How the Value Score Works
Every watch in our index gets a score out of 100 that answers one question: how much watch do you get for the money you pay today. Version 1.0.
The seven factors
| Factor | Points | How it is scored |
|---|---|---|
| Price within its class | 30 | Where the price sits against every watch we track with the same kind of movement (quartz or mechanical) and for the same wearer. Cheaper than most in its class scores higher. |
| Movement | 20 | Automatic 20, hand wound 19, solar 17, kinetic 15, quartz 12. A mechanical or solar movement is more watch for the money; quartz is accurate and cheap to run, so it still scores well. |
| Price per watch | 15 | What one watch costs with the store's current offer, against every watch we track. A buy one, get one free offer halves this figure, a discount code does not count. |
| Warranty | 10 | Two points plus two per warranty year as the brand states it, up to ten. Unknown warranties score five. |
| Bracelet | 10 | Steel, titanium or ceramic 10, mesh 8, leather or rubber 7, fabric 6, resin 5. |
| Case size | 10 | Ten points for the most wearable sizes (36 to 42mm for men's watches, 24 to 36mm for women's), seven just outside, four beyond. Unknown sizes score six. |
| Availability | 5 | Currently listed by the brand. |
What the score does not do
- It does not reward a sale against a list price. Only the price you pay today counts.
- It does not score style. Style decides which list a watch appears in, never its score.
- It does not measure finishing, accuracy or durability, which we cannot check from a listing. Our guides cover those separately.
- Scores are calculated the same way for every watch, every time prices are checked.
Where the numbers come from
Prices, movements, sizes, bracelets and warranties come from each brand's own US website. Prices are checked each time the index updates, and we keep every price we record, which is what the price history charts show.
Changelog
- Version 1.0, October 20, 2026: first published version.