re: Watch people. Looking for a daily driver

i just bought a Vaer C5 Navy with a jubilee bracelet that I'm happy with.

Vaer C5 Navy

Go Seiko. There’s a variety of blue with different combinations - dive, chronograph, GMT, day/date. Most will have a sapphire crystal, and 10-20 bar water resistance. The list price will say $700 for these. A 25%-30% discount is very easy to achieve from most dealers, which will get you under the $500.

Hodinkee is offloading their watches and have some decent prices on what they have left:

Just outside your budget but ticks all the boxes:

Mido Ocean Star

Or this Certina which is well under your budget:

Certina

This may not be that great for the OT ballers, but my wife got me an all black bracelet G-Shock like the pic for I think around $450. I want to say the price tag listed $600+, but you know how watches are sometimes. I used to rotate between a few different $200-300 range watches (Citizen, Bulova, Nixon, etc.) depending on what I was wearing, but once I got this one I found it went with pretty much everything for most situations so it's been my go to for the most part.

Look at your phone when you need the time. Save the $500.

I ended up with a Seiko Prospex. I looked at a few different brands there and came down to this one or a Tissot that was a little cheaper and I just like the clarity of this one better. $700 and they gave me 20% off so with tax just a tad under $600 which was over my budget but that is pretty typical for me when it comes to buying things unfortunately.

Thanks for all the help. I am glad someone here recommended this watch....