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When it comes to buying a new watch, it pays to be a sophisticated consumer. If you do a little bit of research before buying a new watch, you won’t make any of these five classic mistakes:

Mistake #1: Buying a watch based on brand recognition alone

If you hear enough about a certain watch brand, the tendency is to assume that the brand has a sterling reputation for quality, style and customer service. However, brand recognition is directly correlated to marketing spend. In other words, some brands are working very hard to convince you to buy a watch by running multiple ads on TV, on the Internet, or even in print magazines and newspapers. If you see enough of these ads, the tendency is to assume that people are buying these products.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. But here’s the thing—it’s not cheap or free to advertise, and so the name-recognition brands will look to make back all of their big upfront marketing costs by inflating the price of the watch they are trying to sell you. It’s called a “brand premium,” and essentially it means that the brand is able to sell something that costs X to make with a huge, inflated price markup of 2X or 3X, which may possibly double or even triple the cost of your watch.

Thus, in order to be a smart, informed watch buyer, you really should take the big picture into account. Are you getting the best value for your new watch, or are you paying a huge markup for a “fashion watch” that is made with low-quality materials?

Mistake #2: Buying a watch on the basis of a new trend

It seems hard to believe, but some people buy a new watch solely on the basis of a new trend. This can lead to a lot of interesting situations, to say the least. If you’re not a diving aficionado, why exactly do you need a diving watch with all sorts of special dials? As long as a watch is waterproof to about 5 ATM (as all of the watches from Luxiani are), you are going to be just fine if you take your watch into a swimming pool (5 ATM is equivalent to 50 meters, or 164 feet!). Unless you are Jacques Cousteau, you don’t need a pricey diving watch.

Or how about another unfortunate fashion trend—the ultra-large and very clunky watch for men. Having a huge watch on your wrist was supposed to be a sign that you were a real alpha male. But, in reality, unless you have a truly huge wrist and/or the physique of a Hollywood actor like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, it looks ridiculous to be wearing an oversized watch.

That’s why at Luxiani we advise that people buy a watch based on their personality or unique individual interests rather than a trend. We’ve divided our affordable, high-quality watches into three categories: Stone Collection, Virtues Collection and Weekend Collection. The Virtues Collection, for example, enables you to buy a watch that perfectly matches your personality type and the way you view the world. Instead of following a trend that doesn’t apply to you at all, you are buying a watch that has been tailored to reflect who you really are.

Mistake #3: Buying a watch with a mineral glass lens

Some watch brands will do everything they can to avoid telling you what their watches are made of, or their technical specifications. They’ll try to dazzle you with clever hashtag marketing promotions, or claim that their watches reflect the sensibility of a certain exotic city. But when you look through all the technical specifications, you’ll see that the watch lens has been made of hardened mineral crystal glass.

This might not seem like a big deal to a first-time watch buyer, but any watch aficionado will tell you that a hardened mineral glass lens will not give you nearly the same protection as one made from superior crystal glass. Sooner or later, you are going to mistakenly bang your watch against a door, a table or a staircase—and when you do, you want to make sure that you don’t walk away with a heavily scratched or cracked lens. All Luxiani watch lenses are made of superior, high-grade sapphire crystal. This is the type of material that will give you peace of mind, knowing that your watch is going to be scratch-resistant and much resistant to damage from being dropped or cracked.

Mistake #4: Buying a watch that doesn’t have a stainless steel case

There is a big difference between the color of your watch and the material that it is made of. For example, a watch can be “rose gold,” but that doesn’t meant that it’s made of “gold.” This is one way that some watch brands will try to trick you into a buying a certain watch—they will use certain names or terms when describing the watch without actually telling you what the case is made of. But when you look closely, you’ll find out that they are using an alloy case.

In contrast, Luxiani uses 316L stainless steel for our watch cases and makes that fact that very clear next to every product we sell. Stainless steel, as you might have guessed, provides you with the type of sturdy ruggedness that you are going to need if you wear your watch everywhere—not to mention the fact that stainless steel just looks great on a watch.

Mistake #5: Buying a watch that you won’t be able to wear with everything

Just because a watch is marketed as a “casual watch” should not mean that it can’t be worn with everything in your wardrobe. In other words, you should be able to wear your new watch with a suit or jacket, as well as with a simple T-shirt and jeans. That’s why we like to think of our watches as being “classic” and “timeless.” Whether you are at the office or at home, you will enjoy wearing our watches. They are meant to be understated enough to pair well with a pair of jeans, but also sophisticated and high-quality enough to wear during an important corporate board meeting.

Ultimately, being a smart watch buyer means that you understand the trade-offs involved in creating a high-quality watch at an affordable price. Don’t make the mistake of paying for a huge brand markup when you’re not getting an appropriate level of quality. By avoiding the five mistakes described above, you’ll end up with a watch that you love, and that perfectly expresses who you are.