Watch geeks love the phrase “GADA watch,” meaning a “go anywhere, do anything” timepiece—something both feature-rich and eye-catching, a rugged and durable watch that doesn’t compromise on style.
Here at WIRED, a related question has been floating around the Gear desk for some time. What’s better, one all-rounder premium watch, or a varied collection garnered for exactly the same cash outlay as that piece that also covers every scenario?
Determined to answer this horological conundrum once and for all, WIRED set the same budget for each approach to find out. Let’s start with our pick for a GADA timepiece.
The One Watch: Tudor Black Bay GMT
Watch fans can never really be satisfied with one watch. We love to pretend that there is a “holy grail” or “exit watch” out there, but really there’s no end to this journey. However, we also love to argue, and one permanent conversation starter is the concept of a one-and-done.
It can’t be too high-end, for the true GADA watch must be something you can wear on a hike and in the pool, as well as to a formal function. Ideally, you’d be able to wear it around a major city without fear of theft, which rules out pretty much any Rolex, but we’d still want it to be something you can take pride in among horological snobs.
Some brands make this kind of sweet spot their comfort zone. We considered the Nomos Glashütte Club Sport Worldtimer, or a Longines Spirit Zulu Time—both brands with an eye on value, a reputation for quality, and an all-around approach to design that’s not too polarizing.
Inevitably, your one watch isn’t going to be able to do everything. It won’t be as chic as a Cartier or pack a pedigree chronograph. But rest assured it’ll have you covered 95 percent of the time.
In the end, we settled on a Tudor Black Bay GMT, on a fabric or leather strap. For $4,550, you get a 41-mm stainless-steel piece with 200 meters of water resistance, a COSC-certified chronometer movement that’s actually descended from the last generation of Rolex GMT movements, and a design that’s smart enough to blend into most formal outfits, even though it’s most at home in more casual settings.
With the dual time zone functionality it’s a useful travel tool, too, and Tudor’s brand name and build quality mean it’s respected by watch geeks the world over.
That’s what we’re up against. Can we build a dream team to rival the Tudor for the same cash outlay?
The Equal-Value Collection
First stop on our shopping list is a dive watch: something that can at least match the Black Bay’s 200-meter water resistance rating and speak to its underpinnings as a daily diver. We don’t need a hardcore dive monster, but something that blends style and spec. We could head to Seiko, but while the Prospex range holds a lot of phenomenal beaters, few could be said to be truly stylish.
One strong candidate is the Unimatic U1 Classic ($665), but we’ve gone for the recently updated Baltic Aquascaphe ($730). Powered by a Miyota automatic movement, the Baltic focuses on more visible premium touches, like the domed sapphire crystal and applied 3D luminous hour markers. It’s water-resistant to 200 meters and available in blue, green, gray, or silver.
Next we should hit one of the main weaknesses in the Tudor’s armor, and pick up a dress watch. The Black Bay isn’t hulking, and our choice to opt for the fabric strap makes the whole watch a lot lighter (although it does add a millimeter in height), but it’s not slim by any definition.
For price and poise, we’ve come straight to Dennison. The one time you can really get away with a quartz watch is at a formal occasion, where the chance of someone asking you for precision timing or to fiddle with your complications will be pretty low. The sold-out Time+Tide Date Night limited edition would be perfect, but failing that we’ll opt for the Midnight Aventurine in steel ($690).
Next, we’ve got space in our collection for a real everyday watch: something that’s not overburdened with functionality, but that will cover us for the working day. Here we can look at a simple automatic from Hamilton, whose military-inspired Khaki Field and Pilot watches would also be worthy inclusions. However, for a more everyday staple we’ve gone for the Khaki Field “Murph” 38 mm ($995), a compact version of the watch Matthew McConaughey’s character gives to his daughter in Interstellar. With an 80-hour power reserve and 100-meter water resistance, it’s a versatile choice in its own right.
To be a viable alternative to our GADA Tudor, the value collection has to include a travel-time watch. We looked at Farer’s 36-mm Lander IV, with its preppy color scheme and distinctive character, but ultimately we went for another cult favorite from the affordable end of the Swatch Group stable.
The Mido Ocean Star Decompression Worldtimer costs $5 less than the Farer, at $1,490, and brings its own eye-catching dial to the table, as well as a 200-meter water resistance rating and a version of the same 80-hour movement as in the Hamilton. Perhaps the clincher was the world-time bezel, which shouldn’t be confused with a true mechanical world-time complication, but does give at-a-glance timekeeping around the world.
So far we’ve spent $3,905, which means we still have $645 burning a hole in our pocket. The obvious gap in this collection is a chronograph of some kind. It would give us the decisive edge over the Black Bay, but for this budget most mechanical chronographs are out of reach. We could buy a MoonSwatch—in fact, at $285 we could buy two and have enough left for the Uber home—but we’re on our mission to find something more substantial, more interesting, and (let’s face it) more likely to stand the test of time.
And that something is the Brew Super Metric ($475), a hybrid mecha-quartz chrono from a New York microbrand with more personality than every MoonSwatch put together. The unashamedly loud retro styling isn’t for everyone, but we think that the cushion-shaped case and steel bracelet help broaden our stylistic options, and although it’s not a pedigree mechanical chronograph, it costs less than $500 while looking and feeling like no one’s idea of a compromise.
That brings the challengers to a grand total of $4,380, which means we’d be able to buy a six-watch case to keep our collection in (of course it’s got space for one more …) and maybe even a couple of spare straps.
There’s no doubt the Tudor is in a different league, but could a crack squad of specialists tempt you to part with $4,550? Or will the lure of singular luxe prove too tempting? Over to you. It’s decision time.
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