Around £2,000: Longines Conquest 38mm

The current automatic Conquest 38mm sits at approximately £2,000 and offers the most useful kind of luxury: a versatile steel case, strong everyday water resistance, a silicon balance spring and a five-year warranty for Longines mechanical watches. It is polished enough for work and robust enough for travel.

Its weakness is the same restraint that makes it versatile. Buyers seeking a watch with unmistakable eccentricity may find it too safe. Try the 34mm, 38mm and 41mm versions rather than assuming the middle size is automatically correct.

Around £4,000: Tudor Black Bay 58

The Black Bay 58's 39mm case, 11.7mm thickness and 200-metre water resistance make it an unusually complete one-watch proposition. The latest Master Chronometer versions add testing for precision, magnetic resistance, water resistance and power reserve, with a certified 65-hour reserve.

The design carries deliberate vintage-diver cues. That gives it identity but also ubiquity: buy it because you genuinely enjoy the snowflake hand and bezel proportions, not because the market has labelled it a default choice.

Around £2,300: Grand Seiko SBGX263

A high-accuracy quartz Grand Seiko is the contrarian first-luxury recommendation. The SBGX263 combines a 37mm case and ±10-seconds-per-year specification with the finishing and legibility that define the brand. It avoids winding, date correction after a weekend off and much of the positional variation inherent in mechanical watches.

Some buyers will always want a visible or emotionally legible mechanical movement. If that is you, do not buy quartz to prove a point. Luxury is personal; the correct movement is the one whose ownership experience you value.

Five questions before paying

Ask what a complete service currently costs, where it will be performed, how long the warranty lasts, whether the bracelet has enough adjustment and whether the watch remains comfortable after twenty minutes. Obtain the return policy in writing when buying online.

Do not finance a watch on the assumption that it will appreciate. Treat resale value as a possible reduction in the cost of ownership, not a promised return. The best first luxury watch is one you can afford to maintain and are content to keep.