Need help - mom's birthday

[Him]

Background: when I was growing up my mother managed to destroy a sequence of progressively more robust watches. Crystals broken, scratched opaque, or popped off. Water resistant cases flooded. She constantly used her hands and taking off/putting on a watch was not an acceptable solution (I gather she once had a fairly expensive watch disappear when she removed it to wash her hands). She tried, but getting three years out of a watch would've been a record.

About 15 years ago I bought her a little TAG dive watch. Not an arbitrary choice. Plastic bezel, quartz, stainless case/bracelet, maybe an f1 though honestly I dont recall. She liked it, a LOT, and wore it, and wore it, and had the crystal replaced, and wore it some more, and now, 15ish years later, she recently mentioned that the battery needed replacing again and she was going to try to get the crystal replaced too....

So I asked a few transparent questions about what she thought of different watch sizes and dial colors. S.S. everything (no diamonds or gold), the subject of MoP dials was well received, all in a traditional ladies size..when I said, "aquaracer", she replied, "watching ebay" and "worried about fakes".

So I need advice. Obviously the simple answer is to pick up an aquaracer. I know where I can get one she would love for about $1100 all up (tax included). On the other hand if there are other options that offer similar style/cachet in a tough little package I think it might be neat to get her something different. It still needs 200m water resistance, saphire crystal, etc of course. Thanks in advance!

[coastcat]

First thing that came to mind at that price point is the Ball Engineer II Ohio Lady. Is 100m acceptable? It's not a diver, but it's fine for swimming and generally getting soaked. The ladies' version of the Longines Conquest is a proper diver, and available as a quartz or automatic.

[Him]

The watch won't be used for SCUBA but my mom flooded two "100m" non-diver watches (that I know of) "back in the day" ... we're all a bit puzzled as to how but facts are facts. I think she'd like the Ball Engineer II Arabic Lady. It's 31mm which us maybe 4mm larger than her current watch but I'm not sure how that goes.

I know she would like the base Longines Conquest....this is just her style: L3.277.4.16.6 - Conquest - Sport - Watches - Longines Swiss Watchmakers since 1832 ...I must admit I get a bit nervous when 80% of the examples found online are clearly (sometimes openly) knock-offs though.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Any others? (I know, some people are just never satisfied.)

[GaryF]

There are the Aqua Terra quartz models, both new (first) and older models. They have screw-in crowns (I'd guess that the crown was the problem if she has flooded previous water-resistent watches) and have a WR of 150m. There also quartz versions of the mid-size models and mother of pear dials (though they tend to come with diamonds).

[DEP21]

Would a Sinn 456 be a possibility? Still 200m WR and available on a bracelet if necessary



Or maybe a larger piece like the Fortis Lady Flieger




Or even a Doxa Sub 200T?

Limited release!! SUB 200T Ladies DOXA Dive Watch

Of course, there are ladies versions of the Aquaracer, Seamaster Professional and Planet Ocean (a really good-looking watch)