Whether you’re sports fan or a high flyer, every budding collector needs to start somewhere.

A watch is one of the most personal accessories you ever own. It is a social signifier that communicates more than you might realise. Consider, for example, what you are saying if you choose to wear a plastic digital watch versus an heirloom inherited from your grandfather. Or a rugged GPS tracker versus an elegant dress watch. To help you choose a watch that best reflects who you are and what you need, we have put together this buyer’s guide.

Fit as a fiddle and always on the move, the sportsman needs something rugged and streamlined

There’s only one thing worse than pristine “commuting sneakers” coupled with a saggy, frayed backpack: pairing your suit with a placky digital sports watch. If you really do work out so regularly that changing into a different watch is too much, then there’s every reason to check out Switzerland’s super-affordable-yet-bona-fide watchmaker, Oris. Its gorgeous Sixty-Five is blessed with 100m water resistance for surviving a swim or a shower, and while it shares the same handsome features as the 1965 original, 21st-century features such as anti-corrosive stainless steel and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal ensure quotidian punishment.

In a year of refreshingly accessible sports watches spanning the fine-watch spectrum, it fell to one of the most accessible fine-watchmakers to coin a whole new demographic for its Clifton Club range: the “gentlesportsman”. But away from the cute, cricket-sweatered croquet-lawn campaign, Baume & Mercier’s fresh, youthful new collection perfectly encapsulates that modern breed of metropolitan male athlete – less in favour of Wednesday-evening five-a-side-and-a-pint, more about an early-morning yoga session followed by a flat white. Choose a steel bracelet for comprehensive appropriateness, from gym to office, to Sunday ride.

The smartwatch boom hasn’t exactly been “smart”, per se – until now

Launched in May, there’s good reason why the Summit started life exclusively on MR PORTER: it is genuinely the first smartwatch with as much sartorial nous as technological – the ideal tool for the peripatetic businessman or Silicon Roundabout starter-upper alike. State-of-the-art hardware (Android Wear 2.0 OS, plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 processor) combines beautifully with premium materials, such as a slightly curved sapphire glass – a world-first in wearable tech. But the seemingly small detail that may even bring the purists round to the “connected” revolution is the Summit’s “always on” display; no more disconcertingly blank screens. Maybe it took Montblanc to finally pay heed to what Mr Charlie Brooker has been saying about black mirrors…

Packed to the hilt with a genre-leading spec built round a bespoke Intel processor and GPS, Wi-Fi, as well as Bluetooth connectivity, the horological snobs are silenced as effectively as the digital by the Connected Modular’s biggest trick: a cleverly engineered “chassis” with a high-tech “engine” that can be swapped out for traditionally crafted mechanics. A classic TAG Heuer chronograph for example, framed sympathetically by sculpted titanium. If you’re a restless digital nomad who occasionally needs to impress the stuffed shirts around a boardroom table, it’s the no-brainer choice – and fully upgradable to boot.

The man who likes to keep things pared-back and elegant needs a timepiece slim enough to slip beneath his tailored cuff

Hold Jaeger-LeCoultre’s golden wonder to your ear and listen carefully. Not only will you hear the precise tick-tick-tick of 195 razor-thin components, all crafted in-house, but you’ll swear you can also hear the gentle crinkle of velvet and chink of ice against crystal. For this is the ultimate lounge-lizard dress watch, its pinkish glister as suited to a riviera sunset as the fixtures and fittings of a superyacht. If you’re the kind of man who doesn’t need his watch to shout “connoisseur”, but needs to know he’s made the connoisseur choice, then this whispers it all.

Like its fellow countryman Nomos Glashütte, Junghans’ Max Bill collection is defined by the simplicity of Germany’s Bauhaus movement – the difference here being that there is direct pedigree, the titular Mr Bill having designed an alarm clock for Junghans back in 1956, its crisp dial sashaying into wristwatch form come the 1960s. That bafflingly low price point affords you respectable Swiss mechanics, while the clean aesthetic – barely tweaked in over 50 years – will pair with anything you wear, from jeans and Vans to pinstripes and John Lobbs. Throw on and forget, or gaze lovingly while sat on the train, it’s everything or nothing you want it to be; timeless, in every sense of the word.

You can’t carry that corner office around with you, so wear your success instead – bold as brass, booming horological clout

Officine Panerai’s standard-issue diving watch for the Italian Navy’s elite frogmen has come a long way since the 1930s, generally paired with a lounge suit rather than a wetsuit these days, on the 25th floor rather than 25ft below enemy waves. Believe it or not though, those massive, cushion-shaped proportions are still relatively unchanged and unmatched for visual impact, with a visceral heft that’ll make you feel like a tycoon even if you’re not. Eight days of power reserve means that it’ll still be ticking for the Monday morning commute after a week off, and if you’re travelling on business, a GMT function keeps track of time back at the office.

A flash of that monumental gold case will demand even the most blasé of colleagues’ closer scrutiny. And then they notice your Chronomaster’s main event: a gold-framed window into the mesmeric mechanical ballet ticking inside. Even for a chronograph, however, these are no ordinary mechanics – they’re part of Zenith’s revolutionary El Primero, pioneered back in 1969. It was the first self-winding stopwatch movement, and the first to tick at 5Hz rather than the less-precise norm of 4Hz. It’s a purebred totem of heritage and know-how, condensed into 42mm of wristwatch. Wear with pride.

If you like your designers niche, with as much quirk as substance, then the world of fine watches delivers more than you might expect

Based in the sleepy Saxonian town of Glashütte – the cradle of fine German watchmaking – indie upstart NOMOS Glashütte manages to combine genuine in-house mechanical manufacturing with beautifully restrained Bauhaus modernism, in seemingly insouciant, almost irreverent style. Critically, NOMOS has removed the design process from the watchmakers themselves, nurturing a studio in east Berlin instead, which taps the local seam of fashion-forward aesthetes. Its recent masterpiece is Metro – a growing collection inspired by its very draughtsmen’s own metropolitan lifestyle. As crisp, clean and playful as Mr Harry Beck’s original Tube map.

Astronauts, elite police squads and bomb-disposal experts have all used youthful, Chanel-backed Bell & Ross as watchmaker to their trade. But it just so happens that its utilitarian yet contemporary styling (where most military watches verge on nostalgic) pairs rather nattily with a charcoal-grey knit or a retro tee, meaning Bell & Ross has found itself equally beloved of hipsters and rollnecked architects. While maintaining its professional chops, the French brand has responded well to this unintentional cool factor, with creative takes on its brutally square BR 01 – arguably Bell & Ross’ golden ticket to the fashion set. Camouflage was huge this year, and it deserved to be on this (literally) huge watch.

When Saturday arrives, a less dressy look and a host of potential activities actually demands more of your watch than usual

More Stock Coming Soon

A Piaget for the weekend? In steel, with racy blue stripes? Where once it was all gold and svelte night manoeuvres, this fine watchmaker pays homage to its icon of the 1980s – the watch of the jet set – with a more youthful homage than slavish reboot, sported by freshly signed and fresh-faced ambassador Mr Ryan Reynolds, instead of perma-bronzed Euro glitterati. The cushion dial still feels very 1980s, but the decision to make it steel (the titular “S”) makes this a highly affordable way into a top-notch mechanical chronograph. You might only use it for timing your soft-boiled egg on Sunday morning, but hop into your soft-top car afterwards, and you’ll easily pass as someone more in the habit of timing a hot lap.

It was Britain’s past as a manufacturing base for pilot’s watches, combined with a fully licensed passion for flying that inspired flyboy brothers Messrs Nick and Giles English to establish Bremont in 2002. Their rugged chronometers practically run on avgas. And it is this aviation DNA that is taking the Henley-on-Thames brand back to its roots this year with a classically styled, not-too-little-not-too-large 40mm three-hander, named after one of the first British military aircraft manufacturers. We love the crisp nostalgic vibe, strapped to vintage calf leather. Pair with battered Belstaff boots, chunky Kent & Curwen knit and ride into the sunset. Or go to the pub. Either way.