Not every watch should look like an old one. Vintage styling is nice and all, but choice is even more so. The world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing, etcetera, etcetera. And so, for those looking for something a touch more contemporary, here are three different avant-garde alternatives for three different budgets.

Not everyone has been blessed with a casual means to buy whatever watches they like, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be fun to dream. The same way you might ogle a LaFerrari or a Leica M, it’s enjoyable to experience incredible luxury watches and wonder, what if? Well, wonder no more as we assemble what just might be the dream three watch collection—one that’s got a bit of a theme.

Since the whopping $17.8 million sale of Paul Newman’s Paul Newman, the world’s—or what seems like it—attention has been turned to vintage chronographs. Thing is, vintage chronographs can be pretty expensive. There are some great options out there if you’re willing to do a lot—a lot—of research, but even those can be costly. A Longines 13ZN can fetch as much as £15,000 for example. If all that sounds too much like hard work, then perhaps we have the answer for you…

Walk into your nearest Omega boutique and chances are very high you’d be able to walk out again, wallet lighter, with a Speedmaster on your wrist. Not so Rolex’s Daytona, not unless you’re willing to pay the premium for precious metals. But is history about to change?

Anyone who knows anything about watches has heard of the Rolex Submariner. It’s the Porsche 911 of the watch bubble, the Apple iPhone. There are cheaper watches, there are more expensive watches—it’s the sweet spot for someone looking for a balance of quality, heritage, functionality and price. It wasn’t the first, however. That accolade goes to Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms—and now they’ve tried to make it better.

Say you’ve got £10,000 weighing down your wallet and you’re looking to trade it for a watch. If you’re lucky, you could grab Rolex’s latest, greatest ceramic Daytona, but what about this instead: a mechanical perpetual calendar chronograph and change.

The words ‘dive watch’ and ‘Rolex Submariner’ practically mean the same thing these days. It’s the default choice, and for good reason, a major player in the establishment of the category and just a really great watch to boot. Successive facelifts and improvements have rightly kept it at the top of the food chain for decades. But just because it’s a good choice, doesn’t mean it’s the only choice; here are three more dive watches you should check out before you buy a Submariner.

Forty-two years is a long time. It’s long enough to go from enjoying a carefree childhood to having a serious need to make a will, and for those who’ve spent that time hoping Patek Philippe would fit a grand complication into the quirky Nautilus, the wait was a long one. But now the wait is over.

The hand wound chronograph is perhaps the foundation of a high-end watch company’s ability to demonstrate its prowess, a complex, intricate assembly unencumbered by a rotor weight hiding the mechanical wizardry going on inside. There’s no better palette upon which to exhibit the art of fine watchmaking—but can you tell the difference between one that’s more affordable and one that’s very expensive?

If you’re looking to buy a serious dive watch, then the Rolex Sea-Dweller 126600 is likely to be right at the top of your wish list. It’s got the history, it’s got the heritage—but it’s also got a problem: the Tudor Pelagos.

It’s had its ups and downs, TAG Heuer—and perhaps more recently, the ups have been outnumbered by the downs. There’s a positive future on the horizon thanks to the efforts of brand fixer-upper Jean-Claude Biver, but a look to the future isn’t always enough to give us hope—we need to look to the past as well.

There’s a lot of talk about the brand Grand Seiko. Some people will tell you it’s better than Rolex, others that the quality is unmatched, and others still that the value is astonishing. There’s a lot of reasons given why we should buy a Grand Seiko—here are three things you should know before you do.

If you’re just getting into watches, it won’t be long before you come across the El Primero. Meaning, ‘the first’, it was the name given by its creator, Zenith, to mark the creation of the world’s first integrated automatic chronograph movement. That was 50 years ago—there’s been a lot of progress since.

Think of a number, any number. Take that number, stick a pound sign in front of it, and chances are, no matter how big or small it is, there’s a watch you can buy for that price. But just because you can spend the money, does that mean what you’re getting is worth it? To answer that question, we’ve got three watches: one for £2,000, one for £10,000 and one for £20,000. The question is, can you tell the difference?

While £1,000 won’t get you the best watch—not by a long shot—it can still get you a good watch, and even a great one. Choose carefully, do the research, and you’ll find something worth hanging on to—or you can cheat and let us suggest something instead.

It’s the watch that saved Audemars Piguet, that came to define it. The eight, hard angles framing the dial and bracelet blending seamlessly into the case can be recognised from across the street—and that’s the point. The Royal Oak was meant to redefine an ailing industry, create exclusivity with a technology that was fast becoming antiquated. And it worked—but could it be better?