The World's Best Watch Brands, Explained

Unless you’re talking about Michael Jordan, Ken Jennings, or grandma’s cooking, the title “best” can be pretty subjective. That’s no less true when it comes to the best watch brands, which span a mind-boggling range of styles, price points and features, from the simple utilitarian charm of the Casio G-Shock to the unapologetic outrageousness of a seven-figure Richard Mille. To make sense of it all, we’ve assembled some of the key players in the GQ watch universe, broken down into eight distinct categories, each of which is at the very top of their particular game—whether that’s making limited-edition tourbillons or the quartz beater you wear to the beach. Fortunately, unlike the NBA or Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions, the world of watches has room for more than one GOAT.

Want to brush up on your terminology and find your next dream timepiece? Don't miss GQ’s ultimate guide to watches for men.

The Best Watch Brands Shopping Guide

The Best Affordable Watch Brands

Based on what’s in your Instagram feed it can be easy to focus on the kind of top-shelf grails flexed by guys who sit courtside at Lakers games and have their own tequila brands, but don’t despair if your budget has fewer zeroes in it. In fact, there’s never been more selection or better value in the entry-level, with dozens of long-established brands and startups working hard to earn a place on your wrist. Whether it’s your first watch or your fourteenth, these brands offer Patron quality at Pepe Lopez prices.

Timex

Your dad probably had a Timex (and his dad, too) but the brand has come a long way since the days of “It Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking.” Now, with inspiration from their extensive archives and creative input from the likes of Todd Snyder and Nigel Cabourn, Timex’s lineup has never been more stylish and diverse. And just as back in the day, they’re still built like tanks.

Timex x Todd Snyder

MK-1 Jet Stream watch

Tissot

Swiss-made quality at reasonable prices is the name of the game at Tissot, which has been making old-school mechanical watches in Le Locle, Switzerland since 1853. Whatever your style, you’re likely to find something you want in their extensive catalogue spanning pocket watches, pro-quality dive watches and classic ‘60s chronographs.

Swatch

Swatch changed the game in the early 1980s by proving that Switzerland could make inexpensive quartz (i.e. battery-powered) watches as well as high-end mechanical ones. Forty years later they’re still at the top of their game, producing multiple collections every year in their signature colorful-quirky style.

Casio

Aspiring multi-hyphenates take note: this Japanese brand’s offering spans hundreds of G-Shock models and solar-powered analog wristwatches (plus a bunch of very nice digital pianos) all of which are executed with the same combination of leading-edge technology and high attention to detail.

Seiko

In the Venn diagram of affordability, dependability and stylishness, Seiko’s sports watches are dead-center.

Orient

In the same vein as Uniqlo and their famously excellent selvedge denim, this under-the-radar Japanese watchmaker specializes in good looking mechanical wristwatches at budget-friendly prices.

The Best Big-Time Watch Brands

Whether by merit of their craftsmanship, their history or their astronomical prices, some brands command more respect (and hype) than others. This is the A-list of the watch world.

Richard Mille

Built like Formula 1 cars out of carbon nanotubes, titanium cables and other such space-age materials, this Swiss brand brought haute horology into the 21st century. Yes, you read the price correctly.

Richard Mille

RM 72-01 Automatic Lifestyle Chronograph watch

Cartier

If a Richard Mille is a mansion in Calabasas with its own go-kart track, a Cartier is a gilded age estate in Newport. Many of this French jeweler’s models haven’t changed much since the 1920s, and that’s exactly why people like them. Money talks, they say, and wealth whispers.

Audemars Piguet

With years-long waiting lists, exorbitant grey market prices, and more flexing than Muscle Beach on a summer Saturday, this brand’s watches—particularly the Royal Oak—are in a class of their own. Beneath the hype, however, are some of the refined movements created by the most skilled watchmakers in the business.

Rolex

With the kind of broad, universal goodwill usually reserved for Patagonia fleeces and Dwayne Johnson movies, Rolex has comfortably held its place atop the pyramid of watch brands for decades. Its movements and finishing are top-notch, of course, but (much like The Rock) at this point they don’t require any introduction.

Omega

More than half a century after Neil Armstrong made what might be the biggest watch flex in history, Omega's Speedmaster is still the brand's most-wanted creation. Tough, refined, and technically-advanced mechanical sports watches are what this brand does best, and there are many to choose from—with or without ties to Apollo 11.

Omega

Seamaster 007 Edition Watch

Omega

Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional Co-Axial Master Chronometer Chronograph Watch

Omega

Constallation Watch

Hublot

Hublot was the first brand to put a solid gold watch on a rubber strap, which in 1980 was as revelatory and transgressive as wearing sneakers with a suit. Forty years later the brand is still experimenting with materials, recently figuring out how to carve an entire watch case out of a single block of lab-grown sapphire.

Hublot

Spirit of Big Bang Yellow Magic watch

Hublot

Classic Fusion Titanium watch

Hublot

Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire watch

Bulgari

Gerald Genta’s designs for Patek and AP are now some of the most sought in the world, but they only represent a fraction of the legendary designer’s output. Among his other hits is the “BVLGARI BVLGARI” watch he designed for this Italian jeweler in 1975. Bulgari continues to tweak the details of this iconic piece (inspired by an antique Roman coin) most recently re-imagining it with a black and white aluminum case.

Bulgari

Octo Finissimo watch

Patek Philippe

As their famous tagline says, you never actually own a Patek Philippe, you just take care of it for the next generation. And if your grandkids want to flip your cloisonné enamel World Time to pay for college someday, they probably could.

The Best Insider Watch Brands

Watch nerds, like music nerds, enjoy nothing more than geeking out over the stuff no one else has heard of. These are the watchmakers that get them fired up.

Rexhep Rexhepi

You can think of Rexhep Rexhepi as the Zion Williamson of Swiss watchmaking: incredible talent, comparisons to some of the biggest names in the game, and an extremely promising future. Unfortunately for you, that means the watches he makes—both under his own name and under his brand Akrivia—are harder to get than good seats at the playoffs.

Rexhep Rexhepi

AK 06 Watch

Unimatic

The watch fam loves this Italian micro-brand for its dive watches inspired by classics from the 1950s with clean, ultra-minimalist dials. Functionally, they’re as far from an Apple Watch as it gets, but Steve Jobs would still approve.

anOrdain

“Grand feu” enameling (the process of fusing powdered glass to metal) is one of those antique crafts practiced by only a handful of the world’s top watchmaking craftsmen. That makes this Scottish brand, whose limited-edition watches feature expertly enameled dials in a rainbow of hues, an outlier in the best kind of way.

anOrdain

Model 2 Watch

anOrdain

Model 1 Parisian Blue Watch

anOrdain

Model 1 Blue Fumé Watch

Laurent Ferrier

Laurent Ferrier is a third-generation watchmaker who spent 30 years in the workshop of Patek Philippe before launching his namesake brand. With old-school craftsmanship and understated contemporary looks, his watches are proof that it pays to study the classics before you create your masterpiece.

Laurent Ferrier

École Annual Calendar Watch

Ressence

Watches had been more or less the same for a century or more until this brand came along. By using a series of rotating discs, Ressence's watches tell time in an entirely new way—without hands or a traditional winding crown. And they look as unconventional as they are.

The Best American-Made Watch Brands

It’s been a long time since the biggest names in American watchmaking were American-owned (much less American-made). In recent years, however, a handful of brands are moving production back onshore and providing a bunch of ways to show your patriotism without bumper stickers or T-shirts with eagles on them. While most “made in America” watch brands still rely on Swiss and Asian manufacturers for key components, the ones below are committed to doing as much in-house as possible.

Waldan

Oscar Waldan learned the watch industry from the inside, working with the top names in Switzerland before establishing his own brand in the 1970s. Now run by his son, Waldan’s newest models combine midcentury styling and Swiss finishing with American-made quartz movements.

Shinola

The Detroit renaissance has been a long time coming and this brand has been leading the charge since 2011. A decade later, they continue to prove that the Motor City can make watches with just as much style and swagger as they did Mustangs and GTOs.

Shinola

Runwell Petoskey Stone Watch

Haven Watch Co.

Founded by a horology-loving English teacher in Indiana, this brand began as an experiment to see if it was possible to design and assemble watches by hand in the Midwest. It is, and they’re beauties.

Haven Watch Co.

The Polar Chilluminati Watch

Weiss

You know that saying, “Do one thing and do it well”? Cameron Weiss does for sure, and you can see the proof in every watch that comes out of his Nashville workshop, each of which takes 35 hours to assemble by hand.

Weiss

42mm Standard Issue Field Watch

The Best Dress Watch Brands

Even if you don’t wear a suit to the office, adding a classic dress watch – that is, one with an unfussy dial, a leather strap and maybe some gold – to your workday fit helps make weekdays feel a little more special.

Vacheron Constantin

Almost 250 years of continuous operation, exceptional movement finishing (the hand-polishing and decoration painstakingly applied to each component) and a fair bit of scarcity are the foundation of this top-shelf brand. Their watches aren’t too bad-looking either.

Vacheron Constantin

FiftySix Complete Calendar watch

Piaget

Watchmakers, like high school seniors, love superlatives. Piaget earned its reputation as the maker of the world's thinnest mechanical watch movements in the 1950s and has been upping the ante ever since. At just 2mm thin (only a smidge thicker than a penny), its latest Altiplano is a mind-bending feat of watchmaking, albeit one you wouldn't want to wear to the gym. For that, look to the Piaget Polo, a criminally underrated steel sports watch from the '70s.

Piaget

Altiplano Origin Watch

Breguet

It’s been a minute since a descendent of Abraham Louis Breguet was in charge at this historic watchmaker, but holding up the legacy of the founder is still priority number one. Look here for exceptionally well-crafted, insanely complex watches featuring Breguet’s namesake hands (aka the ones with a little circle near the tip).

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Jaeger-LeCoultre's most famous creation, the Reverso, was designed for polo players in the 1930s. It was also the watch Don Draper bought when he got his name on the door at Sterling Cooper. Wherever you're wearing yours, say it zhey-ZHER leh-KOOLT or risk being mocked by ad execs and horse people alike.

Grand Seiko

Grand Seiko makes some of the most accurate mechanical watches on the planet (particularly those featuring their revered Spring Drive movement) and their attention to finishing is equally precise.

Grand Seiko

Elegance Collection Automatic GMT SBGM221 Watch

A Lange & Söhne

Germany’s answer to Patek Philippe produces about a tenth as many watches per year and assembles each one twice to ensure absolute perfection. This has earned them a loyal following of hardcore watch collectors who dig their asymmetrical dials and quirky oversized "digital" dates.

The Best Pilot Watch Brands

You don’t need to be wearing a shearling jacket and a jumpsuit to rock a classic aviator’s watch (and indeed, you might get some sideways looks at the grocery store if you did). All that’s required to appreciate these flyboy-approved brands is a love of classic tool watches.

IWC

IWC redesigned their Big Pilot watch this year, but to see it next to the ones they made for British pilots in the 1940s, you might not be able to tell which is which. Everything else about this watch—and every other watch made by IWC—is an exercise in top-down luxury, from the sand-colored ceramic case on the Mojave Desert edition to the tide indicator on the Portugieser Yacht Club.

IWC

Pilot's Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Automatic Chronograph 41mm Watch

Breitling

After decades of catering to guys who wear epaulets and aviator shades to work, Breitling now has a lot to offer those on the other side of the cockpit door, too, including recent collabs with Kelly Slater's Outerknown and modern reproductions of vintage dive watches from the '60s.

Breitling

Exospace B55 SuperQuartz Titanium Watch

Bell & Ross

Like Supreme's box logo tee and the piano key necktie, the brilliance of some ideas lies in their relative simplicity. That's definitely true of Bell & Ross, who pioneered the square pilot's watch in the early '90s and have been riffing on that signature aesthetic ever since.

Bell & Ross

BR V2-92 Full Lum Limited Edition Automatic 41mm Watch

Zenith

Zenith rocked the watch world in 1969 when it dropped the original El Primero, one of the world's first automatic chronographs. That accomplishment may not sound as impressive these days, but their signature chronograph looks just as fresh as it did back then—and its legendary movement has only gotten better.

Zenith

Big Pilot Date Flyback Watch

The Best Dive Watch Brands

Tough, stylish and highly versatile, a good dive watch is like a vintage Land Rover Defender. And unlike that beloved British off-roader, a classic diver from any of the brands below is going to run for decades without breaking down.

Ulysse Nardin

This Swiss heavyweight earned its reputation by making some of the world’s most accurate marine chronometers which, in the days before GPS, were as essential to maritime navigation as charts and lighthouses. That expertise is evident in their lineup of refined sports watches, which are as nautical as Breton stripes (and much easier to wear with a suit).

Ulysse Nardin

Marine Torpilleur Watch

Panerai

Panerai's first watches were created for the Italian navy, with dials that glowed bright green thanks to Radiomir, their patented luminous paint. Radiomir turned out to be radioactive, but Panerai's original design details and bulked-out proportions are as good as they ever were.

Panerai Luminor

S.L.C. 3 Days Acciaio Hand-Wound Watch

Blancpain

The watch world’s equivalent of the Beatles vs Rolling Stones debate (or Xbox vs Playstation, if you’re under 40) involves Blancpain, Rolex and the invention of the diver’s watch. While the Rolex Submariner may be more well known these days, Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms (created for French navy divers and featuring the first uni-directional rotating bezel) actually came out a year earlier, making it the official OG. As with the Beatles and the Stones, however, it really just comes down to what you like, and there’s a lot to like here.

Doxa

Along with a red beanie and a pipe, Jacques Cousteau’s Doxa diver’s watch was an essential element of his now-iconic uniform. You can skip the pipe (and maybe the hat, too), but Doxa’s watches still look just as good as they did onboard the Calypso.

Zodiac

Aside from a set of flippers and a vehicle with sand on the seats, nothing says “I live for the beach,” quite like one of Zodiac’s colorful vintage-inspired divers.

Zodiac

Super Sea Wolf 53 Compression Automatic Watch

Huckberry x Zodiac

Bronze Super Sea Wolf Dive Watch

Zodiac

Super Sea Wolf Ceramic Compression Automatic Watch

The Best “First Real Watch” Brands

Any watch that tells time is a “real watch,” but some brands pack a little more gravitas than others. If you’re ready to graduate into the world of grown-up timepieces, here are a few good places to start.

Longines

When you're spending thousands of dollars on a watch, the idea of "good value" becomes more than a little subjective. That said, Longines offers everything that a top-tier Swiss watchmaker should (heritage, high-quality Swiss movements, unique design) at a (relatively) attainable price point. If you want something with vintage looks and modern reliability, look no further.

Longines

Legend Diver Watch

Baume & Mercier

Like a lot of high-end Swiss brands, Baume et Mercier has been in the watchmaking game for nearly 200 years. Unlike most other brands with that much heritage, their prices remain relatively accessible.

Baume & Mercier

Clifton Baumatic Watch

Hamilton

Much like In ’N Out, Hamilton is widely respected for its commitment to serving up the classics at reasonable prices. If you’re looking to get into your first mechanical watch, chances are you’ll find something you love in their collection of rugged midcentury-inspired designs.

Hamilton

American Classic Boulton Watch

TAG Heuer

You don't have to know what a chicane is or be conversational in the Prost-Senna rivalry to appreciate TAG Heuer, but it helps. Since the 1960s this brand has been trackside at every major motorsports event on the planet, and most of their watches celebrate that legacy in one way or another. For those who prefer their races to involve banana peels and Koopa Troopa, they also just launched a series of collabs with Nintendo.

Tudor

Like many younger siblings, Tudor has spent more than its share of time living in the shadow of its older, more established sibling, Rolex. In recent years, however, this brand has truly come into its own with a robust line of chronographs and dive watches to rival the best in the world. It’s not Rolex, but in some ways (including the price) that’s a good thing.

Tudor

Tudor Pelagos FXD Watch

Enicar

One of the coolest things about getting into watches is the sheer number of small brands out there quietly putting their own spin on movements, dials, and cases. Enicar, which was founded in Switzerland in 1914, is a perfect example of one of these, and a prime contender for your first mechanical watch.

Universal Genève

Back in the 1960s, this Swiss brand made some of the best movements in the game. After gathering dust for a couple of decades, they’ve quietly relaunched with a new collection that calls back to that golden era in looks and performance. If you’re looking for something with rock-solid provenance that no one else in the room is going to have, this is it.

Universal Genève

Okeanos REF 871.101 / 017D Watch

NOMOS Glashütte

Combining the minimalist restraint of Bauhaus, the technical prowess of Mercedes-Benz, and the cross-generational appeal of Birkenstock, NOMOS has helped to spread the gospel of German watchmaking far and wide. Their austere designs won't be everyone's cup of schnapps, but there's plenty to appreciate in their in-house movements, unusual dial colors, and accessible pricing.

NOMOS Glashütte

Autobahn Director's Cut A3 Watch

The best smartwatches are excellent fitness gadgets. They’re built to track your activity levels, record your workouts, and show you health and recovery insights. But they also do much more. The top smartwatches around today connect to your smartphone, delivering notifications, and even phone calls, to your wrist, as well as give you quick and easy access to a range of apps, like meditation apps, timers, weather insights, and so much more.

Whether you need a workout companion or simply want a stylish-looking watch with some extra features, a smartwatch is a great piece of tech to invest in, the good news is that these days there’s a lot of choice – even a sold selection of cheap smartwatches if you’re on a budget.

We've tested and reviewed many smartwatches, including the most popular and high-end entries, like the latest Apple Watch and Samsung smartwatches. We've also spent time with Fitbit's offerings and Wear OS watches from brands like Fossil and Mobvoi, too, ensuring that there's something for everyone in our best smartwatches guide below. 

However, Apple has revealed the Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, both of which look set to be contenders for the top spots on this list. We’ll have to fully test and review these smartwatches before we come to any conclusions, but they look set to be wearables to watch this year. 

Curated by

Curated by

Matt Evans

Matt is TechRadar's Fitness and Wearables Editor, which means he's an expert on workouts, smartwatches, and all things fitness tech. Matt's spent years covering the health and fitness beat: a former staffer at Men's Health magazine, he's also written for publications like Runner's World, Women's Health, Men's Fitness, LiveScience and Fit&Well.

The quick list

The best Android watch overall

(Image credit: Future / Matt Evans)

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a smart-looking watch in every sense of the word. It looks great on your wrist while offering powerful features. A larger Super AMOLED display is sharp and clear, as well as able to handle very bright outdoor scenes. 

Performance-wise, it's fast although you'll reap the most benefits when paired with a Samsung smartphone. There's no iPhone support here either. 

Besides SmartThings integration, the highlights here is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6's updated chipset, the Exynos W930, and the ability to monitor your body's muscle and fat composition. It's bordering on the ultimate fitness tool with extensive sleep tracking also helping you get the most from yourself every day. Shame about that one-day battery life, though.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 review

The best cheap Apple Watch for iPhone

(Image credit: TechRadar)

2. Apple Watch SE 2

The best Apple Watch for iPhone users on a budget

Our expert review:

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☆

☆

☆

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Specifications

OS:

watchOS 10

Compatibility:

iOS

Display:

1.78" OLED

Processor:

Apple S8

Onboard storage:

32GB

Battery:

18 hours

Charging method:

Wireless

IP rating:

Water-resistant to 50m

Connectivity:

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Apple Watch SE 2 is arguably the best Apple Watch for most people, as it’s a lot more affordable than the Apple Watch 8 or Apple Watch 9, yet has most of the core features for those models, and even the same chipset as the 8.

The main things it lacks are an always-on display, an ECG, and blood oxygen tracking from the 8, and the Double Tap feature from the 9, but the Apple Watch SE 2 still has a wide range of health and fitness features, plus potentially life-saving additions like Car Crash Detection.

It’s also powerful, has impressive battery life for a proper smartwatch, and is very light and comfortable to wear. So it strikes a superb balance between price and performance, and is a great relatively affordable pick.

Read our full Apple Watch SE 2 review

The best premium Apple Watch for iPhone

(Image credit: Future / Matt Evans)

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the ultimate Apple Watch with the smartwatch world's best screen ever, with its sumptuous Retina Display OLED commanding up to 3,000 nits of brightness. It's bigger and bulkier, than the standard Apple Watch, and has a faster S9 processor, enabling that excellent Double Tap gesture available on the Series 9 below. In all other respects, it's identical to its predecessor, the original Apple Watch Ultra. 

It could still offer better battery life (despite surpassing the regular Apple Watch) but a powerful and accurate GPS is great for exploring, especially with watchOS 10's improved hiking waypoints feature, plus it's a working dive computer with the Oceanic Plus app. 

It's expensive but powerful, and during testing, we easily found this to be the most capable wearable that the brand has ever made, albeit it's still more likely to be found on the wrists of weekend warriors rather than true adventurers due to that limited 36-hour battery life. Still, that's good enough for most of us.

Read our full Apple Watch Ultra 2 review

The best mid-range Apple Watch

(Image credit: Future)

The Apple Watch is the best smartwatch family of devices, and the Apple Watch Series 9 is the latest and greatest flagship. It gives you all of Apple's latest features from watchOS 10, without splurging on the adventure kit you don't need from the Watch Ultra (see above) or Ultra 2. 

Watch Series 9's biggest addition is the new Double Tap feature, allowing the Apple Watch to be controlled at least partially hands-free. While the Watch Series 9's battery life remains average and the watch looks the same as previous models, there's good reason why Apple's iconic squircle look and huge display are so popular. 

We found that the processor boosts the speed a tad, the new Ultra Wideband will sync well with iPhone 15 and future iPhones, while there's a car crash detection tool that could just save your life (but hopefully you'll never need it). Plus, there's all the benefits of watchOS 10. If you want the Apple Watch experience, the Apple Watch Series 9 is a great all-rounder.

Read our full Apple Watch Series 9 review

The best premium watch for Android

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro review is big, bold and brash with an eye on assisting outdoor enthusiasts. Its AMOLED screen is super smooth to use while also being twice as durable as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 before it. All the improved health features are there with the Pro offering up a route workout GPS function so you can plan your route carefully with turn-by-turn navigation. 

It has the prowess of a Garmin watch with the glamor of a Wear OS device, ensuring you get the best of both worlds with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Its 80-hour battery life is better than many other Wear OS watches, and most smartwatches, period. 

Read the full Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro review

The best Wear OS watch for style

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

The Google Pixel Watch is an uncommonly beautiful smartwatch. It has a natural rather than a manufactured look, with a glossy face that curves to meet an equally curvaceous body. The construction is close to seamless.

Because of that curve, there's more glass facing you than on the Apple Watch 8, which both adds to the elegance and, we think, hides a larger-ish black bezel surrounding the screen.

This is a bright, colorful, and responsive AMOLED display, considerably smaller than the Apple Watch 8's rectangular face, but Google does a lot with the reduced screen real estate. We never found ourselves wishing for more - just bear in mind that the Google Pixel Watch 2 is being tested right now.

Read our full Google Pixel Watch review

The best cheap Wear OS watch

(Image credit: Srivatsa Ramesh)

The TicWatch E3 is a budget smartwatch yet it packs a lot in given its affordable price. That includes two-day battery life, a big screen, speedy performance, and lots of health and fitness features, such as the ability to track exercise, stress, sleep, and more.

The screen is LCD rather than OLED, and the TicWatch E3 looks and feels a bit cheap, but then it is cheap, and it also felt both lightweight and durable in our tests.

So if you want a smartwatch that also makes a fashion statement this isn’t it, but if you want one that does all the core things you’d expect, while beating some pricier rivals for battery life and coming in at an affordable price, the TicWatch E3 is a fine choice.

Read our full TicWatch E3 review

The best Fitbit overall

(Image credit: TechRadar)

The Fitbit Versa 3 is one of the best wrist companions for those who want to focus on fitness features. Google owns Fitbit, but the Google Pixel Watch doesn't match the best Fitbit wearable for automated fitness tracking.

There's built-in GPS, we found it comfortable to wear, and the display is easy to view with a crisp image. Like previous Fitbit smartwatches, this is mostly focused on fitness and won't be for everyone.

As we mentioned in our review, "the Fitbit Versa 3 is an excellent wearable, though it's more a fitness tracker than a smartwatch, with very limited productivity apps on offer."

But for general wearable fans, the Fitbit Versa 3 is a good option, and it's more affordable than some of the other options on this list too.

Read our full Fitbit Versa 3 review

The best Fitbit watch for stress management

(Image credit: Future)

The Fitbit Sense has a design that's quite similar to the Versa, listed higher on this list, and as a Fitbit it's also quite similar to use. However, this Android smartwatch model comes wtih health features that go beyond the physical.

The Fitbit Sense has the... well, sense, to check in on some aspects of mental health too, logging your mood and stress, as well as providing meditation and mindfulness lessons. Its main issue is that you have to pay for Fitbit Premium for lots of its extra features. There aren't exactly many other watches on this list that require you to keep paying after you've bought it.

Performance-wise, we found it to be impressive during testing. Putting the Sense through a pretty intense spin session, we didn’t see any unexpected dips in heart rate that indicate an issue with fitness trackers. It also vibrates to indicate when you're moving between heart rate zones, which is very useful for training.

Read the full Fitbit Sense review

The best premium Wear OS watch for non-Samsung users

(Image credit: Lloyd Coombes)

10. TicWatch Pro 5

The best premium Wear OS Android smartwatch

Our expert review:

Specifications

Compatibility:

Android, iOS

Display:

466 x 466 px, always-on OLED

Processor:

Snapdragon W5+ Gen1

Onboard storage:

32GB

Battery duration:

Up to 80 hours

Charging method:

Magnetic connecting pin

IP rating:

5ATM

Connectivity:

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The TicWatch Pro 5 is an excellent all-rounder and an outstanding Pixel Watch alternative.

It has a lot going for it. For one thing, it uses the mighty Snapdragon W5+ Gen1 processor, so performance is good in our tests. It also offers up to 80 hours of battery life, and very accurate fitness tracking metrics. Looks great on-wrist, too. Never mind the Pixel Watch, this beast could give the Samsung Galaxy 5 Pro a run for its money. With 7000-series aluminum + high-strength nylon with fiberglass, it's safe on the most rugged of trails. 

The TicWatch Pro 5 is a little pricey, and doesn't come with an LTE option, a real kicker at this level. But if you can get past that, it'll be a doughty workout companion

Read the full TicWatch Pro 5 review

How to choose the best smartwatch for you

Unfortunately, your choice of smartwatch often depends on your choice of phone, as not all wearables are compatible with competitor devices. Apple Watch only works with Apple iPhones. Samsung and Google watches, and other Wear OS devices, only work with Android devices, but you can use a Samsung watch with a Google phone and vice versa.

Fitness tracking wearables from Fitbit will work with any device and synchronize with the Fitbit app, but those devices tend to focus more sharply on fitness features, and don't offer all of the robust apps and services you'll find on other smartwatches. 

Most wearables will get about a day of battery life, which will be disappointing if you're converting from a Garmin watch that lasts weeks. You can find a few watches that last longer on this list. 

Finally, smartwatches can be expensive, and frankly they don't offer much value for what you pay. Before you spring for an Apple Watch Ultra, you might ask if you are really going Scuba diving this year, or if you're just going to check your text messages without disturbing your dinner mates. 

What should I look for when buying a smartwatch?

The first thing to check is whether your phone is compatible with it - you can't use an Apple Watch with an Android phone, and you can't use a Google Pixel Watch with an iPhone. Beyond that, consider the battery life and the features - how often will you be happy charging it, and what do you really need out of your watch? A simpler watch can be a better pick.

Which is the best smartwatch?

The best smartwatch changes all the time, but typically you'll find an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy smartwatch topping the list, as these tend to be packed full of high-end features and polish.

How we test smartwatches

Every smartwatch on this list has been fully and extensively reviewed by the expert team at TechRadar, so we know exactly what makes them tick.

Our review process involves using the devices as if they were our own personal wearables, ensuring every smartwatch gets fully tested in the real world. A comprehensive sweep of features takes place, and usage is varied over multiple days to give us a clear idea of how battery life performs.

Using that knowledge we've then ranked them, while also factoring in their price, performance, value, and core specs.

04 July: Added the Ticwatch Pro 5 to the list, and reformatted this buying guide.