How to Find the Right Watch: An Interview with Dory Isaacs

Dory Isaacs is the owner of the watch brand TOKYObay — a company whose stylish time gadgets keep us coming back season after season without feeling like we took out a loan to buy papa’s Patek. With her encyclopedic knowledge of timepieces, she’s a breath of fresh air to what feels like an industry full of salesmen insisting you can only get style and quality with a $5,000+ price tag. Well, rest assured, you can buy her watches knowing that more than a little care went into their production. Read more to find out where to find a good watch and how to identify the right piece for you.

Dory Isaacs, Designer/Owner, TOKYObay

How can I flash some individuality with my watch?

Consider changing your watch depending on what you are wearing.  This can mean mixing it up and wearing a dressier watch with casual clothing or a more daring color with a simple classic jeans look.  A watch is a smaller item so it’s a great way of adding a touch of unexpected orange or red.  It’s easy to update and reinvent a watch you already have and love by finding a different strap for it.  A few strap options which are current for men this season are casual canvas military looks, textured topstitched leather, metal and wider cuff styles.  It’s amazing how different a watch can look just by switching straps.

What are the best spots to find watches?

Independent boutiques that will mix both high end and more affordable labels together for a discerning look.  These stores will also usually advise you on how to wear accessories with your day to day individual style as sometimes it is hard to know what you can get away with if you are used to only wearing one type of watch style.  If you can find that great vintage piece at the same time, all the better.  Magazines, online trend sites and street blogs are all reliable sources for finding new styles and new ways of wearing them.

What to look for to show it’s a quality watch …

How does the watch feel when you hold it, does it have some weight to it?  If the strap looks like leather, check for ‘Genuine Leather’ stamped into the reverse of strap.  If it is a metal strap how does that feel?  Important details to look for are smooth edges and a solid fastener that closes well.  It’s also important to find out what metal the watch is made out of.  The choices outside of precious metals (gold, silver etc.) fall into the following categories: Cheapest metal= Alloy, Middle price = Brass with Plating, Most Expensive = Stainless Steel (be aware that there are various qualities of this metal).

Stainless steel is generally stamped on most watch case backs but this does not always mean the whole watch is stainless.  The stamp can be used even if just the small case back disc that touches the skin is stainless steel, so ask questions on what type of metal is used for the whole watch casing. Stainless Steel straps are usually stamped also.

Functional Sweep Hand Dials (small secondary dial on the face that separates the seconds) and stop-watch dials found on larger dial size watches are an indication that the movement is a quality one to support these multi-function chronograph features.

When a watch says it is water resistant you should look for a high number- anything above 5 ATM.   This number is really an air pressure test, not a water pressure test. Example: 3 ATM sounds good but actually the pressure of an average shower is more, so the watch would not stand up to that kind of wear.

Crystal or Lens refers to the glass material used on a watch face.  The two most available types of crystals used are Mineral glass (better quality but still able to break if dropped on a hard surface) or Optical Type Plastic (often used to get a particular shape that cannot be achieved with mineral glass). Both the mineral glass and optical type plastic wear well under normal use.  A watch with medium to low price point might still have a mineral glass lens so the price tag doesn’t necessarily mean it is made with plastic.

Watch movements range in price, size and function.  There are many opinions attached to what is the best and most reliable movement.  A lower price tag of $200.00 and under would probably use a Japanese quartz movement, which is considered quality and reliable.  Swiss and Automatic movements cost more and are likely to be in the $200.00 and up range.  The more functions the watch has the more efficient the movement has to be to support those functions.

That having been said a watch with a low price tag might just fit a certain must have fashion trend and its life expectancy is limited to that impulse purchase.

Check out TOKYObay’s line of men’s watches here.