The Best Value Watches Just Dropped .

The past few years have really ushered in a new era in the watch world, with smaller microbrands stepping up and absolutely crushing it. They've been putting out some of the best looking, specced out, value packed watches out there. Today we're taking a look at 6 new releases that really caught me off guard. These watches are really cool. The military field watch style that we know today was really standardized in the 50s and 60s by the government. Over the years we've seen a bunch of different versions come along and this new one by Erebus is incredibly unique. And if you're not familiar with this brand, they make some of the coolest, well specced out, affordable pieces out there, and shout out to Jody. The Australian indie brand has come up with a pretty clever mechanical twist on a classic watch. Instead of just printing both hour scales on the dial and making you figure it out yourself, the watch actually switches between them automatically. It does this by adding a custom module to an automatic movement. And the idea is actually surprisingly simple. The hour markers sit on a rotating disc underneath the dial and you see them through 12 small circular cutouts that almost look like little date windows. During the day you'll see the standard 1-12 track, but when noon hits, the disc rotates and the numbers switch to 13-24. Then at midnight it flips back again. It removes the guesswork of reading military time and makes things a lot more simplified, along with a very clean and minimalist dial. The watch itself uses a classic rounded field watch case made from brushed stainless steel. And it comes in two different sizes, 40mm and 38mm. Both are available in 10 different colors. Yeah, 10 choices. Including a few textured options and each one comes on a leather strap that matches the dial. Across the collection there are a few design details that stay the same. Most of the dials do use a sector style layout with a rough texture in the center and a cross hair pattern surrounded by a ring of 60 small markers. Inside powering everything is the Miota Automatic 9039, which beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch is currently in a pre-order stage for $499, which I think is a really value packed price. This is $100 off the regular retail price and it launches in October. Ever since Fair launched their Cushion Case collection in 2022, it kind of felt like the design was just begging for a slightly smaller, more vintage version. That's finally here with the 35mm Cushion Case. The overall look is almost the same as the brand's original 38.5mm, used in models like the Moonphase, but just scaled down to a more classic size that really fits the whole vintage vibe. The slightly smaller case keeps the nicely angled lugs and chamfering edges that frames the top of the case, all finished with a mirror polish that gives it a really classy, elegant appearance. You also get the same coin edge crown with the small brass logo coin set into it, which adds a cool little detail. Inside is the Sellita SW210 Hands Wounds Automatic movement, which has been nicely decorated with a custom bridge, perlage finishing, and blued screws, as well as a 45 hour power reserve. Flip the watch over and you can see that movement in action through the sapphire display case back. When it comes to the dial, Fair kept things pretty simple with two versions available. The main differences between the two are the colors, the texture, and the matching tip on the aero seconds hand. Both versions use polished alpha style hour and minute hands, along with that long aero seconds hand that stretches almost the entire edge of the dial. One of the signature details that I love about Fairer is their use of colors and textures. And even though this watch is a little more restrained than some of their other models, it still is able to sneak in some of that fun color play. The teal dial has a really interesting radial texture, and the other option is a raspberry pink dial with a rough texture. Both options use a fumé dial where it darkens towards the edges. And the different uses of colors and textures brings everything together in a really cool way. But it is super versatile, has some sporty elements so you can dress it up or down. The watch is priced at $1,165, and you have a ton of different strap options so you could configure the watch how you like it. The Rolex Explorer II usually falls in the field watch category, but when it was released in 1971, it was designed for cave exploration. The idea was simple, when you're deep underground and can't see the sky, it's easy to lose track of day and night, so the 24-hour hand was borrowed from the brand's GMT-Master to help solve that problem. Of course, most people aren't crawling around caves, but the Explorer II still became a legend as a rugged travel watch and everyday piece. Over the years, tons of homages and lookalikes have popped up, but one of the most interesting options under $1,000 just came from the collaboration between California's Notice and Kansas-based Raven Watches. Notice is known for making tough, adventure-ready pieces, and when they teamed up with Raven in 2024, the Trail Trekker was born. This new version is the Basecamp, and it leans much more into that classic Explorer II style. The case, bracelet, and fixed bezel use sandblasted stainless steel, and the black lacquered 24-hour track looks right at home if you're a fan of the Rolex design. But the dial is where this watch really does its own thing. It's a deep royal blue with a matte finish that's super easy to wear, and the eggshell-colored old rhodium X1 superluminova on the hands, markers, and even the date wheel gives it a warm vintage look while still staying really easy to read. And I love how the date disc is color-matched, so it blends in perfectly. Little hits of yellow on the GMT hands and minute track add a nice contrast of colors without being over the top. The brushed steel hands come straight from the Notice Contrail GMT, but the geometric hour markers were designed specifically for the Trail Trekker. And the dial keeps things simple with the Notice logo at the 12 and the Raven shield at the 6. Up top is a slightly blue-tinted box sapphire crystal, a Notice signature. Inside you'll find the Miota Caliber 9075, which is a true GMT automatic movement, so you can adjust the local hour hands independently, and also, Notice has regulated the movement to plus or minus 8 seconds a day. It comes equipped on a tapered 3-link steel bracelet with the brand's extension module clasp, allowing you to make quick on-the-fly adjustments without any tools getting that perfect fit. Notice somehow packed a ton of specs and really great style into a watch that's under $1,000 coming in at $875. For a pretty young brand, Serica has done a really amazing job creating their own design language in a very short period of time. The French independent brands only started back in 2019, but their watches really stand out from everything else out there. The sterile dials, unusual marker layouts, unique bracelets, optional left-hand crowns, and a big rule they stuck to for years – no date windows on any of their watches. Which might have left out some watch fans who do prefer having that extra functionality, but that era is officially over with this new release. The Serica Reference 5330 Diving Chronometer Date, and I think it looks fantastic. At first glance, it might look like the brand's classic Serica diving chronometer with an added date, but there are actually a few more changes going on. The new date window sits at the traditional 3 o'clock position with no frame around it. The numbers on the date wheel are colored in red, which adds a little fun splash of color. To keep the dial easy to read, after adding the date, Serica also moved the minute track slightly closer to the center and stretched the markings just a little bit. The watch also introduces a new matte black dial instead of the glossy one we've seen before, which helps cut down on reflections and aids in legibility. The bezel also got a small upgrade as well. It still uses the same two-piece design with an inner steel ring, showing a 12-hour scale for tracking a second time zone, and an outer ceramic bezel for dive timing. But that outer scale is now cleaner because they removed the old countdown markings from 45 to 0, which does help add some of that symmetry we lost with the date window so everything kind of balances out. The new ceramic insert is also new in an anthracite gray color. Inside powering the watch is a Soprot M100, a COSC-certified automatic caliber with an added date function. The stainless steel case, though, hasn't changed, and I think that's a great thing because the dimensions are right in that sweet spot. It measures 39mm wide, about 12.2 in thickness, and 46.5 from lug to lug, or total distance, with those signature twisted lugs. It also still has that 300m of water resistance, which is definitely plenty, especially for those of us who barely even go in water. The watch comes with two strap options, Serica's tapered steel mesh Vesper bracelet with articulating end links, plus their polar white elastic PLD strap with a red stripe that nicely matches the red date numbers. I'm a huge fan of this design, and it's always exciting to see smaller microbrands come in, create something different, and put other big brands on notice. This new Serica release is priced at $2,001, I absolutely think it's a perfect watch. One of the most underrated Swiss watch brands out there has to be Fortis. They specialize in serious tool watches, the kinds that could take a beating. Fortis has sent watches to space, uses high-end movements, and in general makes some of the toughest purpose-built watches you could find. One of their watches that's really impressive is their diver called the Marine Master. And no, it has nothing to do with Seiko. And if this watch hasn't been on your radar, it probably will now, because this one is just absolutely amazing. The Marine Master actually has a long history, going all the way back to 1954, which was only a year after dive watch legends like the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and the Submariner helped define the category. Today, one of the standouts is the Marine Master M44, a big and bold 44mm diver that's built like a tank. It's rated to a massive 500m of water resistance, helped by high-performance FKM rubber gaskets, including three inside the screw-down crown. And it uses Fortis' own gear bezel system, which clicks 120 times in both directions, and even locks in place using a mechanism controlled by the crown at 10 o'clock. Inside the watch, powering the engine, is the Work 11, a Kinesi-made automatic movement with a 70-hour power reserve that's also COSC-certified, so you know it's going to keep amazing time. All of that already makes the M44 an incredible two-watch. But Fortis has taken things even further with a DLC-coated version. And this isn't just a simple coating. It's made by a company that's known for incredibly tough surface treatments. This DLC is heat-resistant up to 500 degrees Celsius, extremely resistant to abrasion and salt water, and about 20 times more scratch-resistant than stainless steel. Aside from the tough new exterior, the watch keeps the same great design as the rest of the lineup, including the integrated FKM rubber strap with the waffle pattern that matches the textured dial. And somehow it reminds me a little bit of a Patek Aquanaut. And I think that's a really cool detail. You also get Super-Luminova X1 on the hands, indices, bezel pip, and even a luminous ring around the dial, so visibility stays great even in low-light conditions. This new DLC version comes in two dial colors. Gravity Black, which goes all-in on a stealthy, modern look with the black case, black bezel, black dial, and silver hands and markers filled with white lube. And Black Resin, which leans a bit more vintage with gold-toned hands, gold accents on the Minitrack, and faux-aged lube. Whichever one you pick, the price is $5,450, which, yeah, that's a lot of money, but this is one heck of a watch. I think there's a bit of an emerging watch trend happening, and that's with 2D watches. The newest comes from a collaboration between G-Shock and visual artist Joshua Vides, with two new G-Shock models. The whole idea is based on the artist's reality-to-idea concept. Real objects are styled to look like simple, hand-drawn sketches. So these watches look a bit flat, like somebody just took a marker and outlined them, even though they're obviously three-dimensional. The look follows the same kind of playful style we've seen on watches like the D1 Milano Sketch watch and G-Shock's Origami series. For this collab, they've used two classic G-Shock designs. And it comes in white with thick black sketch lines across the bezel and strap, so in a lot of ways it looks kind of like a cartoon drawing. The other version flips the colors and uses a mostly black design based on the famous G-Shock TW6900, which fans usually call Three Eyes because of the three display windows on the dial. Even though these watches look fun and almost toy-like, they're still G-Shock tough. You still get the brand's shock-resistant construction, 200 meters of WR, and features like a stopwatch, countdown timer, and multi-function alarm for everyday use. In a surprising twist, this is a limited edition, but actually being released in the US and not Japan first. It retails for $180. Well, that's it for the watches today. Definitely let me know which was your favorite, or if there's just one you didn't like at all. As always, thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.