For the past 20 years I've almost always worn a digital watch.  In part because 1.) I'm cheap and 2.) I'm lazy.  I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually taken my Timex Ironman off in the last year.  Since this will be my first Fathers Day my wife had the idea for me to get a nice watch.  To which she further stipulated that it be no less than $300 and no more than $1000.  Of course as soon as she said this I immediately thought of my Grandfather's watch that the company gave him after he retired, and my Father's watch my Grandparents got for him after he graduated med school.  Ultimately those watches will be handed down to me, and eventually down to my son.  I'd like whatever I get to be something that I can add into that tradition, so in my mind anything more than either a plain face or a face with a date window is out.  I'm thinking either a mechanical or automatic watch would probably be my best bet.  I'd like to stay away from a quartz if at all possible since my only "nice" watch I have is a quatz victorianox that seems like it's always dead when I want to wear it (which is infrequently).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KL9HUVC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have this one, and its awesome. always keeps exact time and looks great doing it.

I like Citizen watches and have a couple of them.  Never needs a battery, keeps great time and there is a style for everyone.

Weiss Standard Field

Hamilton and Longines makes some nice watches in that price range.

Marathon SAR

In that price range I'd look at a Hamilton, Deep Blue,  or some other watch company that makes unique designs. Don't want a homage as a heirloom.

Hamilton.  I like the Khaki line.

 


 

I don't believe a man can generally have only one watch.  Two to four are most likely needed.  If you do primarily hands on tasks where the watch may easily be damaged (me on weekends), you will want a watch where more protection of its components and overall ruggedness are built in.  A paper shuffler (such as myself M-F) can have a watch that has more of its value in the aesthetics (style and materials). I have two of these type of watches to match the different shirts I wear.  And then you may want a watch for the date night at an upscale restaurant/night on the town occasions (me rarely, but sometimes).  That watch will definitely be too fragile for hands on tasks and may be too dressy for the office.  You may need to keep your Ironman for one set of circumstances, and use the new gift watch for others.  If you get an automatic and only wear it occasionally, you'll want to get a winder.

Best of luck and congratulations.

Those are WAY too expensive for what they are. All I'm seeing is an ETA (Unitas) 6497 manual wind movement in a Chinese steel case. It would be a decent value at a couple of hundred bucks, not a thousand.

EDIT- They advertise that they make their own cases. They're still just a stainless case although they're probably nicer than something from China.

I would recommend you start with a Citizen Eco Drive - battery free, no winder needed, quartz accuracy.  Then pick your features - do you want just single 12 hour time, dual time, annual calendar, perpetual calendar, day, date, alarm, chronograph, atomic time, GPS time, water resistance?  Also think about case and band material - stainless, titanium, rubber, leather.

For the price range listed you can get just about any Citizen not in the Signature or Wave Air lines.

Everything but the movement is US made. This is Cameron Weiss' first watch and he has plans to create his own movement.

The only reason I haven't purchased one is because it's 42mm. I would have already bought one had it been 40mm.

Don't  know what size watch you're looking for. Check out Steinhart TimePieces. Very nice watches. The pilot watches dont have a day/date function.
You can go to Watchrecon and scroll through about 75 brands of watches. Good Luck.

And the movement is pretty much the whole watch. All he's doing is assembling the movement to the case and dial that he had made. If he's wanting a thousand bucks for a steel watch with a generic ETA time only movement I can't imagine what he'd want if he ever does produce his own movement here in the US. Do you know this guy personally or something? I'd never heard of him before this thread. Don't get me wrong, it looks like a quality watch. It's just that I can buy the Hamilton Khaki Field with the very same ETA 6498 movement for a little less than half the money that the Weiss watch costs and it would be much easier to resell if I wanted to get rid of it simply due to name recognition. But hey, we're hijacking the thread here.....

I have this one: http://www.tsovet.com/shop/aero/ts221010-57.html

The Weiss field watch has been pretty much covered by all the major watch publications, print (WatchTime, IW) and digital (ABTW, Hodinkee). I first saw it on ABTW, but most of the articles have been favorable. Yes, the price is a little higher than you would hope for a ETA based movement, but as far as I know, there's not much else out there as far as a US manufacture watch short of RGM, Ball, and Shinola (quartz).

I own a couple Hamiltons and I'll agree the Hamilton field is a good watch, but having seen a Weiss, the quality and finishing is much better on the Weiss compared to a Khaki Field.

I have this same watch, except the white dial version (rubber strap; immediately took it off and put a NATO). It's a bit chunkier than you would think at 42mm. After having it for a while, I'm not a fan of the PVD coating. It's just not dark enough for my tastes.

My particular one actually broke sometime in 2012. The crown separated from the stem and the stem retracted into the case. I tried to file a service claim with Amazon (having bought it grey market through Amazon) and they denied the claim saying that the crown is part of the case so it's cosmetic. I'm thinking, wtf? I didn't bother to argue it and it sat in a drawer for several months before I just found a local watch repair place to fix it for me. I ended up giving it to my dad since I never really wore it.