CitizenQuartz Day-Date — Black Finish, Black Dial

Black-on-black is the easiest way to look expensive and the easiest way to look cheap. The difference is finish.

This one gets it right because the case is genuinely polished under the coating — light travels along the bezel and down the bracelet links instead of dying on a matte surface. The dial is a shade warmer than the case, which is why the watch reads as one object rather than a black disc inside a black ring.

The orange seconds hand is the detail people notice second. It is the only warm colour on the watch, and it moves, so your eye keeps returning to it.

A day-date complication is the most useful thing you can put on a dial. It is also the first thing you stop noticing — which is exactly what a good complication should do.

Quartz, so it is accurate to seconds a month and needs nothing from you but a battery every few years.