When it comes to watch advice, what everyone wants to know is, “what’s a good investment?” To which the stock response goes, “There’s no such thing, unless you’ve scored on the waiting list for a stainless-steel Patek that’ll never leave its polythene bag. Buy with your heart not your head, dummy.”

When it comes to buying luxury watches, it has to be said that the sky’s the limit; there is almost no upper boundary to what one can spend on a watch. Pursuing extreme rarity, exotic materials and any level of customisation will lead you to a six or seven-figure price tag with several brands. But you can buy a great many of the best-known, admired and respected watch designs for less than £5,000. Hardly small change, we know, but any one of these would last you for life and serve you well – although we make no apologies if they turn out to be just the first step on your path to full-blown watch addiction.

“Round, round baby round, round / Spinning out on me”. It’s not explicit whether the underlying theme of this Sugababes song is an appreciation of mechanical timekeeping – the repetition of the lyric “got my kicks for free” casts doubt on the idea – but Mses Buchanan, Buena and Range were bang on the money if so. Watches (and clocks; and sundials, for that matter) are notable for their circular nature. Circular springs unwind to power an array of wheels, turning hands through 360 degrees to tell you that you’re late for another meeting. In a perfectly standard example of form following function, watches tend to come in round cases, too.

You don’t have to have the hottest limited-edition collab to win the respect of devoted watch aficionados. There are watches out there, hidden gems that they are, that represent good value for money and also mark you out as a person of great horological taste. Whether you’re looking for a dress watch, a dive watch or something for the everyday, these five are our top-secret, in-the-know, so-good-we-can’t-believe-we’re-sharing-them tips for showing superlative watch taste without going broke.

When it comes to watch advice, what everyone wants to know is, “what’s a good investment?” To which the stock response goes, “There’s no such thing, unless you’ve scored on the waiting list for a stainless-steel Patek that’ll never leave its polythene bag. Buy with your heart not your head, dummy.”

When it comes to buying luxury watches, it has to be said that the sky’s the limit; there is almost no upper boundary to what one can spend on a watch. Pursuing extreme rarity, exotic materials and any level of customisation will lead you to a six or seven-figure price tag with several brands. But you can buy a great many of the best-known, admired and respected watch designs for less than £5,000. Hardly small change, we know, but any one of these would last you for life and serve you well – although we make no apologies if they turn out to be just the first step on your path to full-blown watch addiction.