11 Best Men’s Watches Under $400: A Buying Guide

You simply won’t find a better all-blacked out watch than this Japanese-quartz movement watch from well-known men’s brand Michael Kors. It sports a sleek dark gray watch face with an all-black stainless steel band, giving it an ultimately classy look that will pair perfectly with a blazer for a night out.

It also comes with an impressive 2-year International Warranty, so if it should break, Michael Kors will replace it. The watch is water-resistant up to 50m, and although it says it’s perfectly okay to use it while recreational swimming, I wouldn’t do so for extended periods of time.

I’ve had a Citizen watch for over 10 years, and I don’t mean I always buy Citizen watches – I mean the first Citizen watch I bought has lasted me that long. Chalk it up to good quality, or chalk it up to the fact that I only wear it a few times per month. Either way, picking up any of Citizen’s quality watches makes for a good purchasing decision.

Here, they’ve got a military-inspired Japanese-quartz watch with glowing hands and three subdials. It sports a silver dial and a black and white face.

It’s a classic look that is perfect for casual wear, pairing especially well with khakis and a tee.

If you’re looking for something that may be a bit much, check out this steampunk-looking men’s watch from Diesel. It’s (properly) called the Mr. Daddy 2.0, and it’s a quartz stainless steel and leather watch with a beautiful gunmetal grey, blue, and brown colorway.

It has a lot going on with the face, with all the arms and circles you can handle. It’s a great-looking watch that pairs best with a casual outing. It’s water-resistant up to 30M, and it utilizes real leather for the band.

If you’re looking for something that may be a bit much, check out this steampunk-looking men’s watch from Diesel. It’s (properly) called Mr. Daddy 2.0, and it’s a quartz stainless steel and leather watch with a beautiful gunmetal grey, blue, and brown colorway.

It has a lot going on with the face, with all the arms and circles you can handle. It’s a great-looking watch that pairs best with a casual outing. It’s water-resistant up to 30M, and it utilizes real leather for the band. Throw on the right jacket and outfit with this watch and you will have purchased the perfect finishing touches to a great outfit. 

Another great bargain for men’s watches under $200. This is a Citizen Eco-Drive, which is the brand’s proprietary technology for solar-powered watches. There are actually photovoltaic cells that you can’t see embedded under the dial of the watch. It’s powered by sunlight or any kind of light.

This Eco-Drive is a “military-inspired” piece, according to Citizen, with a 39mm stainless steel case. That case looks great with the contrasting green canvas band. This is a chronograph so it’s got the three sub-dials: a one-hour timer; a 24-hour timer; a one-minute second hand. The larger red second hand — which looks great — is actually a chronograph hand that can be started and stopped (a stopwatch) with the pusher buttons.

The hands are luminous. Water-resistant to 100m. 

Not just a sleek and sexy design this is one of those very practical watches. The best outfit to rock this slick timepiece with is anything. Jeans and a tee? This watch works. If you want to match through and through I recommend a black button-down, something light and some black, pressed slacks. Throw on some shiny black wingtips and you, my friend have got yourself a totally cool new outfit. This watch is the accessory that ties everything together. People notice when a man and his watch make an outfit look good.

This stainless steel analog watch from ESQ has a very modern, beautiful look. The stainless case and band are a great setting for the textured black dial and silver/white detailing.

The movement on this watch is Japanese quartz: it is battery operated. The case diameter of the watch is on the bigger side at 46mm. Features a date window at three o’clock. The band is adjustable because links can be removed. Features a deploying clasp, push-button closure.

This is one of those watches that tiptoes up to the line between a dress watch and a sporty watch. Or, more specifically, it’s on the edge of a dressy watch and watch-that-you-can-geek-out-on watch. The reason is simple: the piece features world time in 24 different cities. (Very simple to set up, using the unidirectional rotating bezel.)

In addition to the world cities’ time feature, the watch also features three subdials: one for the date, one for the day of the week and one for 24 hour time. And, of course, this is an Eco-Drive, which means that the watch is powered by light.

Buy the Citizen Men’s Eco-Drive Calendrier Watch here.

Luminox has got a wide variety of high-performance sports watches that hover around the $500 (and up) mark, so this is a very solid find to get a Luminox men’s watch under $400.

Water-resistant to 200 meters, the watch features a 44mm polyurethane case, so this watch can take a licking. The dial features the white luminescent hands and hour indices, as well as five-minute interval numerals on the unidirectional bezel. Date display at three o’clock. Under the hood, it’s Swiss quartz movement.

This brand was built on the idea of creating a watch with great luminescence. Luminox’s name is from the Latin: Lumi = light and Nox = night. 

Buy the Luminox Men’s 3051 Navy Seal Colormark Watch Automatic here.

This is another high-tech watch with plenty of features and it’s from the rock-solid Timex brand. The term “fly-back” refers to the way the dials fly back to normal position when the chronograph functions are reset. This type of feature is traditionally associated with pilot’s watches and Timex describes it as “independent b-directional hands measure time and fly back like the dashboard gauge of a sports car.”

Features of this watch:

• Chronograph
• Fourth hand indicator
• Indiglo night-light

While this watch does feature 100m (165 feet) water resistance, it’s not the kind of timepiece you want to get wet. It does have an attractive brown leather band with a deployant clasp closure. The case size is 43mm and the date window is between 2 and 3 o’clock. A very good looking piece.

Buy the Timex Intelligent Quartz Fly-Back Chronograph Watch here.

Tissot was founded in Switzerland in 1853, so this watch comes with a pedigree. The only reason it makes it into this list of men’s watches under $200 is because it’s discounted substantially.

There’s no better way to describe this watch than “lovely.” It’s a great looking time piece in a very classic style. The stainless steel round case is 38mm, so it’s not too big. The hours are designated with Roman numerals, including the traditional IIII for four o’clock (instead of IV). There are minute markers around the outer rim and the hands and dial markers are luminescent. Date window at three o’clock. The strap is brown leather. Quartz movement and Swiss made. Lovely…and elegant.

Buy the Tissot Men’s Classic Analog Watch here.