17 Day-Date Watches From Under $200 to Over $50,000

In many ways, we are living in a “less is more” era of watch design, in which watch dials continue to trend toward symmetry and simplicity; an era in which even the humble date window, the simplest and perhaps most utilitarian complication for an everyday-wear watch, has found itself unwelcome to many enthusiasts of this new generation of understated timepieces. And yet, the appeal of the day-date watch — one notch of complication above the simple date-display model, designed to clue in the wearer not just to the date on the calendar but the day of the week — remains strong. From a utility standpoint, it shouldn’t be surprising, especially in our current fast-paced era, in which home-office work and 24/7 connectedness blurs lines between weekdays and weekends more than ever, and forgetting what day it is becomes an issue for more and more people. If you’re in the market for such a watch, or just intrigued by the diverse ways in which a timepiece can display this useful information, check out the list below, in which we spotlight a selection of day-date watches, from entry-level to high luxury, in ascending order of price.

Timex Q Timex Inspired SST

Price: $179, Case Size: 38 mm, Case Height: 11.5 mm, Lug Width: 18 mm, Crystal: Acrylic, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Quartz Analog

Timex has had success in recent years in reproducing some of its cult-favorite vintage models for today’s increasingly savvy collectors seeking out the sweet spot between historical flair, modest dimensions, and value-oriented pricing. Among them is the colorful and sporty Q Timex, a modern reissue of a popular day-date model from the 1970s, which also happens to be one of Timex’s first models with a quartz caliber (hence the "Q"). Among the elements that echo the original ‘70s models are the bicolor 12-hour rotating bezel, diver-style geometrical indexes on the dial, the woven-style, integrated stainless steel bracelet (that’s the “SST” in the name) and even the battery case cover in the back, which enables the wearer to change his own battery with the simple turn of a coin edge.

Citizen Eco-Drive Garrison

Price: $220, Case Size: 42 mm, Lug width: 21.5mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Eco-Drive Caliber E101

Citizen’s Garrison watch lives up to its military-inspired name with its adoption of classical field watch and pilot’s watch elements, including the large, legible Arabic hour numerals and wide syringe-shaped hands with luminous coating. The day-date display at 3 o'clock adds a contemporary utilitarian touch. The big case, here in Citizen’s proprietary Super Titanium, adds to the mission-ready look with a brushed finish and fastens to the wrist with a brown calfskin leather strap with contrast stitching, à la early aviation watches and their modern descendants. The Garrison is also one of the very few Citizen watches that offer the Japanese brand’s proprietary light-powered Eco-Drive movement for under $250.

Seiko 5 Sports SRPD51 

Price: $295, Case Size: 42.5mm, Thickness: 13mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Lug-to-Lug: 46mm, Crystal: Hardlex, Water Resistance: 100 m, Movement: Automatic Seiko 4R36

Seiko retired its much-beloved SKX lineup of dive watches in 2019, concurrently with the relaunch of the updated Seiko 5 Sports range. The SRPD51 retains much of the spirit as well as the design language of the discontinued SKX007, one of fandom’s favorite entry-level mechanical dive watches, albeit with scaled-back specs to accommodate the price point. The blue dial of this model harmonizes with the blue aluminum ring of the unidirectional diver’s bezel. The blue/blue combo is something new that wasn’t offered in SXX models; also new are the applied hour markers and logo, replacing the painted ones of the watches’ predecessors, and the clear caseback that displays the automatic Caliber 4R36. The day/date display at 3 o’clock and recessed crown at the unusual 4 o’clock position are two of the five attributes that define the 5 Sports collection, which started with the original Sportsmatic 5 model in 1963.

Hamilton Khaki Field King Auto

Price: $695, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 11.5mm, Lug to Lug: 48mm, Lug width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Hamilton Caliber H-40 (ETA 2834-2 base)

Hamilton’s Khaki Field family of military-inspired timepieces takes its direct inspiration from a watch made in the 1960s and worn by troops during the Vietnam War. The day-date versions of the watch can be found in the Khaki Field King subfamily, whose watches offer a larger size (40mm) than the fairly modest three-hand Khaki Field models (38mm) and are outfitted with the automatic H-40 movement. In addition to the array of colorways and strap or bracelet options — including the model featured, with sober black dial and brown calfskin strap with contrast stitching —  the King models arrange the day and date in a distinctive fashion, with the former in a curved window like the Rolex Day-Date and the latter directly beneath it in a small window, a layout that leaves intact the inner 24-hour ring that identifies the Khaki collection. 

Tissot Heritage Visodate

Price: $695, Case size: 42mm, Thickness: 12.1mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Powermatic 80.121

Evoking the styles of the 1950s — and specifically reimagining a model from 1957 — the Heritage Visodate is among the most value-conscious Swiss-made automatics on the market, from a watchmaker that has staked out a substantial role in that space. Its dial’s vintage Tissot logo at 12 o’clock immediately calls attention to its historical roots, along with the sharply angled Dauphine hands and thin, trapezoidal hour indexes. The prominent, dual day-date window is a nod to modernity, replacing the simple date display of the original watch. The matte white dial of this model is gently curved to echo the contours of the domed sapphire crystal. The ETA-based Powermatic 80 movement, its rotor etched with the same retro Tissot logo as the dial, is on display through a transparent caseback.

Mido Ocean Star Tribute

Price: $990 - $1,200, Case Size: 40.5mm, Thickness: 13.4mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200 meters, Movement: Automatic Mido Caliber 80

Mido launched the first Ocean Star dive watches in 1959 and paid homage to these early  models with the Tribute models, which debuted in 2019, the 75th anniversary of the Ocean Star trademark. Ocean Star Tribute watches can be distinguished from the standard Ocean Star Automatics by their more retro elements paying tribute to the models of the 1960s. The dial has an inverted triangle rather than a doubled rectangular index at 12 o’clock and the paddle-style hands are not openworked, though they (and the indexes) are luminous-coated. The case dimensions are 40.5mm — smaller than the 42.5mm of the non-Tribute Ocean Stars — and several of the dials are finished in an appealing gradient effect. Tribute models are equipped with the Powermatic Caliber 80 movement,which powers their three-handed time display and day-date indication in a dual window at 3 o’clock. The watches are mounted on either a vintage-look steel mesh bracelet or a synthetic rubber strap.

Rado DiaStar Original

Price: $1,550, Case Size: 38mm, Thickness: 12.1mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Rado Caliber R764 (ETA Powermatic 80 base)

Rado has commanded a longstanding recognition as the first brand to seriously incorporate ceramics into its watchmaking repertoire, and it all started with the introduction of the original, historic DiaStar watch in 1962. Rado touted the DiaStar as “the world’s first scratch-proof watch,” owing to its use of sapphire for its crystal (a rarity at the time) and of a tungsten-carbide, metal-ceramic-hybrid “hardmetal” for its unusually shaped case; the latter material would set the stage for the High-Tech ceramic that Rado uses today. In 2022, Rado paid tribute to the trailblazing DiaStar on its 60th anniversary, introducing a modern edition heavily influenced by the original, with a handful of modern updates, including the brushed motif on the dial, the ETA-based movement with 80-hour power reserve, and an unconventional day-date display, in which the day abbreviation is stacked in a vertical arrangement above the 6 o’clock date numeral. The period-appropriate 38mm case is made of Ceramos, a highly lustrous ceramic-metal composite that opens up the door for many bold color choices.

Marathon Arctic Edition Jumbo Day-Date Automatic

Price: $2,100, Case Size: 46mm, Thickness: 18mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita Caliber SW220

Since 1939, Canada-based Marathon Watch has been making timepieces for the North American market and since 1941 has been supplying them to the U.S. armed forces. Designed in Canada and manufactured in Switzerland, Marathon watches have become well regarded for their military durability and mission-ready precision. The Arctic Edition of the brand’s Jumbo Day Date (JDD) model features a bright white dial with a 24-hour (military time) scale on the flange, around the main dial’s 12-hour display; hands and indexes with Tritium H3 micro-gas tubes for a brighter and more lasting nighttime glow than dials that use the more common Super-LumiNova; and its namesake oversized day-and-date calendar at 3 o’clock, equipped with a rapid corrector.for both displays. The unidirectional, 60-minute dive-scale bezel is also highly readable in the dark, with Maraglo paint illuminating its 12 o'clock orientation triangle, and the Swiss-made automatic Sellita SW200-1 does its duty inside the steel case.

Maurice Lacroix Pontos Day Date

Price: $2,250, Case Size: 40.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber ML143 (Sellita SW200 base)

Maurice Lacroix offers a distinctively stylish day-date model in its sporty Pontos collection, known for its sector-dial designs. The Pontos Day-Date, coming in at a midrange 40.5mm size, has applied baton hour markers surrounding an inner minute ring (in a contrasting color to the main dial), interrupted by a date window at the 6 o’clock position. Inside the circle, above the center point of the hour and minute hands, is a curving window displaying the day of the week, fully spelled out rather than abbreviated. The case’s stepped lugs connect it to either a three-link steel bracelet or a color-coordinated nylon strap.

Tudor Royal Day-Date

Price: $2,575, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 10.6mm, Lug Width: 10mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Tudor Caliber T603 (ETA 2834-2 base)

Tudor founder Hans Wilsdorf introduced the watch that inspired the Tudor Royal way back in 1926 — predating the Oyster Prince Submariner that inspired the brand’s better known Black Bay models by decades. The Royal, which was first called by that name in 1950, is one of Tudor’s dressier watches while still fairly “sporty-chic” in its design, with its fluted stationary bezel and sunray-finish dial with Roman numeral hour markers. The largest iteration of the Tudor Royal, at 41mm, features a day-of-the-week display in an arched window at 12 o’clock and a small date aperture at 3 o’clock, a layout no doubt inspired by the original Day-Date “President” created by Tudor’s parent brand, Rolex (covered in more detail below). The movement is the ETA-based Caliber T603, with a modest but solid 38-hour power reserve.

Ball Engineer Master II Skindiver Heritage

Price: $2,949, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 15.2mm, Lug to Lug: 53mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber RR1102-C (ETA 2836-2 base)

Now based in Switzerland, Ball Watch traces its origins to 1891 in the United States, where it was founded by Webster Clay Ball, a Cleveland jeweler and Chief Inspector for the Lake Shore railway line. The company built its reputation on its dependably accurate “Railway Standard” watches, worn by train conductors and other railroad workers throughout the early 20th century. This dedication to “industrial function” drives the brand to this day, and is evident in models like this day-and-date-equipped dive watch, the Master II Skindiver Heritage. The model’s 42mm steel case resists water pressure to 300 meters and magnetic fields to 80,000 A/m, and its dial opts for the highest level of legibility in dark conditions, with an array of tritium-filled  micro-gas distributed throughout the hands and hour markers. Beating inside the robust case is an automatic, Swiss-made caliber with a COSC certificate for chronometric performance, a rare bonus at this watch’s price point. 

TAG Heuer Carrera Day-Date

Price: $3,350 - $3,650, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 12.37mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 5 (Sellita SW200-1 base)

Named for the treacherous Carrera Panamericana road race by its designer, founding family scion and motorsport enthusiast Jack Heuer, the TAG Heuer Carrera made its debut in 1964 and swiftly became a trendsetter in the genre of motorsport-inspired chronograph wristwatches. Resurrected as a tentpole collection for the brand in the 21st Century, the Carrera has expanded into other styles beyond its chronograph roots — like the Carrera Day-Date, which offers a step up from the simplest three-hand-date models in both case size and calendar complexity while remaining more understated on the wrist than the core Carrera chronographs. The 41mm stainless steel cases of the Day-Date are mounted on either H-shaped steel link bracelets or leather straps. The date is at 3 o’clock on this model, side by side with the day of the week, in a faceted double window, thanks to a modification of the automatic Caliber 5 in the three-hand Automatic, which also offers a quick correction of the date.

IWC Portofino Hand Wound Day-Date

Price: $13,000, Case Size: 45mm, Case Height: 13.1mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Manually wound IWC Caliber 59220

IWC introduced the first Portofino watches in 1984, but their elegantly simple aesthetic can be traced back to timepieces from the 1940s and ‘50s, along with a groundbreaking mechanical pocket watch that it released in the heart of the Quartz Crisis 1970s. Today, the Portofino still offers a dressy, unisex character that contrasts with IWC’s more famous (and arguably more masculine) Pilot models. The Hand Wound Day Date, outfitted with IWC’s in-house Caliber 59220, debuted in 2015, in the round, almost bezel-less Portofino case in steel, at a substantial diameter of 45mm, which allows for the multiple indications on the pure white dial. These include not only the large date numeral in an aperture at 12 o’clock and analog day-of-the-week counter at 3 o’clock (the pair of calendar functions that lends the model its name), but also an indicator for the impressive eight-day power reserve at 9 o’clock and a small seconds display at 6 o’clock. The movement synchronizes the day and date disks so that it’s easy to advance them in unison. Completing the package is the leather strap, fashioned by Italian luxury shoemaker Santoni.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day-Date Desert Edition

Price: $13,600, Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 14.2mm, Lug Width: 23mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 1315DD

Introduced in 1953, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is considered the first modern divers’ watch, and today the historical model anchors an entire family of timepieces, including the Bathyscaphe models introduced in 2013. The Bathyscaphe subfamily, which takes its retro design cues from a model introduced in 1956, welcomed a limited edition with a day-date design in 2020. The sandy beige dial of the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day-Date Desert Edition is inspired by the desert sands of Death Valley, California, where underwater photographer Ernest H. Brooks II made his famous dive into the Devil’s Hole underwater chasm in 1962. Its 43-mm brushed steel case features a dive-scale bezel insert made of brown ceramic, and the dial’s Arabic numerals, syringe hands, and day-date window evokes a vintage Fifty Fathoms model from the 1970s. Inside the 300-meter water-resistant case is Blancpain’s automatic Caliber 1315DD, notable for its silicon balance spring and five-day power reserve.

Vacheron Constantin FiftySix Day-Date

Price: $27,400, Case Size: 40.5mm, Thickness: 11.6mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Vacheron Constantin Caliber 2475 SC/2

The FiftySix collection, introduced in 2018, has its origins in a vintage watch from Vacheron Constantin’s vast archives, the fondly remembered Reference 6073 from 1956. Like that timepiece, the models in the modern FiftySix collection feature a case design inspired by the Maltese cross, the longtime symbol of the Swiss maison, with each of the curved lugs representing one branch of this 15th-century badge of honor.  Along with a three-hand automatic and a Complete Calendar, the first wave of FiftySix models brought us this unusual and elegantly appointed Day-Date model, powered by the self-winding Vacheron Caliber 2475 SC/2, which reveals both day and date in analog fashion on subdials. The sector-style dial, a hallmark of the collection, has a double opaline sunburst effect that contrasts with the two snailed counters — day of the week at 9 o’clock, date at 3 o’clock — along with the additional analog power-reserve display subtly positioned at 6 ‘clock. The movement, visible behind a sapphire caseback, continues the Maltese cross theme with its openworked rotor.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40

Price: $38,500, Case Size: 40mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Rolex Caliber 3255

The Rolex Day-Date, introduced in 1956, was the first wristwatch that displayed both the date and the current day of the week, hence ushering in the entire day-date genre to the watch industry. The original model, in a 36mm gold Oyster case, established the classic look that still defines the collection today with a fluted bezel, Roman-numeral dial, 3 o’clock date display with “Cyclops” magnifying lens, and the day featured in a curved window at 12 o’clock. The Day-Date is also known as the “President,” a nickname that it began earning in the 1960s when President Lyndon B. Johnson wore one regularly in office; the watch is still associated with heads of state and other powerful people today. The sturdy three-link bracelet that made its debut on the original Day-Date also bears the nickname “President.” Today, two sizes of the Day-Date are available: the 36mm version that carries on the spirit of the original, and the 40mm models aimed at larger wrists (pictured in 18k yellow gold); both are equipped with the ultra-modern Rolex automatic Caliber 3255.

A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus Titanium

Price: $56,500, Case Size: 40.5mm, Case Height: 11.1mm, Lug Width: 36mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 120 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber L155.1

Germany’s A. Lange & Söhne makes nearly all of its watches in precious metals, so the introduction of the Odysseus — a stainless steel sport-luxury watch with an integrated bracelet and a unique day-and-date display — made major waves when it was announced  in 2018. A few years later, the Saxon manufacture followed it up with a limited edition in a titanium case and bracelet (another first) and a new “ice blue” dial. The case measures 40.5mm and its finishing is impeccable, with an array of matte, brushed, and polished surfaces. The dial sports its own distinctive finishing, with finely guillochéd grooves on the hour ring contrasting with the granular surface of the main dial and circular lines on the small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. Inside the timepiece beats the in-house, automatic L155 Caliber, which powers the central hour and minute hands, the independent seconds subdial, and the Odysseus’ hallmark large day-and-date display, in two symmetrical windows at 3 and 9 o’clock. Visible behind a sapphire caseback, the finely decorated movement stores 50 hours of power reserve and winds its mainspring with a skeletonized, partially black-rhodiumed platinum rotor.