The Best Men's American Watches Under...Part 1

Quite honestly, this may very well be the hardest set of lists I will have to make.  The problem with American watches, is the lack of American watch companies.  That's not exactly true, the American watch industry has been making a resurgence over the past 10 years, but, it is still what I would consider a fledgling industry, and more often than not, the watch might be assembled in America, but all the parts are produced elsewhere.

With that being said, I will try not to hold that fact against these companies.  I commend the entrepreneurs for the effort they are putting into this industry.  I believe it is highly important for the American economy to find ways to renew the industrial strength that we have had in the the past. 

I am not going to preach economy and government here on the best men's watches under blog, but I do want my readers to understand exactly what it is I am looking at when I write this list.

The Best Men's American Watches Under...Part 1

The best men's American watch for under 250 dollars

Smith & Bradley

Springfield Field Watch

Model: N/A

Case: 44mm, Stainless steel

Band: 20mm Nato

Movement: Swiss Quartz (Ronda)

Functions: HH, MM, SS, Date

Battery:

Water resistance: 100M/330ft

Smith and Bradley Watch Co was founded by Jerommie Smith and Ryan Bradley.  Two entrepenouers who started their watch life by buying and selling and repairing watches from all over the world.  After a time they decided that they would try their hand at watches of their own.  Focusing on form and function, and tending toward the more tactical side of watches, they founded Smith & Bradley in Springfield Illinois,

They have, in the past, started watch collections on Kickstarter.  In fact, I believe the Springfield Field watch was one of those watches, Their watches look American to me, a lot of thought and design has gone into their watches, giving them a very polished, final look.

The Springfield Field watch is a 44mm, stainless steel, field watch.  It is available in bare stainless, or with a PVD coated case.  It's a daily wear watch, in a price point that makes it a viable daily wear watch for a large portion of the American men looking for a durable watch to wear through daily life.  It has a large crown, located at the 3 o'clock position, and a smooth bezel.  The lens is sapphire, and the watch face is available in either black or white.  It has an outer ring of Arabic numerals, representing the hours, in a 12 hour format, and an inner ring of Arabic numerals, representing a 24 hour.  The hands are black, with lume imbued in them, and there is a date window, also located at the 3 o'cock position.  The band is a Nato nylon strap with a buckle style clasp.

The Watch has a Ronda Quartz movement.  Ronda makes high quality movements for several watch makers on the market.  I would consider the movement a good choice for this watch.

Smith and Bradley sells their watches on their own website.  The price for this watch starts at 249 dollars.  I specifically made the under 250 dollar price point, just so I could include this watch, and this company.  They have some fine products, and looking back, I have a feeling I wish I would have paid more attention to the American watch world, when making some of my other lists.  With Smith and Bradley, and quite frankly, with all the watch companies I plan to include in this list.

The best men's American watch for under 500 dollars

Shinola

Runwell 36mm Cream

Model:  100000263-sdt-000010005

Case: 36mm Stainless steel

Band: 18mm Nylon

Movement: Argonite 1069 Quartz

Functions: HH, MM, SS

Battery:

Water resistance: 50M/165ft

Shinola, made in Detroit.  It has been difficult for me not to include them on my lists before now.  If you are not aware, I own a Runwell.  Not this one, I will be writing a page about my watches shortly and will include it there.  But it is a runwell 47mm, white face, with a black leather band.  I love the watch.  Not only do I own a Runwell, but I live in Michigan, about 15 miles out of Detroit, and love that Shinola decided to make Detroit its home of operations. 

The Shinola story is something like this.  In 2011, Shinola opened shop as an American Luxury lifestyle brand.  Specializing in leather goods, bicycles, and watches.  They released their first watch in a limited production of 2500 watches, in 2013, and sold out in about two weeks.  Since then, they have expanded their watch line, and are continuing their expansion, as I write this.

The Runwell 37mm is basically a smaller version of the watch I have.  It is a 37mm, stainless steel cased watch.  It has a crown located at the 3 o'clock position.  The bezel is smooth, with a rounded outer edge, and it sports a sapphire lens.  The dial face is off white, with Arabic numerals marking the hours, in black.  There are index marks for both the hours and minute marking.  The hands are black with lume imbued in the middle of both the hour and minute hands.  And there is a small seconds located at the 6 o'clock position.  The band is nylon ad has a buckle style clasp.

The movement is a quartz movement, with a Ronda base.  Ronda is, as I have said previously, a good movement maker, that is used by many watch makers.  In fact, Smith and Bradley use them, in the review just above.

I love my Runwell.  I think it is a great looking, kinda retro watch that keeps great time.  Mine came with a nice wooden box, and a lifetime warranty.  The watch can be purchased on the Shinola website for 500 dollars even.  There are a couple of other versions that can be had for the 500 dollar price point.  I suggest you go check out your options.

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