If you are gift shopping at Sears this year, you may be pleasantly surprised to find gifts for men outside of the hardware section. Sears has long been known as a place to buy major appliances, tools, and beds. However, over the past couple of years, I’ve discovered that it is also a very cool place to buy watches for men. Since Sears targets mainstream American shoppers, it has been easy to find a wide-variety of watch styles at affordable prices.
At the higher end, Sears carries brands like Citizen, Seiko, and Bulova. These brands are generally priced between $100 and $500 at Sears. Perhaps the most impressive watch that I’ve seen at Sears was the famous Citizen Skyhawk aviation watch. For more down-to-earth watch collectors, Fossil’s Relic Brand offers plenty of great watches in the mid-priced range that lies between $50 and $100. In the under $50 space, familiar brands like Timex, Casio, and Armitron can be found in abundance. However, for under $35, you can also get watch brands like US Polo Association and Structure. With this array of price points, you can always find a cool watch.
Here are some of the coolest watches from Sears that I’ve added to my collection:
1. Bulova Classic Quartz Silver Dial Dress Watch. If I need to suit up, interview, give a speech, or just act like a real business man, I choose my Bulova. It’s a classic watch with a shiny silver face, the trademarked Bulova tuning forks logo, and all stainless steel case and band. It was a great buy on clearance for only $99. If it’s an important day, I wear my Bulova.
2. Elgin Men’s Watch with Multifunction Dials. My Elgin looks like one of the world’s great automatic watches. But, it has a secret. It’s really powered by a battery and quartz movement. The extra movement features simply drive a decorative second hand. Still, this looks like the watch that Captain Nemo would wear. It’s very cool in a steampunk kind of way and costs less than $100.
3. Structure Instrument Panel Analog Watch. Do you feel excluded by the exclusivity and price of high end European watches? I did. I love the looks genuine Bell amp; Ross instrument panel watches, but they are priced far beyond my means. Sears allowed me to get similar instrument panel style in a $30 quartz watch from Structure.
4. Hamlin Ultra-Thin Stainless Steel Dress Watch. Long, long, ago, an American watch company called Hamlin made ultra-thin watches. Now, the brand has been revived and sells thin, well-designed, dress watches that are made in Asia. They look good and compete well with brands like Skagen and Grenen.
If you find yourself at a loss when buying gifts for men for Christmas, Hannukah, Birthdays, or Father’s Day, the jewelry department at Sears is worth a look. You’ll have a great chance to find a good watch.
Sources:
Personal Experience
Sears.com
Other articles by Ryan:
A Guide to Military Field Watches
