Elliot Kingsley

7 Best Men’s Watches Under $500 in 2020

Our official ranking of the best affordable watches in the world right now, plus where to go to bag a discount

Choosing the best men’s watch can be an exciting, but daunting experience. The best watches are long-term, beautiful investments. They provide confidence, inspire the imagination, and are suitable for a wide variety of occasions. Below, we’ve reviewed the 7 best men’s watches you can buy from the top brands for under $500. Let’s get started!

Best Men’s Watch: Berkeley by Oliver Coen

The Berkeley by Oliver Coen wins the best men’s watch under $500 award, not just because it’s jaw-droppingly beautiful, but because it also comes with something quite remarkable…

Oliver Coen craft their watches in Switzerland in the most advanced watch facility in the world to achieve astonishing levels of precision and reliability.

They back up their claim by offering a lifetime warranty, so should anything happen to the watch, they will repair or replace it for free. This puts the Berkeley in a league of its own in terms of value for money, but let’s move on to the design of the watch.

The stunning timepiece features a gold case composed of surgical-grade stainless steel. The sophisticated dial displays a wealth of information while remaining effortlessly readable.

The exceptional design, build quality, and lifetime warranty combine to make the Berkeley the best men’s watch under $500.

Rating: 9.5 /10

Price: $199 ($169 with code ‘Insider15’)
Buy from: www.olivercoen.com

Runner-Up: Helvetica No1 Light Watch by Mondaine, $425

Best Men’s Watch Runner Up: Helvetica No1 Light by Mondaine

If our top pick is sold or you want a similarly attractive watch, consider Mondaine’s Helvetica watch.

Inspired by the font which was designed by Swiss designer Max Miedinger, the Helvetica No1 Light is a charmingly understated watch.

Rating: 8.7 /10

Price: $425
Buy from: www.mondaine.com

Budget pick: BN0032 by Braun

Not many people know the German brand famous for electric shavers, have been making watches for over 40 years.

The BN0032 features on our guide to the best men’s watches due to it’s clean, modern design and relatively cheap price.

Rating: 8.2 /10

Price: $150
Buy from: www.braun-clocks.com

Also great: SGEH67P1 by Seiko

Another company that gives two fingers to catchy model names. Seiko is one of the world’s most respected watch companies and often the starting point for budding watch collectors.

The SGEH67P1 is a beautiful watch combining monochrome tones with a classic dial.

Rating: 7.9 /10

Price: $269
Buy from: www.seikousa.com

Men’s Watches — the best of the rest:

Everytime by Tissot

Tissot introduced the first mass-produced pocket watch in 1853 and have been making reliable watches ever since.

The Swiss-made Everytimefeatures a classic design that will age beautifully, therefore earning its place on our best men’s watch guide.

Rating: 7.5 /10

Price: $300
Buy from: www.tissotshop.com

Night Flight by Swatch

The Night Flight takes inspiration from the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, making it the best affordable alternative.

Made in Switzerland, the men’s watch features a black chronograph dial homed in a classic stainless steel case.

Rating: 7.2 /10

Price: $200
Buy from: www.swatch.com

C40 by Uniform Wares

If prominent branding isn’t your thing, Uniform Wares is the best watch for you.

The irresistibly clean and logo-free dial is paired with an Italian nitrile rubber strap. An elegant, minimal, luxury timepiece.

Rating: 7 /10

Price: $465
Buy from www.uniformwares.com

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to the best men’s watches under $500. Below, we’ve answered some common questions about men’s watches.

Where to buy men’s watches?

There are many places to buy men’s watches. Most people used to buy men’s watches from department stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, or even Walmart. Unfortunately, their staff usually aren’t knowledgeable about watches. We recommend buyers to shop direct with the watch companies via their website. You will receive customer service by watch experts. If you need to use a warranty, they already have all your details – so you don’t need to keep track of paper receipts.

What wrist do men’s watches go on?

You can wear your wristwatch on either hand, but the left wrist is the ‘proper’ one. Most people are right-handed. As such, they wore the watch on the left wrist so they could check the time while writing with a pen.

What is a watch ‘movement’?

A watch movement is the piece of the watch that keeps the time. There are various ways movements do this. Quartz movements send an electronic charge through a piece of quartz crystal. Automatic watches use traditional cogs and levers.

Quartz vs Automatic

Should you buy a quartz men’s watch or an automatic watch? Quartz watches are more accurate and cheaper to buy/maintain than automatic watches. This is because quartz watches are very simple when compared to automatic movements. Think of quartz watches as wine and automatic watches as champagne. Both are great. But to get a good bottle of champagne (automatic), you should spend more than you would on a bottle of wine (quartz). As a general rule of thumb, if you’re spending less than $500, go quartz, anything above that, go automatic.

Are watches an investment?

Some watch collectors invest in men’s watches. There is no price ceiling when it comes to men’s watches. Many men’s watches increase in value by thousands of dollars. But many watches also depreciate in value.

The best investment watches are by watch brands with rich histories. These include watch brands such as Rolex, Patek Phillipe, and Jaeger LeCoultre. Look for a limited edition and unusual watches.

What is a chronograph watch?

A chronograph watch is a specific type of watch that has a stopwatch function with a display. They were first used to measure time for activities such as diving, car racing, and piloting. Chronograph watches have various ‘sub-styles’. These include racing and pilot watches.

Why Author Mr. Charles Yu is Obsessed With Identity

by Elliot Kingsley

In his third novel, Interior Chinatown, the writer explains why he’s done being “Generic Asian Man”

Reading Mr Charles Yu’s books does something to you, to the location where “you” sit within your own brain. When you are reading one of them, whether it’s Third Class Superhero (which prompted the National Book Foundation to name him one of its “5 Under 35” to watch), How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe or his collection of short stories, Sorry Please Thank You, you may start to notice the same snags in reality that catch Mr Yu. You may obsess over the same behaviours around which he likes to tarry, to consider, to turn inside out and study from various angles – until he catches a reflection of himself studying it and then begins to study himself studying it. In this mode, you may begin to adopt Mr Yu’s almost post-modernist point of view, take on his pattern of observation of life, of yourself observing life.

In Mr Yu’s latest novel, Interior Chinatown, Willis Wu is an actor who inhabits the role of Generic Asian Man, the only role society has allowed him. Early on in the book there is an incredible riff on the strata of Asian-American men in cinema, from Chinese Restaurant Waiter (of whom there are many), all the way up to Kung Fu Guy (of whom there are three – Messrs Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee). Even though his protagonist is not named Charles Yu, as he was in How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe, Willis Wu is interested in many of the same things that dog Mr Yu. In Interior Chinatown, identity becomes the main material of the novel – a novel that, for all of its layers of metaphor and wonder, is set in the familiar here and now of present-day Los Angeles (in as far as anything is real and present in Los Angeles).

In a way, as the world has become more and more disorientating, bizarre and seemingly otherworldly (dead seas, space tourism, apocalypse… eventually), Mr Yu’s fiction has counter-steered towards a more recognisable, everyday plane. We spoke to the Taiwanese-American novelist, Writers Guild-nominated TV writer, father, husband and dogwalker about the everyday bits of life that give flight to his fantasies, his fiction and his sense of himself.

The premise of Interior Chinatown, a story about Generic Asian Man, is primarily a social observation. How did that come about?

How these things usually go for me is, it seems like I’m going nowhere, I’m stuck in a cycle. And then all at once the first line came to me: “Ever since you were a kid you wanted to be Kung Fu Guy”. I’m not Kung Fu Guy and I was like, there’s a story there. That feels like a ball that’s sitting at the top of a hill. It’s got some potential energy in there. Of course, it didn’t write itself. There were plenty of roadblocks along the way. You go, oh yeah. I have to write a whole book of this.

Do you then reverse engineer the decisions of the plot to get over those roadblocks? You want to make a political/sociological statement and so you throw these particular rocks at your character.

I had been trying to write this book for years – four to five years. I had written this novel, or at least big chunks of it, twice and had effectively thrown most of it away twice. I’d been trying to write a story about being an immigrant, being a child of immigrants. And the story of my parents’ generation, coming from Taiwan. My dad has been in America more than 50 years now, so two-thirds of his life has been spent here. Same with my mom. And I really wanted to tell the story of what it was like for them as Americans, this kind of three-act structure, in which, near the end of their lives, things have really changed. It was probably also no coincidence that the book crystallised in 2017, after the election when I started to see things very differently. And I think in some ways, they have as well – themselves as Americans, the lives they’d spent here as Americans and whether or not they’ve ever fully felt like real Americans. But when that line came out, it carried with it the character. And all of a sudden, it felt like I was inside and I could write about it all through Willis, through his experiences.

Do you ever crave an escape from context, from pop culture, from the identity that culture encases us in? Or am I showing my serious white-male privilege?

I love that question. I do crave it. This book is obviously me doing some thinking and writing, and asking some questions about these roles. When you say “encased”, I think that’s a good word for it. Feeling kind of trapped in the matrix of it. Not only am I playing a role that feels sort of internally imposed by myself, but externally imposed by other people. It seems other people are always playing the roles, too. I love the moments in everyday life when it feels like we do slip out of those roles. Even just momentarily, when you can have a real honest moment with someone. It could be at the grocery store. It could be in an elevator. It could be anywhere. Maybe I wouldn’t want any more of that than I actually have. Maybe it’s one of those things where, if all of a sudden nobody was playing any roles, we’d be in this kind of completely anarchic situation. But I think at least being conscious of roles is a big part of this book.

Not only am I playing a role, it seems other people are always playing roles, too. I love the moments in everyday life when we slip out of those roles

You used to be a lawyer, but have since worked in television, on Westworld, Legion and Lodge 49, among other things. I’ve heard that in writers’ rooms there are often defined roles – the joke guy, the story guy, the character guy (I realise I’ve made them all men). Has that been your experience?

Yeah. Whoever told you that was right on. I think that’s one of the invisible structures of a writers’ room that took me a little while to understand. I’ve been in maybe half a dozen rooms at this point. So, it’s not a huge sample size, but it’s also a pretty varied experience and it is very real. On Westworld specifically, that was my first job in TV, so I was not the person who was going to bring TV experience. I don’t know what I was supposed to bring. What I ended up bringing was that I had read books about cognitive science and philosophy of consciousness. I’m not an expert on any of that. I’m not even an amateur on any of that. But I am both kind of dumb enough and smart enough to talk about it for about 30 seconds and sound like I sort of have an interesting idea once in a while. And I think that is the function in a writers’ room, where people know how to make a really good scene or a really good episode of TV. Sometimes you want the raw material of something to just kind of shape. And a novelist, or a fiction writer, sometimes has that.

You wrote a great story, “Fable”, that comes out of this idea, which I think is used in therapy, of describing one’s life as a fairytale. Have you ever done that yourself?

Gosh. I’m the worst at this. I feel like I’m living outside of the story, as if I’m in The Truman Show version of my own life. For instance, with my kids, we’re having fun and one of them says something interesting or poignant or not poignant. They’re just saying it, but I make it poignant because I’m sort of narrating in my head how poignant this is. I think I live in my own blind spot. I think that’s by definition what people do. Your blind spot is the part of you that other people see better than you do. I’m particularly anxious about whether or not I’m coming off the way I think I’m coming off. It has crystallised in a few moments in my life, where suddenly I’ve realised that I wasn’t the person I thought I was to the people around me.

How were you made aware that there was a rift between the way you were presenting and what you thought you were doing?

Here’s one example, at work, when I was a very new baby lawyer. I was working with a partner who was a kind of mentor figure, I guess. A classic, white-collar, white-shoe lawyer, who took me under his wing. One day he referred to me casually as “quiet Asian guy”. I was struck by that. It didn’t really feel like an insult, but it pierced me. Pierced the bubble, or whatever the thing that’s pierced is. It pierced that and it’s like, oh, that’s how I’m presenting.

What do your kids have to say about roles that are projected onto them or that they see themselves inhabiting?

My daughter’s 12 and my son is 10. It’s always interesting to hear their perspective. To me, they feel much more politically conscious than I was at that age. But, yes, they get it at school. They get it from other kids and they get it, I think, through osmosis. A lot of the same things that I faced, they will be facing – what is my identity in this country?

Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books) by Mr Charles Yu is out now

Best Men’s Watches 2020: The Ultimate Guide, From Affordable To Luxury Timepieces

by Elliot Kingsley

These are the very best men’s watches money can buy, from a wallet-friendly $50 Casio, through to legendary watch brands such as Audemars Piguet, Omega and Patek Philipe.

But there can only be one ‘best men’s watch’ for each budget, and the best men’s watch in the world right now the Rolex Daytona.

Of all the men’s watches available in 2020, the Daytona has the richest history. It’s also the most attractive, and, arguably, the best long-term investment. So the Rolex Daytona is the best men’s watch available to buy right now… but what if you don’t have $17k to drop on a watch? There are of course alternatives…

No matter what watch you’re after, this page will help you find the best one. Let’s get started!

Best Men’s Watches Under $300

Top Pick: Oliver Coen — Berkeley, $199

If you’re looking for the best affordable watch, there is no better way to spend your money than the Berkeley from Oliver Coen. The breathtaking design and exceptional build quality combine to make it the best watch under $300.

It has astonishing levels of precision and reliability thanks to Swiss expertise and a state of the art manufacturing facility. They back up their claims with a lifetime warranty so should anything happen to the watch, they will repair or replace it for free.

About the watch brand: Through their reputation for stellar customer service and reliable watches, Oliver Coen has become one of the fastest-growing watch companies in the world (they now have customers in over 160 countries).

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Runner up: Timex — Waterbury Classic 40mm, $129

The Waterbury by Timex is a solid choice for an affordable watch. It features a matte black case and black leather strap, and glow in the dark hands. If you are looking for a no-nonsense choice from a reputable brand, this is a good choice.

About the watch brand: Timex was founded in Connecticut in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company. Years later, the founder wanted to rename the company. Stuck for ideas, he took the names of two giant brands, “Time Magazine” an “Kleenex” and smashed them together — making Timex.

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Budget pick: Casio —Duro, $50

If our top picks are out of stock, or you prefer a sportier watch, the Duro is the way to go. It’s one of the best-selling affordable watches and is made by Casio (who also produce the $10 F-91W — often regarded as the most reliable watch money can buy).

The Duro features three hands with a date display. It’s water-resistant to 200m and has a durable resin strap. It’s a great basic watch for everyday wear.

About the watch brand: Casio’s founder Kashio Seisakujoasio first business was making finger rings that would hold a cigarette, allowing the wearer to smoke the cigarette down to its nub while also leaving the wearer’s hands-free. He then founded Casio in Tokyo in 1946. They went on to make the world’s first compact calculator and then a calculator wristwatch. Today they are a global powerhouse.

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4. Rotary — Henley, $200

Launched in 2017, the Henley is one of the best mens watches for the price due to it’s 100m water resistance and elegant design. It’s made by Rotary and features a ceramic bezel, sapphire glass, and leather strap.

About the watch brand: Founded in Switzerland in 1895, Rotary later became the official watch supplier for the British Army during the second world war. At the time, there was a Rotary watch in almost every household.

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5. Braun Mens BN0032WHSLMHG, $169

The German company created a modern-classic with this men’s watch. It’s a 60’s inspired timepiece which features a clean white face, yellow minute hand and an effortlessly casual mesh-chain strap. Perfect for summer.

About the watch brand: Braun has a ‘less is more’ attitude, which stems from their designer’s education at the infamous Bauhaus art school in Germany. Braun is a brand best known for making shavers, but they have earned a reputation for quality, retro design. Previously owned by Gillette, Braun is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Procter & Gamble (the company which owns household brands such as Dawn and Bounty).

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6. Seiko Mens SNE036 Stainless Steel Solar, $99

Looking for a cheap men’s watch? This Seiko boasts a power reserve solar cell meaning it’s powered by light. The champaign colored case and strap can divide opinion, but we like it.

About the watch brand: Seiko started in 1881, when a 22-year-old Kintaro Hattori, opened a shop in Tokyo repairing clocks and watches. Today, Seiko is a giant watchmaking company, generating more than $3 billion in sales each year. Seiko is now managed by the founder’s great-grandson, Shinji Hattori.

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Tissot Classic Dream Jungfraubahn Watch, $198

7. Tissot Classic Dream Jungfraubahn, $198

Tissot celebrated being the official watch partner of the Jungfrau Railway’s Centenary in 2012 with this watch. The classic, yet elegant dials are complemented by a stainless steel link bracelet.

About the watch brand: Now a subsidiary of the Swatch Group — the largest watch producer and distributor in the world. Tissot was originally a family-owned Swiss company and was the first company to mass-produce a pocket-watch.

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8. Orient Bambino, $106

If you’re looking for a timeless watch, the Bambino by Orient is a great choice. Made in Japan, the Bambino is often voted one of the best mens watches for the price because it features a hand-wound automatic movement.

About the watch brand: Orient originally started in Tokyo in 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida began importing pocket-watches. Eleven years later he started making his own clocks and eventually, wristwatches. The company still manufactures all of its movements in-house in Japan. It’s now part of the Seiko group.

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9. Swatch — Destination NYC, $210

The Destination NYC features a midnight black ion-plated steel case and black dial. This creates a unique look which treads the line behind work and play beautifully.

About the watch brand: In the 70’s and 80’s, the luxury Swiss watch companies were losing millions of dollars to a new breed of cheaper Japanese brands such as Seiko and Citizen. To combat this, they created Swatch — a Swiss watch brand which would be affordable. They were an instant success. Today, the Swatch group owns a vast variety of luxury watch brands including Blancpain, Omega, Rado, Longines and Calvin Klein.

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Runner-up: Minimalist Slim Watch by Fossil, $193

10. Fossil — Minimalist Slim, $193

If our top picks are out of stock, then consider this: The Minimalist Slim by Fossil features a 42mm watch case and sturdy stainless steel strap. It’s a great basic watch for everyday wear.

About the watch brand: Fossil started 34 years ago in Texas, but now is a watchmaking giant. It also produces watches for other brands such as Burberry, Diesel and Michael Kors.

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11. Nixon Brigade, $215

The Brigade is a watch which wouldn’t look out of place on Kanye West’s wrist, but it’s affordable at only $215. It features a classic design with a stainless steel bracelet.

About the watch brand: The Nixon brand was co-founded in 1997 by a former snowboarder who worked at Burton. Nixon is now part-owned by Billabong. They’ve since expanded their product range to include clothing and accessories such as bags, belts, and headphones. Nixon was recently valued at more than $464m.

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12. Skagen — Hagen Slim Steel-Mesh, $216

Danish watch brand Skagen recently released this minimal, yet classy unisex timepiece. It features a rather small 38mm case and classic two-hand movement. In keeping with the minimal approach, it’s ultra-thin, at only 5mm thick.

About the watch brand: Henrik Jorst was working for Carlsberg in New York when he decided he wanted to create a watch company with his wife, Charlotte. Their goal was to sell 200 watches a month — enough to cover their rent, but things went slightly better than expected. Skagen was eventually bought by Fossil in 2012 for $237m. It continues as a wholly owned subsidiary, selling Danish-inspired watches, bags, and accessories.

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Best Men’s Watches Under $500

Mondaine Helvetica No1 Regular Watch, $425

1. Mondaine — Helvetica No1 Regular, $425

Celebrating the success of their Helvetica model, Mondaine launched a reiteration with two time zones in a 40mm case. It comes with a highly polished stainless steel case and sapphire crystal glass. It’s Mondaine’s bestselling timepiece.

About the watch brand: Mondaine‘s breakthrough watch was influenced by the traditional Swiss railway clocks back in 1986. Since then, the Swiss watchmaker has gone from strength to strength. In 2006, they acquired 50% ownership of American watch brand Luminox.

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Citizen Men’s Divers Eco-Drive Watch, $419

2. Citizen — Men’s Divers Eco-Drive, $419

One of the best entry level divers watches. It’s fitted with an Eco-Drive J800 movement inside a generous 44mm steel case. Water resistant to 200m, it’s one of the best options for those looking for a classic sports watch.

About the watch brand: Citizen was founded in Japan in 1918, but their most popular series didn’t arrive until 1976. It was called Eco-drive, which was the world’s first light-powered watch which didn’t need batteries.

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3. Seiko — Prospex SRP777, $495

Seiko has taken inspiration from one of their most iconic watches, the hugely popular 6309 which was in produced in the 70’s & 80’s. If you’re looking for a diver’s watch which will stand the test of time, the Seiko SRP777 is a great choice.

About the watch brand: Seiko was the first company to mass produce a quartz watch. At the time of release in 1969, their quartz watch cost the same as a medium-sized car. However, by the late 70’s and early 80’s, Japanese quartz watches were significantly cheaper than the complicated mechanical movements used by expensive Swiss brands such as Rolex and Omega. The massive shift in sales from Swiss to Japanese brands resulted in the great quartz crisis.

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4. Victorinox — Alliance, $499

Sleek, modern and slightly intimidating. This watch from Victorinox is made in Switzerland and features a 44mm stainless steel case. It’s waterproof to 100m.

About the watch brand: You might recognize the brand Victorinox as the maker of the world-famous Swiss Army Knife. They entered the watch market in 1989, capitalizing on their reputation for making products fit for the army.

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5. Bulova — Accu Swiss Tellaro 63C120 Watch, $495

This chronograph watch from Bulova features a silver stainless steel case and bracelet. The rather busy face displays a day/date window at 3 o’clock.

About the watch brand: Bulova Watch Corporation was started in New York City in 1875 by Joseph Bulova, a 23-year-old immigrant from the Czech Republic. His watches began to sell in large numbers, and in 1941, Bulova produced the world’s first television advertisement. It was shown before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. In 2008, Citizen bought the Bulova Watch Company for $250 million.

The World’s First Television Advert Which Was Created by Bulova

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6. Junghans — 041/4562.00, $425

This watch features a rich tan calfskin strap with a highly polished stainless steel case. The numerals on the matte silver face are minimal and very easy to read.

About the watch brand: Junghans was created in 1861 in Germany by Erhard Junghans and his brother-in-law. By 1903, Junghans had the largest watch factory in the world with over 3000 employees. Oddly, a separate arm of Junghans produces fuze-technology for artillery, tanks and cruise missiles.

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7. G-Shock — G Steel GSTS130BD-1A, $450

This G-Steel is fully loaded. It’s water resistant to 200m, shock resistant, solar powered and features a LED backlight, world clock (for 31 time zones) and a battery power indicator.

About the watch brand: G-Shock (derived from ‘gravitational shock’) is a watch brand which is manufactured by Casio. It was launched to meet the growing demand for utility watches which were hard-wearing and reliable. Most G-shock watches have a stopwatch and countdown timer, making them ideal for sports and outdoors activities. G-Shock is the go-to brand for many soldiers, firefighters, hikers, climbers, and more.

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8. Hamilton — Khaki Field Officer Mechanical Watch, $475

If you’re looking for a no-nonsense mechanical watch, the Khaki Field Officer is an excellent place to start. It features a robust 38mm stainless-steel case with a practical, no-frills dial. The green canvas strap is hard-wearing and perfect for outdoor adventures.

About the watch brand: Hamilton Watch Company was founded in 1892 in Pennsylvania, USA. They were initially a successful pocket watch manufacturer, enjoying a massive 56% market share during the building of the railroads. Hamilton began to focus on wristwatches during world war 2, as soldiers needed to be able to check the time while holding a rifle (something you can’t do with a pocket watch). Today, Hamilton is a subsidiary of the Swatch Group.

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9. Farer — Meakin, $475

The Meakin is powered by a Swiss made Ronda movement. It has a classic white dial and silver numerals, with contrasting gold hands and crown.

About the watch brand: Four friends decided to start a vintage-inspired watch brand. In 2015, they launched Farer in England. The company has grown steadily since. Their range includes both quartz and automatic movements.

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10. Uniform Wares — C35, $455

The C35 is a minimalist dress watch which is made in Switzerland. The strap is made from Italian nitrile rubber, while the case is 35mm of beautiful stainless steel.

About the watch brand: Founded in London, England, Uniform Wares has quickly become the go-to brand for premium, minimal watches. They are best-known for being the first brand not to display their logo on the watch face.

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Best Men’s Watches Under $1000

1. Movado — Ultra Slim, $700

If you’re looking to splurge on a dress watch, you won’t go wrong with the Movado Ultra Slim. The 40 mm rose gold stainless steel case is only 6.3 mm thin, allowing for an unintrusive watch wearing experience. The signature dot is placed at 12 o’clock, and the leather is crafted from calfskin.

About the watch brand: Movado was founded in 1881 in Switzerland by 19-year old Achille Ditesheim. In 1983, the company was purchased by a Cuban named Gedalio Grinberg, and today it is run by his son, Efraim. Movado now makes over $500m per year.

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Christopher Ward, C60 Trident Titanium Pro 600 Watch, $995

2. Christopher Ward, C60 Trident Titanium Pro 600, $995

The C60 Trident nicely balances a sporty look with sophisticated undertones. The unique trident minute hand is a nice touch, and the overall stealthy vibe makes it a watch suitable for most occasions.

About the watch brand: Christopher Ward was born on the River Thames in London in 2004. Chris Ward, Mike France, and Peter Ellis decided they wanted to make premium watches more affordable by selling watches direct to the consumer.

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3. Mido Ocean Star Captain, $799

Mido’s solid dive watch, the Ocean Star has proven exceptionally popular in Southern America. It’s water resistant to 200m, lightweight and has a good movement with a day/date complication. It’s comfortable on the wrist too.

About the watch brand: Mido was founded in 1918 by George G. Schaeren in Switzerland. The name is derived from the Spanish term ‘Yo mido’ which means “I measure.” Mido first found success catering to the growing automotive market.

They introduced a range of watches in the shape of radiator grills in the style of brands such as Bugatti, Fiat, Ford. Mido is widely regarded as one of the top 10 makers of certified chronometers, producing over 60,000 automatic movements in 2013. Mido is now part of the Swatch Group.

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4. Gucci — G-Timeless, $790

A versatile watch for everyday wear. The Swiss-made g-timeless features an elegant 38mm stainless steel case, sapphire coated lens and ETA quartz movement. It’s a good all-rounder for both work and pleasure.

About the watch brand: Gucci was founded by a young Italian immigrant who was working as a hotel worker in London. Impressed by the quality of the guest’s luggage, Guccio Gucci decided to return home and open a store selling luxury leather goods of his own. Today the company has revenues over $4 billion per year.

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5. Shinola — The Guardian 41.5mm, $945

The guardian is a bold men’s watch which is guaranteed to catch the eye. It features a sandblasted PVD gunmetal case, three sub-dials, and a butterfly clasp.

About the watch brand: Shinola was founded in 2011 by Tom Kartsotis — one of the founders of the watchmaking giant, Fossil. Shinola watches are assembled in the USA (using imported parts). Shinola now produces over 500,000 watches per year, generating more than $100m in sales.

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Best Men’s Watches Under $5000

1. Tudor, Black Bay Red — $3,675

Undoubtedly the best buy under $5k. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay is a more affordable alternative to a Rolex Submariner. They share many of the same parts (read why below), but the Tudor costs $3.6k, while the Rolex is $7.5k. The Black Bay is held in high regard because it comes with an in-house movement. Other features include a 41mm stainless steel case, riveted steel bracelet and water resistant to 200m.

About the watch brand: Hans Wilsdorf created Rolex and built a hugely successful empire selling luxury watches at luxury prices. 41 years later in 1926, Hans wanted to create a new brand which would be more affordable, but have a similar reputation for built quality. Obsessed with all things British, he named his new brand Tudor. The new Tudor watches borrowed many components from Rolex, including cases, crowns, hands, dials, bracelets, and crystals — almost everything. However, they saved money in the choice of movement, using cheaper models made by ETA.

Tudor became extremely popular and was the chosen watch brand for the French, Canadian and US Navies. Unfortunately, Tudor was stricken by the quartz crisis in the 1970/80’s and only was only rejuvenated in 2012. Today, they remain a sister brand to Rolex and are enjoying a revival in sales.

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2. Grand Seiko, SBGX261 G — $2,200

One of the best luxury watches you can buy for under $5000 is the SBGX261G by Grand-Seiko. The watch has a loyal fanbase for a good reason. The style is delightfully classic and minimal, yet far from boring.

About the watch brand: Grand Seiko is a separate luxury brand produced by Seiko. It was created to match and compete with the most luxury Swiss companies, which offered high-precision movements at premium prices. Today, Grand-Seiko is one of the most respected luxury watch brands.

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3. Omega, Seamaster — $4,100

The Seamaster is probably the most famous product line produced by Omega. It cemented its place in pop culture when it became James Bond’s preferred timepiece and is now often called the ‘007 watch’. It has been spotted on the wrists of Prince William and Joe Biden, to name but a few.

The Seamaster is available in a variety of colors and bracelet/strap options, but this model features a blue dial with a date display at the 3 o’clock position and a stainless steel bracelet. The Seamaster is powered by the Co-Axial caliber 2500 movement.

About the watch brand: In 1848, Louis Brand was making key-wound precision pocket watches with his company called the La Generale Watch Co. His two sons went on to create a pioneering in-house manufacturing process which allowed individual watch components to be used interchangeably. The watches they sold using this method were sold under a new brand name, Omega.

By the time Louis’ two sons passed away in 1903, Omega was one of Switzerland’s largest watch manufacturers with over 800 staff. The company was left in the hands of a twenty-three-year-old, Paul-Emile Brandt who went on to build Omega into one of the most desirable watch brands in the world (Omega — part 1 of 2).

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4. Oris, Diver’s Sixty-Five — $1,900

Launched at Baselworld 2016, Oris reissued the Diver’s Sixty Five and was heralded by watch collectors as a considerable success. The Swiss-made watch features an automatic movement, highly-polished stainless steelcase, and durable leather strap.

About the watch brand: Oris was founded by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian in the Swiss town of Hölstein in 1904. They bought the Lohner & Co watch factory and renamed it Oris (after a nearby stream). By 1911, they had over 300 employees. Oris constructed homes for their staff in the town and operated buses to and from their factory. Today, Oris only make automatic watches and enjoy annual revenues of over $50 million.

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5. Nomos, Glashutte Orion — $2020

Our favorite minimal watch, the Orion, is effortlessly elegant, making it suitable for any occasion. It is understated and utterly timeless. A modern classic.

About the watch brand: Founded in Germany in 1990, Nomos has become world-renowned for minimal design. Today they are stocked by luxury retailers around the world. Nomos has over 260 employees and produces approx 20,000 pieces per year.

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6. TAG Heuer, Aqua Racer — $1700

The Aqua Racer by Tag Heuer has a 3 pin stainless steel bracelet with polished edges, but the polished indexes with luminescent markers steal the show.

About the watch brand: The company, originally named Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG, was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in Switzerland. The TAG Group bought a majority stake in the company in 1985 and renamed it, TAG Heuer. The brand is closely tied with the world of sport; sponsoring Olympic games, skiing, and formula one championships.

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7. Bell and Ross, Golden Heritage — $3,865

The Golden Heritage boasts a bold 43mm diameter steel case, sapphire case-back, an in-house movement. The watch is heavily inspired by aviation instruments used in planes and helicopters. The luminous hour and minute hands complete the timepiece.

About the watch brand: Bell & Ross was launched in 1992 by designer Bruno Belamich and businessman Carlos A. Rosillo. Their first watches were made by Swiss manufacturer Sinn, however, in 2002, Bell & Ross began to produce its own watches. Their focus on innovation and technology resulted in the brand setting a new world record for the deepest dive in history — 11,000 meters below sea level.

The precision and reliability of Bell and Ross timepieces resulted in the French Security Services ordering their watches for bomb disposal experts. They have gone on to become one of the top watch brands for astronauts, pilots, and divers.

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8. EBEL, Men’s Wave — $1600

The Wave by EBEL is an impressive timepiece. It features a 40mm polished stainless steel case and gold indexes and date display. The strap is made from calfskin leather. It’s a fantastic choice for formal wear.

About the watch brand: EBEL was founded in Switzerland in1911 by Eugène and Alice Blum. They came up with the name of their brand by combining two letters from each of their first names. Their son, Charles, took over in 1932 and began expanding the company’s sales by offering their watches in the USA. EBEL went on to produce watches for Cartier in the 1970’s and was part of the LVMH group which owns brands such as Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Hublot. It was later sold to Movado in 2003 for $62m.

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Frederique Constant — Slimline Moonphase Manufacture, $3,395

9. Frederique Constant, Slimline Moonphase — $3,395

Elegant and refined, the Slimline Moonphase watch is a Swiss made watch which is suitable to wear every day of the week. It features a 38.8mm rose-gold case, sapphire crystal glass and see-through case back. The moon-phase is displayed at 3 o’clock and date counter at 6 o’clock.

About the watch brand: Frederique Constant was founded in 1988 in Geneva by Aletta Frédérique Stas-Bax and Peter Constant Stas. They valued innovation and positioned the brand in the attainable luxury segment. They were acquired in 2017 by Citizen for an undisclosed sum.

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10. Georg Jensen, Koppel — $1,195

The Koppel is the watch that pioneered the minimalist trend in Danish watches. It’s elegant, functional and understated.

About the watch brand: Georg Jensen opened a small silversmithy in Copenhagen in 1904. Five years later he opened a shop in Berlin, and the company has continued to grow ever since. In 2012, Georg Jensen was acquired by Investcorp for $140 million.

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Best Luxury Men’s Watches ($5k+)

1. Rolex, Daytona — $16,000

Perhaps one of the most iconic watches in the world, the Rolex Daytona was introduced in 1963 to cater to the needs of professional racing car drivers. Available in numerous styling options, it has a caliber 4130, a self-winding mechanical movement which is developed and manufactured by Rolex.

About the watch brand: Rolex was founded in London by Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London in 1905. In 1919, Rolex moved to Switzerland to escape high wartime taxes in England and has remained there ever since.

Rolex made its name by focusing on continuous innovation. In 1926, they produced the world’s first waterproof wristwatch (Rolex Oyster) and in 1945 Rolex produced the world’s first watch with an automatically changing date on the dial (Rolex Datejust).

Today, the Rolex brand is valued at over $8b. In 2017, a Rolex Daytona which was formally owned by Paul Newman became the most expensive watch in the world, selling for more than $17.8m (which included a 12.5% buyer fee) at auction.

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The world’s most expensive watch is bought at auction for more than $15m

2. Patek Philippe— Nautilus, $110,000

The Nautilus was introduced by Patek Philippe in 1976 and has since became the brand’s most famous and desirable watch. It was designed by by Swiss watchmaker Gérald Genta, who previously designed the Nautilus’ closes rival, the Royal Oak (see below) for Audemars Piguet.

About the watch brand: The company was founded in Geneva in 1845 by Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe who soon invented the world’s first Swiss wristwatch. Their timepieces are renowned for the complexity and are widely regarded to be the highest quality timepieces in the world.

Notable owners have included Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Queen Elizabeth II and Pablo Picasso.

Patek Philippe has been owned by the Swiss Stern family since 1932, when Charles Stern and Jean Stern acquired the company during the Great Depression. Today, the company enjoys revenues in excess of $1.3 billion.

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3. Audemars Piguet — Royal Oak, $17,000

Named after a British Navy ship, the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet was first introduced in 1972 is considered to be the world’s first luxury sports watch made from stainless steel. The exposed screw heads were inspired by those seen on traditional diving helmets, while the integrated bracelet has become a hallmark of the Royal Oak.

About the watch brand: Audemars Piguet was founded in Switzerland in 1875 by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet. Initially making pocket watches but later turning its attention to wristwatches, the company began to grow quickly. Audemars Piguet opened stores in London, Paris, New York, and Buenos Aires. Today, the company remains independently owned and operated by the founder’s family.

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4. IWC — Pilot’s Watch, $5,950

This pilot’s watch by IWC features an automatic movement inside a 43mm polished stainless steel case and alligator leather strap. This is the 150th-anniversary edition of IWC’s most popular watch. It’s limited to 2000 units.

About the watch brand: Aged 27, a Florentine Ariosto Jones was working as a director at E. Howard & Co — the most successful American watch company at the time. But in 1868, he decided to quit and go it alone. He moved to Switzerland and combined his American entrepreneurial spirit with Swiss watchmaking expertise.

He opened the International Watch Company (IWC) and began making high-quality pocket watches. Within ten years, he had nearly 200 staff working from his headquarters on the River Rhine and went on to produce one of the world’s first known wristwatches in 1899.

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5. Omega — Seamaster Planet Ocean, $29,950

The Seamaster Planet Ocean is perhaps the most masculine watch in our guide and is seen on the wrists of celebrities including George Clooney, Daniel Craig, and Michael Phelps. If you want a genuinely unmissable statement piece, the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean is a great option. The case is a massive diameter of 45.5 mm and is made from 18K red gold.

About the watch brand (2/2): Omega is one of the first brands to harness the power of product placement and marketing. In 1969, Buzz Aldrin wore an Omega Speedmaster on the moon (Neil Armstrong left his inside the Lunar Module because it’s electronic timer had misfunctioned). They have gone on to sponsor every Olympic games since 1932 and are the chosen watch of fictional spy hero, James Bond. Omega is now part of the Swatch group.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to the best men’s watches.

Privacy Policy

by Elliot Kingsley

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions.

The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.
Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to Broadsheet.co, 10000 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232.
Affiliate means an entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with a party, where “control” means ownership of 50% or more of the shares, equity interest or other securities entitled to vote for election of directors or other managing authority.
Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.
Website refers to Broadsheet, accessible from www.broadsheet.co
Service refers to the Website.
Country refers to: California, United States
Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.
Third-party Social Media Service refers to any website or any social network website through which a User can log in or create an account to use the Service.
Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.
Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Email address
Usage Data

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service.

You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service.

Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close your web browser.

We use both session and persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

Necessary / Essential Cookies Type: Session Cookies Administered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
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Tracking and Performance Cookies Type: Persistent Cookies Administered by: Third-Parties Purpose: These Cookies are used to track information about traffic to the Website and how users use the Website. The information gathered via these Cookies may directly or indirectly identify you as an individual visitor. This is because the information collected is typically linked to a pseudonymous identifier associated with the device you use to access the Website. We may also use these Cookies to test new advertisements, pages, features or new functionality of the Website to see how our users react to them.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.
To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user.
For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.
To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application’s push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.
To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.

We may share your personal information in the following situations:

With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, to show advertisements to You to help support and maintain Our Service, to contact You, to advertise on third party websites to You after You visited our Service or for payment processing.
For Business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include Our parent company and any other subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that We control or that are under common control with Us.
With Business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.
With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside. If You interact with other users or register through a Third-Party Social Media Service, Your contacts on the Third-Party Social Media Service may see Your name, profile, pictures and description of Your activity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of Your activity, communicate with You and view Your profile.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Business Transactions

If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

Law enforcement

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

Comply with a legal obligation
Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
Protect against legal liability

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Detailed Information on the Processing of Your Personal Data

Service Providers have access to Your Personal Data only to perform their tasks on Our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Detailed Information on the Processing of Your Personal Data

Service Providers have access to Your Personal Data only to perform their tasks on Our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers.

We also may limit how We collect, use, and store some of the information of Users between 13 and 18 years old. In some cases, this means We will be unable to provide certain functionality of the Service to these users.

If We need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your country requires consent from a parent, We may require Your parent’s consent before We collect and use that information.

Children’s Privacy

Links to Other Websites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Best Hotels in San Francisco

by Elliot Kingsley

After experiencing the City by the Bay’s candy-colored Victorian townhouses and rustic cable cars, award-winning art and food scenes, and neighborhoods both leafy (the Presidio) and techy (Mid-Market), it’s easy to see why Tony Bennett’s famous ballad “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” rings home for more than just its residents. Whether you’re visiting for business or pleasure, the 10 best San Francisco hotels measure up.

1. Proper Hotel

In the newest addition to emerging Mid-Market, interiors by designer Kelly Wearstler could not be more of a departure than the 1907 building’s flatiron-shaped red-brick façade. A mash-up of styles, colors, and patterns dominates every corner: bold wallpaper clashes with plaid upholstery and bare wooden floors, staff wear checkered suits and floral ties. It’s bohemian and eclectic and, somehow, it all works. Arguably, even more emphasis was placed on the hotel’s social spaces—‘gram-worthy interiors outshined only by their food and drink. The neighborhood’s cool crowd pours into Villon, the salon-style lobby restaurant, for seasonal American cuisine; on the rooftop, cocktail lounge Charmaine’s seduces with fire pits, city views, and fabulous libations like Let Me Touch Your Mind (made with Banks 5 rum, coconut cream, pineapple, and lime, topped with a Negroni).

2. Hotel Kabuki

One of the biggest reasons to stay in underrated Japantown: Hotel Kabuki, a trendy 225-room sleep fresh from a $31 million renovation. Its 1960s building is now a refreshing take on mid-century modern design with a Japanese twist: a glassed-lobby lobby opens out onto a bonsai garden, rooms are artfully decorated with orchids and edgy pop art, and a feeling of Zen pervades in guest rooms in the form of framed calligraphy, sisal carpeting, and shibori-crafted cloth headboards. Along with an authentic bathhouse, there’s a trendy lobby bar, where you’ll find more than 20 varieties of sake to pair with fusion bites. Of course, the neighborhood itself is a treasure trove of ramen restaurants, sushi joints, and karaoke bars for even more cultural immersion.

3. Inn at the Presidio

Tired of the traffic and the crowds? Set inside Presidio, a 1,400-acre former U.S. army outpost turned National Park site, the Inn at the Presidio is where to stay if you want to feel far away from the noise of the city. The historic Georgian revival-style brick building was restored as a charming lodge and now has 22 sophisticated rooms done up in wooden rattan chairs and antiques as well as a white porch lined with rocking chairs where you can look out onto the property—an oasis of cypress and eucalyptus trees, quiet hiking trails, and rolling fields with views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Even better than the views, though, are the warmth of the staff and your surrounds, where complimentary continental breakfast and an evening happy hour with wine and cheese keep guests close to home.

4. Fairmont San Francisco

A San Francisco institution, the Fairmont holds pride of place at the top of Nob Hill and remains as stately as it was when it opened back in 1906. Opulent interiors include a jaw-dropping lobby with towering columns and decorative ceilings, three restaurants (including one that hosts afternoon tea), a private garden patio, state-of-the-art wellness spa, and 658 classy rooms and suites equipped with Keurigs and MP3 docking stations and—from almost every one of them—sweeping views of downtown San Francisco. Don’t miss the basement Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar, a tiki bar famous for its floating band (yes, there’s a man-made lagoon in there), spontaneous thunderstorms (à la The Rainforest Café), and coconut-cradled Mai Tais.

5. Tilden Hotel

SF’s gritty yet fast-changing Tenderloin district might explain the reasonable room rates behind the Tilden Hotel, but this is far more than just your basic budget find. The ground floor’s low-slung couches and natural lights make it feel more like a living room than a lobby, and there’s more surprises in store in the form of a hidden garden and local artwork. Upstairs, a Scandinavian-like urban minimalism—courtesy of Brooklyn-based design firm Studio Tack—give guest rooms a sleek-yet-homey feel with cherry wood and white walls, framed plant artwork, shuttered windows, and bathroom products by Malin + Goetz. Pecking? Order up room service (tater tots; Wagyu beef burgers) from ground-floor cocktail lounge The Douglas Room—or grab an espresso and croissant to go from the curbside café, which is fast becoming one of the area’s go-tos for morning coffee.

6. The Alise

Steps from Union Square, this cute, whimsical property was designed for the new generation of travelers hoping to find style, affordability, and next-level amenities all in on package. The Alise delivers on all of it: rooms are small but comfortable and well-designed (psst—there’s free WiFi), the open lobby is full of conversation-sparking art pieces, guests are treated to daily cupcake happy hours as well as complimentary bicycles for pedaling around the waterfront, and there’s even an elevated bistro and lounge for rendezvousing with fellow travelers, friends, family, or whomever you’ve brought for the ride.

7. The Kimpton Buchanan

Set away from the downtown, the Kimpton Buchanan marries details inspired by its Japantown setting—shibori pillows and kimono robes in Zenned-out guest rooms; daily wine and sake mixers—with chic, urban touches in the form of modern light fixtures, video installations in the lobby, and glad-they-have-them extras like yoga mats and umbrellas. You’ll feel like you’re living in a real neighborhood here—Buchanan is well within walking distance of incredible restaurants like Pizzeria Delfina as well as Pacific Heights—but we could see you just as easily spending time right where you are, enjoying the peace (and lawn games) of the private interior courtyard and chowing down on shabu shabu at second-floor restaurant Mums.

8. Hotel Drisco

As far as neighborhoods go, it doesn’t get much fancier in San Francisco than Pacific Heights, whose streets are lined with politician-owned mansions, international consulates, and some of the prettiest townhouses in the Bay Area occupied by some of its wealthiest residents. Hotel Drisco lets you pretend like you’re one of them. Outside, it looks like an expensive apartment building; inside is unsurprisingly posh—all dark wood furnishings, rich textiles, and gold fixtures—with spacious guest rooms overlooking the city served by staff in waistcoats and next-level inclusions like evening wine receptions in the parlor. Worried you’re too far from town? Drisco’s complimentary town-car service is on hand to get you whenever you need to go.

9. The St. Regis San Francisco

Anyone talking about urban luxury is surely talking about the St. Regis San Francisco, which occupies a 40-story SoMa tower within spitting distance of the Museum of Modern Art near the financial district. This is the socialite’s sleep of choice, and it’s no wonder: personal butlers escort guests to their rooms, which are minimal but sumptuous with leather walls and deep soaking tubs. The place to see and be seen is the lobby bar, where San Francisco’s business-minded movers and shakers come for stiff drinks and live jazz before dinners at Grill. If it’s privacy you seek, you’re better off booking an appointment at the two-floor Remède Spa, which has its own 50-foot lap pool and relaxation rooms stocked with truffles and champagne.

10. Laurel Inn

Some might balk at Laurel Inn’s address, tucked away at the edge of the Presidio instead of downtown, but anyone looking to swap city living for a cozy home away from home should look no further. A studio-style redesign has given new life to this 1950s-era former motor inn—think mid-century modern furniture, original art by Bay Area locals, and even kitchenettes in some of the 49 rooms—while thoughtful extras include around-the-clock coffee and tea, a music- and movie-lending library, and on-site parking. Bonus: the area’s best restaurants and shops are less than a block away on Sacramento Street.

The Best Films of The Decade

by Elliot Kingsley

10. ‘The Irishman’ (2019)

The Irishman shows the work of an older, more mature filmmaker. Possibly a person younger than 60 could not have made this film, or rather, could not have made it with the pacing and precision with which Scorsese directs this film. It’s evenly paced, giving space to all of the major players so that we know who they are and what their motivations are.

9. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015)

Genre hounds and arthouse aficionados are often antagonists in the pop-cultural cage match — so thank the Lord (by which we mean Imperator Furiosa) for the unifying, mutilated beauty of George Miller’s return to the Mad Max franchise. Just consider the sheer bloodbag balls it took to sideline Tom Hardy’s marquee hero and instead let the film play out as a splayed-leg, electric guitar solo dedicated to Charlize Theron’s one-armed savior, dedicated to saving a gaggle of comely women from biological slavery come hell, high water or an actual apocalypse. A wildly kinetic chase movie, it’s been accused of having too little substance beneath a stylish veneer that’s less smoke and mirrors than belching plumes of orange flame and orally-administered, silver spray-paint. But that would deny this film the revolutionary bona fides it rightfully deserves. This is the action movie as extended state of grace, and an air-horn blast of guzzoline-and-breast-milk-scented fresh air. JK

8. ‘Roma’ (2018)

Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece doesn’t feel like a movie so much as a time machine — one that takes you back to the 1970s Mexico City of the director’s youth, where the streets are crowded with life and domestic workers like Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) double as a nurturing force. The longer we ride shotgun with this formative figure (based on the woman who looked after Cuaron when he was a kid) as she goes about her daily chores and takes care of a fracturing family, the more we’re reminded that cinema is a medium whose specialty is not spectacle but empathy. Not that Roma lacks big moments or ambitious set pieces — riots, earthquakes, mass martial-arts demonstrations and even death occur. But the glory in what the filmmaker accomplishes here is that he immerses you in what feels like one long, intimate memory. It’s a personal film for him; what makes it work is how personal it ends up feeling to you by the end of it. DF

7. ‘The Master’ (2012)

Is Paul Thomas Anderson the fiercest, most unfathomable and untamable American filmmaking talent of the 21st century so far? His 2012 drama stars the Oscar-nominated Joaquin Phoenix as a raw, exposed nerve named Freddie Quell, a World War II vet with a penchant for drinking homemade hooch and drifting from job to job. He’s exactly the kind of lost soul who would fall under the spell of Lancaster Dodd, a 1950s cult leader played by the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman (a pause here to honor the enormity of his loss). Is Dodd — rhymes with God — a stand-in for L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology? Anderson has denied that the controversial figure was a direct inspiration on the movie’s larger-than-life father figure. But the resemblance matters less than the way the filmmaker indicts unthinking allegiance to institutions, such as religion, country, sex and money, that demand absolute allegiance. It’s a complex, endlessly fascinating dissection of the American character, as seen from the dizzying heights of “success” and those seconds away from hitting rock bottom. PT

6. ‘Toni Erdmann’ (2016)

Parents live to embarrass their children; children exist to disappoint their parents. This truism is the fodder for a thousand anodyne Hollywood movies. It’s also a notion that’s explored, denuded, forced to wail Whitney Houston songs and is then shoved into a shambling, hairy Bulgarian folk costume in German director Maren Ade’s blisteringly original comedy. Sandra Huller is tightly-wound, careerist exec named Ines. Peter Simonischek is her bearish father Winfried, a lonesome, tiresome prankster whose even-worse alter ego, Toni Erdmann, will eventually make his offspring’s life better … by first making it much worse. Over the course of three funny, wildly unpredictable hours, Ade delivers absurdism laced with pathos and pointedly feminist corporate satire, while her actors vividly sketch a parent-child relationship as uncategorizably unique as your own. Every family thinks they’re freakish. Toni Erdmann doesn’t just agree with that idea; it reminds all of us to revel in it. JK

5. ‘Get Out’ (2017)

Former sketch-comedy star turned scary-movie-maestro Jordan Peele’s debut feature was nothing less than a cultural phenomenon, an elegant tribute to the social horror of the ’70s and ’80s, and a shockingly sharp treatise on institutional racism. Hitting theaters during the early months of the Trump administration, his dark twist on Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? cast Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a photographer who heads upstate to meet the family of his new girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams). Her parents (Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford) seem nice enough, though something feels off from the jump. By the time we find out what these privileged white liberals are actually up to, we’re already several leagues deep into the Sunken Place. Lacing his genre exercise with sharp humor yet refusing to skimp on the shocks, Peele opened up a safe space to have a necessary conversation about our post-Trayvon Martin world, where the deadliest place for African-Americans is a sleepy suburban street. An instant classic. KW

4. ‘Boyhood’ (2014)

What if you followed a protagonist from childhood to young adulthood — and shot it over a dozen or so years, using the same actors? Richard Linklater’s sui generis coming-of-age film sounds like a high concept experiment on paper; onscreen, the cumulative effect of watching Ellar Coltrane go from daydreaming babyface to philosophizing emo-hunk college student is like speedreading someone’s photo album. The indie-film godhead has dabbled in playing the long game before (see his Before trilogy). But this chronicle of marking the milestones of American adolescence via a random assortment of moments — some minuscule, others monumental — both milks its central “gimmick” for all it’s worth and transcends it. Spend all those rapidly passing years with Coltrane’s everyteen, as well as his screen family (Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater), and the very concept of time no longer seems so abstract. The grow up so damned fast. DF

3. ‘Holy Motors’ (2012)

A metaphor for acting? An exploration of the many roles we must play in life? Or simply one of the most exuberant and gonzo blasts of pure imagination to grace a movie screen this decade? Yes, yes, and hell yes: Holy Motors is such an uproariously surreal comedy that it may take a while to realize it’s also a profound statement on modern malaise. Writer-director Leos Carax sets Denis Lavant loose in Paris, with the actor executing a series of different “assignments” over the course of a day. He might be asked to be a motion-capture artist participating in a surreal love scene one minute, and then become a monster who terrorizes the population the next. Gleeful yet constantly attuned to the poignant, allegorical implications of its all-the-world’s-a-stage premise, Holy Motors asks us to see existence as a grand game of dress-up where cars can talk and accordion bands kick out the jams. Maybe it really is a wonderful life. TG

2. ‘The Social Network’ (2010)

Meet Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) — just your run-of-the-mill dark, depressive Harvard student who’d end up founding a website he’d call Facebook, betraying his partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and laying the foundation for the fountain of backbiting and misinformation we call the modern world. Blessed with the dream team of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher (and a cast that includes Armie Hammer as both Winklevoss twins and Rooney Mara as the object of Zuckerberg’s fixation), this adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book Accidental Billionaires is one deliciously re-watchable preview of the apocalypse, as entertaining and cheeky as it is troubling and startlingly prescient. From the moment that the glowering Zuckerberg figures out how to turn what we now call toxic masculinity into a billion-dollar industry, you can see how Fincher & co. are coldly dissecting the entire notion of smartest-guy-in-the-room entitlement. And in the harsh cold light of a decade later (post-Gamer Gate and Cambridge Analytica), what seemed merely ominous then is now what has likely driven our sense of civility and civilization to the brink. Thanks a lot. [Clicks unfriend.] KW

1. ‘Moonlight’ (2016)

Barry Jenkins’ second film seemed to come of out nowhere — an adaptation of playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s little-known work “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” from a modest indie distributor with little industry juice (what’s an A24?) and a director who’d run into obstacles trying to follow up his impressive 2008 debut Medicine for Melancholy. “Gamechanging” doesn’t begin to describe the impact it had once audiences saw what the then-37-year-old filmmaker had come up with. Charting a sensitive young Florida kid’s rocky road to manhood via three time periods and three different actors (Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes, all of whom are fabulous), Jenkins refracts the agonies and ecstasies of African-American life through a very subjective prism. Yet the story he’s gifted us with goes beyond any attempt to categorize it. Moonlight is simply a profound, tender, sympathetic look at a human being finally, painfully coming into his own. Every character, from the neighborhood drug dealer (long live Mahershala Ali!) to the addict mother (Naomie Harris) to the high school tough guy contains multitudes. Every shot looks ravishing. It’s the sort of once-in-a-lifetime project that hits at just the right time and finds the audience it deserves. This is what the movies look like when the medium’s full arsenal of expression is being tapped by someone with vision. DF