# Cartier or Chopard or other? Quartz or Automatic? Looking for first nice watch for non-believer wife :)



## rdugar (Nov 5, 2014)

I know variations of this questions have been asked before, and I've read a lot of them. Apologies.

Situation: Milestone birthday gift for wife. She's not really into watches, owns a few quartz watches. Appreciates "jewelry" more.

Budget: $7k or so.
Now I have zero understanding of jewelry. To me watches are also jewelry. I've read that "no woman can refuse a Cartier", supported by iconic pictures of celebrities etc.

First, if I were to buy her a watch, is it worth spending that kind of money on a quartz watch? The smaller Cartier in quartz start at $3k. The 28mm Ballon Bleu in quartz is $4850 v the automatic, 33mm is $6050. If I was buying for myself, I would not spend that kind of $ on a quartz given the mechanical is about 20% more. But it's for her, who doesn't really appreciate mechanical things, and likely wants a low effort thing, although not going to be daily wear. What do you ladies and more experienced gents think?

I really like look of the Chopard Happy Sport series. However as brand and watch holding its value, how does it compare to Cartier? Much more reasonably priced than Cartier.
A salesman in a watch shop was making points to me about "Cartier being a watch company v Chopard more a jewelry company". Any merit in that, or sales talk?

Others I should consider for her? Omega Constellation? Different look, completely.
I don't do this every day, so want to get it right. I can always give up on the surprise and take her to a store with me, but I still want to know.

Thanks!


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## Matthew__Thomas (Oct 1, 2021)

rdugar said:


> I know variations of this questions have been asked before, and I've read a lot of them. Apologies.
> 
> Situation: Milestone birthday gift for wife. She's not really into watches, owns a few quartz watches. Appreciates "jewelry" more.
> 
> ...


Women that I know love Cartier, Omega, and Rolex. But that’s just my circle. I would go Automatic over quartz because it holds its value better.


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## longtimelurker (Oct 16, 2020)

I would give up on the surprise and let her see them. You will have done her a huge favor already by narrowing down the choices.


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## SISL (Jan 6, 2018)

Cartier does not keep its value miraculously well. You can get huge discounts on pre-owned Cartiers. The only exception I have found to that are limited edition (CPCP, etc), esp. in platinum. With this said, I think they have the best designs, but their best pieces are mechanical. The quartz watches are either the smallest models or the Panthere line, which is not my favorite.


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## KCZ (Feb 25, 2012)

rdugar said:


> I know variations of this questions have been asked before, and I've read a lot of them. Apologies.
> 
> Situation: Milestone birthday gift for wife. She's *not really into watches*, *owns a few quartz watches*. *Appreciates "jewelry" more.*
> 
> ...


From what you've said above, get a quartz. If you buy a mechanical, it will end up sitting in a drawer because she'll get tired of resetting it.

If she's into jewelry, besides Omega and Chopard, I'd look at Glashutte Pavonina, Hermes, Breitling Chronomat 32 quartz, Baume et Mercier. Cartier, Dior, and Chanel aren't really my thing but they might be good for your jewelry-appreciating wife. Michele is about as jewelry as a watch can get. Figure out where you can see these, and take your wife, because jewelry is all about the aesthetics.


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## LauraLovesWatches (Nov 26, 2018)

Women are wonderfully pragmatic and will usually enjoy the quartz movement that allows her to drop the watch into a box until she is ready to go. Holding value will matter if she decides to sell the watch. Which she won't, as it is a gift from her loving husband. I would have her look at Cartier. See what she loves.


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## Tolmia (Dec 29, 2020)

One more option to consider is Van Cleef and Arpels. It’s far more jewelry, But they have some serious watch making chops. A few of their lower end pieces are in your budget and in quartz.
E. G. Sweet Alhambra watch - VCARO8SF00 - Van Cleef & Arpels

But you can’t go wrong with Cartier…


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## MaDTempo (Oct 18, 2012)

LauraLovesWatches said:


> Women are wonderfully pragmatic and will usually enjoy the quartz movement that allows her to drop the watch into a box until she is ready to go. Holding value will matter if she decides to sell the watch. Which she won't, as it is a gift from her loving husband. I would have her look at Cartier. See what she loves.


Seconded. My wife loves the look of the one auto she has but hates the need to have it on a winder (I _"graciously"_ allow her to use on of my coveted slots ) Her staples are Citizen Eco-Drive and Bulova quartz. The value to her will be the thought put into it. What about getting the case back engraved?


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## broadarrownati (Apr 6, 2021)

A diamond encrusted Harry Winston or a Seiko Presage and a diamond neckless?


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## rideontime (Aug 7, 2021)

My wife doesn't appreciate watches as much I do, and very much prefers shoes, bags and earrings.

I have gotten her at least three watches on separate milestone events (2 anniversaries and 1 birthday), and they're all collecting dust in the drawer. On the rare occasion that she does wear a watch, she is currently wearing the Samsung Galaxy Watch. Facepalm.

Since then, I have learned that she really doesn't like watches as much as I do, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to change that.

Her feedback on the watches that I have given her:
Automatic watch: Extremely troublesome to set it every time she wants to wear it. Stayed in the drawer after a few months of effort.
Quartz analog watch: Survived for a few weeks on her wrist, then into the drawer it went and stayed.
Digital watch: Did not even put it on once. Big mistake.

I would strongly recommend that you re-consider giving her a watch. If you would still want to, bringing her into a Cartier boutique would be prudent, because they sell magical shiny things that she might really like.


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## JSnipes (Feb 15, 2021)

I would buy a nice preowned quartz Cartier until she becomes a watch person. If she doesn't you are even better off. I wouldn't buy an automatic for anyone who isn't a watch person and buying preowned let's someone else take that initial depreciation hit.


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## LauraLovesWatches (Nov 26, 2018)

rideontime said:


> My wife doesn't appreciate watches as much I do, and very much prefers shoes, bags and earrings.
> 
> I have gotten her at least three watches on separate milestone events (2 anniversaries and 1 birthday), and they're all collecting dust in the drawer. On the rare occasion that she does wear a watch, she is currently wearing the Samsung Galaxy Watch. Facepalm.
> 
> ...


This is excellent advice too. I love watches, but there are a few staple items that most ladies love. A good pair of diamond studs come first my book, and even before a watch. I wear them all the time, 24/7. I bought lab grown diamond but bought from a vendor who curated the diamonds to find the absolute best cut (Jon at Distinctive Gems in NYC) and a perfect match. This was a longtime dream come true. I could ramble on, but the "basics" in a woman's jewelry wardrobe are sure to be appreciated. LOL, I can promise you he is good at finding diamonds.... I'm not getting any gain by dropping his name here.


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## Stchambe (Jun 1, 2009)

rdugar said:


> I know variations of this questions have been asked before, and I've read a lot of them. Apologies.
> 
> Situation: Milestone birthday gift for wife. She's not really into watches, owns a few quartz watches. Appreciates "jewelry" more.
> 
> ...


Get her whatever one she will like and wear the most from a high end brand. All other considerations are irrelevant.

The key is to get her to actually like the watch and then become interested in learning more.


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