Bronze watches, by price

This is the mechanical watch to buy under $200: one of two in this data, and the cheaper by $7. San Martin lists it at $188 in two versions, an NH35 automatic at 11.3 mm thick or an ST3621 hand-wound at 9.8 mm. Case 41 mm, lug-to-lug 50 mm, 100 m, sapphire, C3 lume, on a 22 mm quick-release leather strap that tapers to 18 mm. The same money buys the Vaer S5 at $189, quartz, with a second strap. The bronze takes a patina, which is the reason to choose it over steel. The trade: 50 mm lug-to-lug is long for a 41 mm case, and the price moves with promotions, so the figure is a snapshot.

Buy it for the bronze or not at all: at €600 the €50 over the steel Tourer buys the case metal and nothing else on the sheet. 37 mm, 46 mm lug to lug, 10.8 mm thick, Miyota 9039, 150 m, double-domed sapphire, fixed bronze bezel, in Green, Brown or Blue, on FKM rubber with a bronze buckle. The case is CuAl8 bronze and the lume is Super-LumiNova C3 X1 rather than the steel version's BGW9. For the same €600 the Aquascaphe Classic gives 200 m and a rotating sapphire bezel in steel. The trade is a case that patinates, and 50 m of rating against the Classic.

The big Nodus diver at $700, 300 m on a Miyota 9015, and not in the current catalogue: no page on noduswatches.com, so the sheet is from a 2022 first look. 43.5 mm, 48 mm lug-to-lug, 12.75 mm thick, double-domed sapphire, 120-click bezel with a glossy ceramic insert, Super-LumiNova T-C1 X1, an H-link bracelet tapering 20 to 18 mm with the NodeX clasp; four dial colours. The Sector Deep at $650 is the Nodus with 500 m on the microbrand dive list that can be bought; the Avalon II's trade is that it cannot, and the number here is the one it launched at.

The Classic in CuAl8 bronze, and as with the Tourer the premium (€45 here) buys the case metal alone. 39 mm, 47 mm lug to lug, 13 mm thick, Miyota 9039, 200 m, double-domed sapphire, unidirectional 120-click bronze bezel with a sapphire insert, Super-LumiNova C1, €645 in Brown, Blue Gilt or Black, on FKM rubber Sport with a bronze buckle. The dimensions and movement match the €600 steel Classic exactly. The alternative for €15 less is the MK2 39.5 mm in steel, with BGW9 lume and the date option. The trade is a case that patinates against one that does not, and C1 lume against BGW9.

Sold out at publication, an edition of 250 sold through Grand Central Watch alone, so the $799 is the price of a watch that now changes hands second-hand or not at all. 36 mm in bronze, case, bezel, crown and buckle, a Miyota 90S5 under an acrylic crystal, on Horween shell cordovan. Lorier's product page returns a 404, and no lug-to-lug, thickness or water rating was fetched, so the table carries three dashes. For the same $799 the Hyperion in the main list is steel, sapphire and a true GMT with every figure published. The Roosevelt's trade is acrylic on a dress watch, and the fact of its being gone.

The only Christopher Ward under $1,000 on the maker's US price, and under because it is on clearance: $934, out of stock on the check date, cut from £985 to £689 on the sterling page. 38 mm in bronze, 43.6 mm lug-to-lug, 11.9 mm thick, a Sellita SW200-1 with a COSC certificate and a 38-hour reserve, 150 m, box sapphire. The lug-to-lug is 3.4 mm shorter than the Hamilton Khaki Field Auto 38's. The steel Dune Aeolian is $1,335 without the certificate, on the under-$1,500 list. The Formex Field at $975 is the alternative, titanium and Swiss assembled; the Dune's trade is the bronze and the stock position.

1,000 m in a 39 mm bronze case at $1,750, more than three times the 300 m of the next-deepest entries; nothing else on this page is bought for its depth. 13 mm thick, Soprod P024 with a 38-hour reserve, sapphire, rotating bezel, automatic helium valve, CuAl8 bronze with a 316L caseback, seven interchangeable straps. The page also quotes €1,650 and CHF 1,600 and the store feed lists $1,845; this site takes the page. No lug-to-lug or lug width is published. The steel Depthmasters run $1,050 to $1,355 on the same site, and the Antarctic Diver 38 at $1,050 is on the under-$1,500 list. Swiss Made per its pages. Bronze and 1,000 m are what $1,750 buys; a published lug-to-lug is what it does not.

The bronze GMT at €2,600, limited to 50, and the one Ikepod with a full water-resistance rating: 46 mm, 200 m, sapphire, Miyota 9075 true GMT with an independently jumping local hour, Luminova, on silicone. Steel Seapods on the Miyota 9039 are €1,350 to €1,450, and the 30th Anniversary orange is €1,450 in 30 pieces. The same 9075 is €850 in Baltic's Aquascaphe GMT at 39.5 mm, 47 mm lug-to-lug, 13.8 mm and 200 m, and $699 in RZE's titanium Fortitude at 41 mm; The €1,750 over the Baltic buys bronze, an edition of 50 and 6.5 mm of diameter, and the Seapod is assembled in Hong Kong where the Baltic is assembled in Besançon.

£9,558 for a hand-wound Unitas in Damascus steel, limited to 40, in stock, British made per the maker: Unitas 6498-2 at 3 Hz with 57 hours, 44 mm, 52.7 mm lug-to-lug, 15 mm thick, 24 mm lugs, 200 m, a double-domed sapphire with green or red Swiss AR, a triple-sapphire smoked caseback, cellular Damascus by Vegas Forge with bronze bushings, a Grey Cloud calf strap. It is 1.1 mm thinner than the Skeptiko in the same case dimensions and £4,878 more. It places above the Explorer 40 at the September rate; the Rolex has the certificate, the Schofield a pocket-watch calibre behind a sapphire back.