The 2025 Starter Watch All-Stars

WHEN YOU'RE THE watch editor of GQ, you tend to field a lot of questions about which watch to buy a husband, boyfriend, or son to mark a birthday, anniversary, or graduation.

- By CAM WOLF

Considering I don't keep the company of many multimillionaires, these requests are most often made by folks with regular-people budgets. Thankfully, I've had plenty to recommend lately: In recent years, the watch market has exploded with new entry-level models that never make you feel like you're settling. If you're able to spend even close to $1,000, there are treasures out there to be found—and if you're willing to go a hair over $5,000, well, the world's your oyster. While there are longtime icons in this category—shout-out to the TAG Heuer Carrera—we'd like to introduce you to a new class of (relatively) affordable staples.

Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto

Chiming watches—which use complex mechanisms to hammer a teeny gong to mark the hour—were once only for folks with offshore bank accounts. That changed in 2022, when indie maker Christopher Ward debuted the Bel Canto, which made this eccentric complication more widely accessible for the first time ($3,995).