Or multi thousand dollar mechanical as Timex do a rather nice mechanical watch as well! Truth be told formula1 anything more than a hundrd bucks and your not really getting anything other than perhaps a better finish and a posher name. My timex easy reader is as reliable as my Breitling, Rolex and Cartier. Not many people will admit that who own watches like that but that really is the truth of the matter, anything over a hundred bucks is simply man jewlery. sure there are complications,,, turbillions that are meant to make a mechanical watch more accurate but a 50 buck quartz timex will beat it into a cocked hat in terms of accuracy and the ability to knock it about without fear of breaking it!
Also, apart from nicer finishing that 20k patek calatrava is just an automatic watch that will keep the same time and reliablity of a 500 buck Tissot automatic.
the myth that mechanical watches are better engineered or have more soul is really just uttter nonsense when it comes down to it. it is a machine for heavens sake and pretty much all mechanical watches up to 10k are just ordianry mechanical movements that would cost you a hundred bucks on ebay to buy. The only difference between that standard ETA movement and one with Breitling or Cartier or Omega written on it is, on the whole the lettering on the rotor!
but all of that misses the point. If a watch is a non emotional thing for you by a timex, if it is about emotion and something pretty on your wrist then spend a fortune like the rest of us mugs and get a Swiss or high end japanese watch. It won't keep any better time, it will lose you a lot of money if you decide to sell it and it willl cost you upwards of a thousand bucks every 5 years to service.. That is the rational perspective, one which you would get from boring people like accountants or scientists.
if none of that matters to you though, if you like to think outside the box a bit, if money does not rule your life and if passion is important then do what a lot of us do and throw caution to the wind and get a nice watch, and if you want to really stick one finger up to the establishment then get a high end quartz as that is the one that is the hardest to rationalize and the one that confounds and confuses most people as to why someone would want to spend that amount on a mere, souless quartz