true watch lovers can appreciate a $100 watch right through to $1mil+. we love watches as mechanical marvels that are true and authentic to themselves. we hack care the wayang snobbery and we especially despise posers who buy and wear fake crap.
i'm wearing an orient mako pepsi automatic dive-style watch that i bought late Dec 2016 for $189 w/gst. it's water-resistant to 200m with a beautiful iridescent sun-burst blue dial and pepsi bezel. it has solid s/steel links bracelet, a decent heft to it, good quality finish & QC, everything aligns properly and its unregulated accuracy on wrist in daily wear is as good as my swiss made chronometer-grade omega 2254.50. it's a superb value-for-money watch that delivers more than some watches costing 10-50x its price. this is an example of an under-the-radar affordable watch that a serious watch lover respects. in fact, i'm chuffed.
in short, if you can get past the status symbol attached to watches and truly love them for their design & quality, you can enjoy it as a satisfying hobby without busting your wallet.