u/0rphu

You see it all the time online: people hyping up how BULLETPROOF or BUILT LIKE A TANK or ROBUST their favorite "tool watch" is, then you look inside and it's the exact same movement as the brand's "dress watches". So usually the only functional difference in durability between a "tool" and "dress watch" is water resistance, with that difference in water resistance never mattering for the vast majority of people wearing the watches. Telling enthusiasts that fell for the marketing this feels like telling a kid santa or the tooth fairy isn't real.

Realistically anybody that actually *needs* a watch that is guaranteed to survive harsh conditions is buying a gshock, not multi-thousand dollar jewelry that cosplays as a "tool".

The average reddit-going enthusiast is simply talking out of their ass whenever they try to dismiss a watch as "feeling cheap", usually because it's in a comparison with a more popular/expensive watch (they know they're supposed to support the more popular/expensive watch but arn't quite sure how to besides regurgitation) or because the watch is made of something other than steel (they for some reason believe heavier = higher quality). If they actually knew what made a watch "cheap", they would explain it in detail rather than relying on their "feeling" of it.

In a similar vein, the average reddit-going enthusiast has no idea what they mean when they say "quality" and simply defaults to believing the more popular/expensive watch of two is the "higher quality". They might list some "specs" like power reserve or accuracy or "in house" and believe those factors alone make one watch objectively superior to another.

tl;dr: the average enthusiast sees nothing but popularity and price, then believes themselves to be an expert.