will never imply otherwise.
- We do not publish review or rating structured data. Our on-page score is editorial arithmetic, and marking it up as a product review rating would tell search engines something about it that isn't true.
How commission works, and what it does not change
We earn a percentage when you buy through an Amazon link on this site. That commission does not enter the Keep Score, which is computed from specifications alone, and it does not decide the order of a list. The practical test: several watches we rank highly are cheaper than watches we rank below them, and at least one pick on most pages is sold direct by its maker, where we earn nothing at all. Full terms in the affiliate disclosure.
How to challenge this
If a spec on this site does not match the manufacturer document we linked, that is a straightforward error and we want to hear about it — info@dialandlug.com. We fix it, note the correction on the page and date-stamp the change. If you disagree with a weight rather than a number, that is a fair argument and the reason the weights are published at all.
Review cadence
| Content | Reviewed | Updated off-cycle when |
|---|---|---|
| Roundups | Every 6 months | A watch is discontinued or leaves Amazon |
| Cost of ownership | Every 6 months | A manufacturer changes service pricing or intervals |
| Brand pages | Every 6 months | Warranty terms or the service network change |
| Comparisons and explainers | Every 12 months | A standard or spec convention changes |
| Trust pages | Every 12 months | Anything changes about how we operate or monetize |
A page's "last updated" date changes only when the content genuinely changes. We do not re-stamp the site on every deploy — a date that moves every day tells you nothing.
Questions people actually ask
Why should I trust a site that admits it hasn't tested anything?
Because everything we do claim is checkable. The specifications are linked to manufacturer documents, the scoring formula is published with its weights, and the service prices come from the manufacturers' own price lists. A testing claim you cannot verify is worth less than arithmetic you can re-run.
Does a higher Keep Score mean a better watch?
It means a watch that is better set up to be kept — easier to service, harder to scratch, longer warranted, easier to re-strap. It says nothing about how a watch looks or feels, which are real considerations we are not in a position to judge for you.
Why is warranty worth as much as water resistance?
Because for a buy-it-for-life purchase they fail in similar ways. A 30m rating and a one-year warranty both mean the maker expects a shorter relationship with the watch than you do. The weights are published so you can disagree with that and re-run the numbers.
Do you get paid more for recommending expensive watches?
Commission is a percentage, so a more expensive watch pays more in absolute terms. That is exactly why the score is computed from specifications and not chosen: the arithmetic does not know what anything costs, and several cheaper watches out-score dearer ones on this site.
Sources
Every specification and figure on this page came from one of these documents. Where a manufacturer does not publish something, the page says so rather than filling the gap.
- Seiko — why Seiko recommends servicing about every three years
- Seiko Service Center — estimated price for movement service
- Tissot — service prices, United States
- Hamilton — published service prices
- Citizen — five-year limited warranty
- Timex — international warranty terms
- ISO 22810:2010 — Horology, water-resistant watches
- ISO 6425:2018 — Horology, divers' watches
Read next
About Dial & Lug
Who writes this site, what we do and don't claim, and how it is funded.
What a watch actually costs to keep
Published service intervals and prices, computed over 10 and 20 years. The number nobody else publishes.
Editorial policy
Independence, sourcing standards and our written correction commitment.