The Three Watch Collection for $5,000: Reader Edition – Evan Scussel

In this edition of the Three Watch Collection for $5,000 we welcome submissions from reader Evan S. who takes a practical approach to his collection to cover every possible use case. He’s got a fan favorite from Seiko flanked by a pair of unique offerings that fly under the radar. A big tip o the hat on the Roberto Clemente edition Oris, you can listen to our interview with Roberto’s son, Luis, about this watch right here. 

If you’d like to send your 3 watch collection for $5,000 you can use this submission form.

Oris Big Crown Pointer Date – Roberto Clemente – $1,950

This is my everyday wearer for this exercise and in real life. This version of the watch is a bit more expensive than your average Big Crown Pointer Date and it’s a limited edition, although I know you can still find this watch available online pretty easily. But the reason why I picked this over other Big Crown Pointer Date colorways is due to the white dial with gold and black accents, the 40mm case size and the sub 13mm thickness. The white and black motif goes with just about everything and the arabic numbers on this version are bordered in black, which is not the case for any other Big Crown Pointer Date that I know of, which gives them a three dimensionality not found on other versions of this watch. The movement is robust and reliable and it will slide under any sleeve color. The watch comes with a leather strap and a nato, so it can be dressed up or dressed down and you can even get the OEM Oris bracelet, which I own and love to give the watch even more versatility. Plus, this is a known entity from a name brand so it should be easy to move on if you so desire.

Seiko SPB149 – $1,250

I think every collection should include a Seiko diver and this is just about the quintessential one. I’d go for the blue dial. The case is just about perfect at 40.5MM. This is a watch inspired by one of the first Seiko divers, the 62MAS and measuring at 13.7mm thick and less than 47mm lug to lug, it should fit all but the very smallest wrists out there. The styling is understated and on days when you wanted to wear this into the office over the Oris, you could totally pull it off. The bracelet isn’t the best, but this is a strap monster that I would probably wear on a tropic rubber strap anyway. At this price point, I don’t think there are many competitors I would choose over this watch.

Hanhart 417 – $2,150

I go about $200 over by picking the Harhart, but if you get a cheaper Oris or barter at your local AD, you can easily get in under $5,000. Basically, it comes down to this. I want a chronograph to round out my collection and it’s really hard to get a manual wind chronograph of any repute into a collection like this at this combined price point. And the Harhart is the perfect complement to the other two watches. It’s got a black dial to go along with the white of the Oris and the blue of the Seiko. It’s German, so your collection has one Swiss piece, one German and one Japanese. This Harhart is an absolutely gorgeous, understated, bi-compax chronograph that looks both modern and vintage at the same time. It’s 42mm diameter and 13.3mm thick, so very wearable for a chronograph. The bit of red on the bezel is great and would allow the watch to go with multiple nato or sailcloth straps, but it looks bad ass on the black leather bund strap that the watch comes with. My only regret is that the watch has a coin edged bezel, which is a bit too closely reminiscent of the Oris, but that’s a nitpick. the watch also has a solid history behind it with the first 417 debuting back in the 1950s. Finally, the 58 hours of power reserve from the Sellita SW 510 mean that you don’t have to wear the watch every day to avoid winding it every time you pick it up.