Tonight, Tim discusses several of his favorite luxury watches that can be bought for $5,000 USD or less. Among these favorite budget watches are new watches, preowned watches, and even one vintage Rolex watch. Watch collectors who are disgusted with the current pace of market bubble expansion might have had their fill of Patek Philippe, Rolex, and F.P. Journe, but Tim is ready with budget-priced alternatives from Omega, Grand Seiko, and NOMOS. All of this and watch collector wrist shots are featured on "Watches Tonight!"

The current luxury watch marketplace features a disparity between dominant brands that sell dominant models and a range of weaker brands that are losing group at a frightening pace. Due to the strength of models like the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, the Rolex Daytona, the Rolex Submariner, and the F.P. Journe Chronometre Bleu, many watch collectors have developed revulsion at the speculation, value bubbles, and watch flipping that have followed. Tonight's show focuses on luxury watches that can be bought for around $5,000 or less; these are budget priced watches accessible to the masses but equally entertaining for discerning collectors of means.

Two Omega watches lead the line of Tim's $5,000 favorites.

First, the 38.5mm Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra needs to be recognized as a near-perfect watch. With a retail price of $8,400 but a used price below $5,000, this stainless steel annual calendar chronometer can do it all without precipitating financial ruin. At 150-meters water resistant, the Aqua Terra Annual Calendar is an ideal "one watch" for a collector who intends to wear a single polyvalent watch full-time. For aviators and armchair aviators, Tim recommends the first generation 1998-2006 Omega Speedmaster Professional X-33. Once dubbed the "Mars Watch," the titanium X-33 was the ultimate pilot's watch of the 1990s. Today, a person can buy the Speedmaster X-33 Mark I or Mark II on a bracelet for well under $3,000.

The Rolex Datejust Oysterquartz is no longer commonly sold at $5,000, but bargains still can be found with persistence. But even at $6,000-$7,000, this quartz chronometer Rolex with Gerald Genta style is bargain. Roughly 25,000 Oysterquartz Datejusts were built from 1977 to 2001, and rarity is a factor in this watch's appeal to collectors. Unlike far more common and less distinctive vintage Rolex watches, the Oysterquartz can be purchased for reasonable money. Its Rolex caliber 5035 includes premium features like a COSC quartz chronometer certification, thermocompensation, a quartz "trimmer," and a Swiss lever escapement.

Grand Seiko, like its baby brother, Seiko, is a brand that touts its relative value compared to Swiss rivals. But the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Automatic SBGA407 "Skyflake," has enough charisma and color to go big game hunting; even the Chronometre Blue struggles to outshine this riveting Japanese watch. With a blue version of the famed Grand Seiko "Snowflake" dial, a vintage-inspired Grand Seiko "Heritage" case, and the formidable Seiko Spring Drive technology to keep the time, the Grand Seiko Skyflake is a viable rival to Swiss watches at any price.

The NOMOS Autobahn Neomatik 41 combines hip Berlin industrial design with a manufacture NOMOS caliber DUW6101 movement. Designer Werner Aisslinger penned the Autobahn's auto racing and automobile-inspired dial and case. The dished dial recalls the great banked race tracks of the interwar years, and the time-telling features have been profiled to echo the design of automotive dashboard instruments. At $4,800 new and far less used, the NOMOS Autobahn is a high grade independent-brand luxury watch at price that leaves high-octane gas money in your pocket.

On the luxury watch news front, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms "No Radiations," and its $14,100 price puts it squarely in the range people are paying for the 2021 Rolex Submariner. Is this new Fifty Fathoms an appropriate dive watch alternative to the Submariner, or is the similarity in size, function, and (effective) pricing just a red herring?