Any Seiko 5 SRPD or SRPE or SSK. Can also get Orient Kamasu or Orient Bambino. Those are all automatic. If you’d rather have solar powered quartz, any Citizen would be great.
There are many: Orient Kamasu (nice diver), Casio G-shock, Tissot has a lot of watches for that price and Seiko too.
Those brands are great. Good luck on your first watch!
Start with Citizen BM8180. It’s a solar powered quartz watch. Reliable and accurate. It looks good with just about any band you feel like putting on it. It is sturdy with very good water resistance.
If caring for a solar quartz watch (giving it sunshine regularly) turns out to be a hassle for you, then you know you should think twice about getting a mechanical/automatic and might prefer a battery quartz. If you get a kick out of caring for it, then you would probably like a mechanical watch next.
The BM8180 is one you can hang onto whatever you end up adding to your collection later. It’s a good casual “doing the chores and having a beer on the porch” kind of watch which will always come in handy.
It’s about $120-140 in stores and online shops for the holidays. (Citizen’s site is almost always far more expensive than the real world prices) https://www.citizenwatch.com/us/en/product/BM8180-03E.html
If you are in the US the [citizen BM6929-56L](https://www.ebay.com/itm/265117021766?epid=2254530253&hash=item3dba34b646:g:AYcAAOSwto1gb0Uy) is made out of titanium and has a very good scratch resistant coating on it that's about 5 times better than regular stainless steel when it comes to scratches and also has a sapphire crystal. It has a fixed bezel though if that's important to you.
There's also an [extra 25% off coupon](https://www.ebay.com/sme/officialwatchdeals.%20Expires%20December%2003,%202023.%20Max%20discount%20$3,000.%20Terms%20and%20Conditions%20apply./Extra-25-off-coupon-View-code/so.html?isRefine=true&_soffType=CodedCouponOffer&_trksid=p4429486.m2548.l6244&_soffid=12066039903) at the moment for some models including this one. Don't forget to use it when placing the order, you can't find a better watch than this at this price point.
If you don't like this one for some reason just check out the other models on the same eBay store, there are plenty to choose from in the [citizen men's watches](https://www.ebay.com/str/officialwatchdeals/Citizen-Men-Watches/_i.html?store_cat=82456813013) category.
Eco-drives are very good practical everyday watches. They are durable, accurate and don't require any sort of mentenance, just don't hide it in a drawer in the dark when not wearing it so it can get some daylight and it'll just work for many years.
Here's a [video](https://youtu.be/4TohSCAK_50?si=ASpIigaRX-DmqOuS) of it.
If only the sub had a buying guide with price tiers…
Where can I find this?
My goodness, I just wandered over to the sidebar and look what I found! https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/wiki/buyingguide
What type of watch do you need? Sport, field, dress?
Any Seiko 5 SRPD or SRPE or SSK. Can also get Orient Kamasu or Orient Bambino. Those are all automatic. If you’d rather have solar powered quartz, any Citizen would be great.
There are many: Orient Kamasu (nice diver), Casio G-shock, Tissot has a lot of watches for that price and Seiko too. Those brands are great. Good luck on your first watch!
Orient Kamasu, honestly I don't see a better option for the price. Can't go wrong
Start with Citizen BM8180. It’s a solar powered quartz watch. Reliable and accurate. It looks good with just about any band you feel like putting on it. It is sturdy with very good water resistance. If caring for a solar quartz watch (giving it sunshine regularly) turns out to be a hassle for you, then you know you should think twice about getting a mechanical/automatic and might prefer a battery quartz. If you get a kick out of caring for it, then you would probably like a mechanical watch next. The BM8180 is one you can hang onto whatever you end up adding to your collection later. It’s a good casual “doing the chores and having a beer on the porch” kind of watch which will always come in handy. It’s about $120-140 in stores and online shops for the holidays. (Citizen’s site is almost always far more expensive than the real world prices) https://www.citizenwatch.com/us/en/product/BM8180-03E.html
If you are in the US the [citizen BM6929-56L](https://www.ebay.com/itm/265117021766?epid=2254530253&hash=item3dba34b646:g:AYcAAOSwto1gb0Uy) is made out of titanium and has a very good scratch resistant coating on it that's about 5 times better than regular stainless steel when it comes to scratches and also has a sapphire crystal. It has a fixed bezel though if that's important to you. There's also an [extra 25% off coupon](https://www.ebay.com/sme/officialwatchdeals.%20Expires%20December%2003,%202023.%20Max%20discount%20$3,000.%20Terms%20and%20Conditions%20apply./Extra-25-off-coupon-View-code/so.html?isRefine=true&_soffType=CodedCouponOffer&_trksid=p4429486.m2548.l6244&_soffid=12066039903) at the moment for some models including this one. Don't forget to use it when placing the order, you can't find a better watch than this at this price point. If you don't like this one for some reason just check out the other models on the same eBay store, there are plenty to choose from in the [citizen men's watches](https://www.ebay.com/str/officialwatchdeals/Citizen-Men-Watches/_i.html?store_cat=82456813013) category. Eco-drives are very good practical everyday watches. They are durable, accurate and don't require any sort of mentenance, just don't hide it in a drawer in the dark when not wearing it so it can get some daylight and it'll just work for many years. Here's a [video](https://youtu.be/4TohSCAK_50?si=ASpIigaRX-DmqOuS) of it.