How to Find Your Next Favorite Watch for $30

This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.

I paid $33 for the watch I’ve worn the most over the past two months. It’s nothing fancy, but you can’t even get two cocktails in LA for the amount I spent on a watch with a real-deal, self-winding mechanical movement and patina out the wazoo (scratches, lots of ‘em). The reason I haven’t been able to take it off, though, is the dial, which features a dancing Snoopy orbited by his buddy Woodstock, who stands in as the floating seconds hand. There’s no six-figure grail in the world that can beat this watch’s fun factor. More and more recently I’m finding that the wrists of other collectors I admire are adorned not by what’s going to impress others, but what ranks highest in the SPM (smiles per minute) category. These are often super-affordable watches that offer the thrill of the hunt and, in many cases, express a piece of ourselves better than most expensive, watch-community-approved icons.

A few years ago, Kaitlin Koch, who runs the Instagram account @little.old.watches, interviewed for a job she “probably could’ve done for the rest of my life,” she told me over Instagram DMs. The role would have required her to sift through vintage watches for what she describes as “a major thrift store chain.” She didn’t get it, which is too bad because there are few people better at identifying buried treasures. Koch’s account makes a compelling argument for affordable watches, constantly showcasing pieces that make me coo with delight. She highlights not just watches but travel clocks, time-telling rings, and ticking brooches as well.

“I try to do my best to let people know that great, affordable treasures are still out there,” Koch said. The proof is all on @little.old.watches, where the collector shares $9 flea-market finds, a colorful $45 Gübelin, or this fun-sized diver from established Swiss brand Nivada Grenchen that she got for just $33. Her most recent pickup is a spectacular ‘60s Enicar with a golden lion’s mane around the dial—inexplicably just $30.

Lately I’ve been feeling like there’s something more thrilling about finding watches in the bargain bin than picking up something new. Getting the call from an authorized dealer who tells you the watch you’ve been waiting for finally arrived is certainly most people’s horological drug of choice, but the world of super-affordable watches offers a different rush. “I’m all about the hunt,” Koch said. “When you set parameters [like price] it’s not just useful, but becomes a game you play against yourself, and you get creative. It opens your eyes to just how much flies under the radar if you’re open minded.”

There is an endless supply of watches waiting in the wings for their moment in the spotlight. One of them got their due recently when Tony Traina, an editor at Hodinkee, made a video about the Lego Watch System. Yes, those are the same Lego bricks many of us used as kids (or still use now) to build Millennium Falcons models or miniature fire stations. In the ‘90s, Lego added watches with buildable bracelets and interchangeable bezels to its catalog. Traina bought one on eBay for $30 after reading a story on Worn & Wound. The clip he made with the Lego watch now has 1.6 million views, making it, by far, his most watched IG Reel. Traina told me over text that between 10 or 15 people picked up the piece because of his video, while others were inspired to rifle through their closets to find ones they’d bought as kids.